Big River Feeding Fishing
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Transcript of Big River Feeding Fishing
8/14/2019 Big River Feeding Fishing
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/big-river-feeding-fishing 1/4
BIG RIVER FEEDING FISHING
In the f i rst of a new series about
days and ways, BOB ROBERTS
takes readers to a weirpool and
describes how heovercame
problems to put some super f ish on
the bank with feeder tactics.
X D O E S N ' T N E C E S S A R I L Y M A R K T H E S P 0 1
f we are to believe the fanciful diagrams in books and
other publications, fish in •weir pools are always to be
found beneath the 'X's. Under this one you •will find
chub, under that barbel, over here bream and so on. It
makes for pretty pictures but I often wonder if the writers
who brief the artists have .anypractical experience of
fishing in •weir pools
because their drawings are
patently misleading. Either
that or the weir pool fish
have never learned to read
because in real life they
inevitably find themselves
in the •wrong places. What'smore the diagrams never
take into account changing
seasons and the nomadic
nature of fish. I'll give you
an example/
Putting these \
fish on the hank
proved a real
challenge to
which the
solution w as to
say a little
unorthodox. H *"
Tackle had to be man enough to stop a train, otherwise it was
goodnight Vienna!
6 COARSE FISHING
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BIG RIVER FEEDING FISHING
The su n sets bu t still Bob's rod bends as another weirpool fish makes one last bid for f reedom.
The staple diet of any self-respecting
barbel - hempseed and casters.
NOMADS O F T H E S T R E A M
During the summer I was invited
to make an instructional video on
big river feeder fishing techniques
but bearing in mind the on-going
drought and knowing how
important it was to backup each
technique with a few fish I gained
permission to fish as a guest on a
private peg beneath aweir, knowing
full well that there would be plenty
of fish to go at. What Ididn't
anticipate was the way the placewould change from day to day.A
quick practice session after work
early on in the season saw merattle
out over 20 pounds of chub in a
couple of hours. That'll do nicely, I
thought. Yetcome the day of
filming, chub were mega scarce.
Instead I caught loads of tiny barbel
plus dace, perch, roach and an odd
skimmer. This was casting to exactly
the same spot with exactly the same
bait and tackle asbefore. Returninga
few weeks later it was all change
again because proper barbel were
now in residence. However puttingthese fish on the bank proved a real
challenge towhich the solution was
to say a little unorthodox.
COARSE FISHING
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BIGRIVER FEEDING FISHING
C O N T I N U E D
P A R T Y TIME!Barbelshow little respect
for tackleandseem hell bent
on destroying itwhen
hooked.Fortunatelythey
are seldom line shy and are
not deterred by proper
hooks. Withthis inmindI
chose my Amorphous
Whisker 11/13 feeder rod
andmatched itwithaID1650DF reel loaded with 61b
Berkley BigGame. The
hooklength was 5.11b
Concept to a size 14
DrennanSuperspade.Now I
would normallybackthat
combination against
anything that swims.Wrong,
Iwassoonto discover that it
wasn't manenough.The
double loop feederrighas
become most anglers'
preferredchoice but I do not
use itwhen expecting
barbeL If the line breaks
above the feeder loop it
leaves the fish towing a
feeder around which might
to thread the ILthe feeder to avoid snags
an d crack-offs -i t worked a treat.
ultimatelyleadto its death. A
far safer way is to threadthe
feeder onto the line with a
swivel andstop iteither
side, or use awater knotted
paternoster which inevitably
breaks the knot
/
could still feelthe fish bu t as we
see-sawed I could
feel a horrible
grating com ing
up th e line
through the rod.
Ibegan on the latter, first
•with a big feedertodeposit
ten heaps of hemp and
caster into the swim before
switching to a medium sized
one. Twocasters were
placed on the hook, the first
threaded up the shank, the
secondmasking the point.
After casting abow was fed
to the feeder sothat bites
would registerasdrop
backs. Fail to do this and I
guarantee it•won'tbe long
before you suffer one of
thoseheartstopping, gutwrenching crack-offs on the
bitewhen the rod is allbut
draggedoff the rest
I hadachub first cast,
then a dace, then a quiet
spelL Suddenlythe tip
sprang backand I lifted into
a lump of muscle.
Fortunatelythe clutch was
set lightlyandIavoided
disaster as abarbel
screamed off downstream.I
haditunder control quite
quickly, or so Ithought,
because half way in
everything lockedup solid
in asnag.Icould still feel the
fish but as we see-sawedI
Fishing friend Trev Empson Ak a 'The Jonah' with a fin-perfect specimen.
could feel ahorrible grating
coming up the line through
the rod.
Theresultwas a foregone
conclusion and I was soon
re-tackling.This timeI
placedthe feederon a
shorter paternoster hoping
tokeep the feeder higher in
the water duringthe fight
Barbel number two was
mine as was the number
three butnumber four
powered away fromme and
found haven in amid-river
snag.
Determined to stop that
happening againI reasoned
the answer was to clamp
down on the next one and
refuse togiveaninch of line.
A fine theorybut itdidn't
work, the next barbel made
mincemeat of the
hooklength. I dispensed
with the hooklength after
that and tied ahook directto
the end of the 61b reel line.
Even thiswas sneered at
withfitrther barbel finding
sanctuaryin new and
unchartered snags. The finalscore was Bob 4, barbel6,
and Iwent home with
plenty tothink about
COARSE FISHING
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BIG RIVER FEEDING FISHING
Despite dogged determination the barbel could not get the
better of Cap'n Bob.
T H E R E T U R N BOUT...A week later I returned
"with anew plan.Bait and rod
remained unchanged but I
hadstepped up to 8lb Bayer
Concept tied direct to a size
10 GoldLabel Predator2
hook. Thiswouldgiveme the
necessary power to stand toe
to toe with a fish but the
piece-de-resistancewas my
newrig, because I felt I •was
losing fish through havinga
feeder dangling dangerously
beneath the main line of pull.
I needed to get the feeder up
andout of the way.Even the
double loop rig leaves the
feeder dangling but my
solution •was deviously
simple. I simply threaded the
main line through the feeder
caps and stopped it off with a
split shot aboveand below.
Three small shots rather than
onebig one proved a more
efficient brake below the
feeder and a rubber bead
actedas a shock absorber. In
retrospect rubber in-line
leger stops would have been
more line friendly than the
shot but as Ididn't have any
withme so necessity once
again proved to be the
mother of invention.The
shot above the feeder was
essentialfor turning the
feeder into abolt rig.
The rig worked like a
dream with every bite
resulting in ahooked fish.
Unfortunately the return
match coincidedwith a frost
and the barbel didn't get
their heads down inquite
the same positive manner
but the final result was
clearly arout as a Bob 4,
barbel 0, scoreline indicates.
On two occasions fish came
to the netwhen the shot
behind the feeder hadbeen
pushed several feet up the
line, aclear indication that
the feeder hadcaught in a
snag during the fight and
then come free.With a
paternoster or looprig the
fish would simply have
smashed me off.
Sothere you are, not a
feeder rigyou would expect
to use every day but one diat
may put asmile onyour face
•when you would otherwise
be tearing your hair out.
I Solid muscle,sheer perfection
- a well conditioned barbel forthe trophy album.
COARSE FISHING 9