Fishing for barbel with baits that until recently were only used for carp, seems to be far more widespread than most of us originally thought. It certainly got me thinking about what is a fairly recent upsurge, the use of boilies and special HNV type pastes applied to barbel fishing.
A lot of emphasis seems to have been put on what are good baits and which are not, which are the best mixes and flavours etc., without much discussion regarding appreciating why they work and also their limitations.
Boilies, HNV, paste, specials, whatever you want to call them, have one thing in common, they are barbel food. So why are they perceived to be better than the traditional baits such as meat, maggots etc. In my opinion they aren’t in themselves any different or better at all. Some of them may have a higher nutritional value, but I bet a lot probably don’t, and does the nutritional value matter that much? In terms of making better bait, as opposed to something that is healthier for the fish, in the majority of cases I don’t think high nutritional value does matter that much. For example, the better luncheon meat baits are not the most expensive ones, quite the opposite; they are often the cheap fatty ones. These will regularly outfish the more expensive leaner meats, which presumably have a higher nutritional value. I use this as an example to demonstrate that apparently higher nutritional value does not necessarily mean a better bait.
So why do these new HNV baits outfish, or appear to outfish the traditional baits. The reason they will initially outfish traditional baits is in the fact that barbel don’t associate them with danger, why should they, they have never been caught on them before. Barbel are naturally inquisitive fish and will eat anything that looks and tastes remotely edible, they are after all wild creatures and are not taught what is good food or not. One thing I would like to understand is whether the smaller fish are more likely to take the new food items before the bigger fish. Does this inquisitiveness reduce as fish become older, wiser and more cautious? If so it would put the angler using a new unestablished bait at a disadvantage as he is more likely to catch smaller fish. The best way of establishing this is watching barbel’s reactions to new baits. All you Southern small stream anglers may have some answers here. This instant reaction is something I don’t have much experience of, and until a couple of years ago, I was positively sceptical, to the extent I believed that captures attributed to it were just luck. A friend who had spent some time watching barbel reacting to baits on the Teme, convinced me that maybe I was wrong. He had seen barbel get very exited at the first smell of a new bait drifting downstream, typically heavily flavoured meat, well before they could see or taste the bait. I suppose this is analogous to the smell of bacon cooking, even if you aren’t hungry the smell of frying bacon makes even the most devout vegetarians want some. This instant attraction is where I believe that the better flavours and enhancers, amino acids, etc. come into their own, and is the only instance where I would consider experimenting with them. For instance the smell of boiling potatoes doesn’t make me feel hungry, give me those bacon sandwiches any day.
This instant reaction to new baits is all well and good, however I am sure what we are really interested in is will these specials outfish other baits in the longer term and even more to the point will they produce bigger barbel on the bank. The problem occurs, in that if the baits are not introduced regularly, they will tend to blow or become less effective relatively quickly. This is because there is a high ratio of eating food to being hooked and although fish are not clever enough to work it out logically, they will learn by association that eating this new food often leads to them being caught. However, these baits will, if applied properly, match the regular baits in the long term. To ensure the longevity of a bait, I believe they must be accepted as a natural food. Maggots and hemp go into the river in such huge quantities, and have been doing so for many years, that they are probably the most natural and abundant food source on many stretches of river. It also explains why maggots and hemp are still accepted without the same fear that meat seems to evoke, even though every barbel has been caught or at least hooked while feeding on them, regularly throughout their lives. The ratio of eating the food to being caught is low purely because of the large amount of bait being introduced into the water. It is practically impossible, even for a group of anglers, to emulate the maggot effect with any new bait on the majority of rivers because of the vast quantities that may be required. It could be possible on a small river, with small numbers of visible barbel, by almost selectively hand feeding the fish on a regular basis. However, to achieve the full effect of getting the bait to be accepted as natural, it should be available for every barbel, every time the barbel want to feed over a long period of time. I think the minimum period of time must be a matter of days if a supply of the bait is in the water continuously. This is how natural food items are available. An analogy to a natural food item would be when certain insects grubs hatch, the period of time lasts for usually a few weeks, during which time fish will take advantage of this and enjoy it while it lasts. I don’t believe we can emulate this during a typical long barbel session. It would be possible, if we do it carp style and bivvy up for a long weekend or more (I’m personally not that desperate). It is more probable that we will not be able to maintain a continuous supply of the bait in the water as we all have other commitments, work, wives etc. and sometimes our chosen waters are not close to home. Baiting therefore will be carried out every few days at best. I think the minimum period to achieve natural acceptance in this case will be a matter of weeks if not months. I wrote about this subject in my last article in the club magazine ‘Barbus’ when I explained that we had carried this out by prebaiting for a very long time, actually nearly 18 months. I’m sure that we achieved what is as close as possible to natural acceptance, culminating in regular captures of barbel of a much higher than average size with no groundbaiting required to reduce the barbel’s natural caution. I’d like to say that I have carried on achieving good results this season but in the little time I’ve had to go fishing only smaller fish have shown, however results overall on the stretch seem to indicate that the larger resident fish may have moved on. It happens and I’ll just have to search them out a few miles upstream where I think they may be. Anyway back to the subject.
In achieving this natural acceptance I don’t think artificial flavours and enhancers are that important. I would agree that a great smelling and tasting bait may be accepted more quickly due to its instant attractiveness. However, if we are introducing the bait regularly over a period of weeks, then a few days when the bait drifts downstream because the fish don’t recognise it as food, may not be that important. I am also of the opinion that the more acute the smell, and or sight the bait possesses, and therefore the more recognisable it is, the quicker the bait will be associated with danger after being hooked on it a couple of times, ergo it will blow.
In summing up my article I will relay an anecdotal incident. A fellow Barbel Catchers member asked me what bait we had used for our campaign as he had been experimenting with many different boilies, a different type and flavour each time he went fishing. He was having very little success and obviously felt that our bait was much better. I tried to explain t
hat it wasn’t the bait or the flavour that had created the success, but the fact that we had introduced it regularly. This leads to the barbel’s natural acceptance of it and that if he persevered with one of his own boilies for a couple of months without swapping and changing every week, his results would have improved. I believe that in the long term, any bait applied properly will outfish a better bait applied poorly.
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