Page 8 - RIFFLE4-flip

P a g e | 7 A few of my thoughts on locating barbel during food available to them. River levels are generally the winter months higher at this time of year, as an average, than during the summer and therefore holding fast in In summer, barbel will often seek out some kind some of their summer haunts would be much of suitable holding area within a steady flow, harder work. Combine this with the facts already possibly little more than a depression in the understood concerning their cold-blooded riverbed, thus allowing the bulk of water flow to temperament and this leads me to the pass cleanly overhead. To cut out a lot of conclusion that the faster stretches, often good hyperbole, barbel still prefer gravel under their in the summer, are not where I would initially whiskers and a decent flow even in the colder search for barbel in the colder months. An months. With the weed less prolific in winter, additional thought is that the drop in meaning cover is reduced and the light more temperature means that barbel have no need to intense in open areas, the barbel may need to seek out weir pools or very fast areas specifically move to a different stretch of water to pass the due to low oxygen levels in the water (warm winter under some cover and this is where water contains less oxygen than cold water). experience can help a bit. They also seem to prefer deeper areas in the wintertime. A pacey, steady flow over a gravel bottom in the wintertime, coupled with either holes or Being cold blooded, barbel are less active in depressions in the riverbed is a great start. Also, winter and therefore travel less. They tend to sit look for some depth in the swim alongside some deep in cover and in tight shoals. Even on small sort of cover, which may or may not be visible. rivers, accuracy is more important than in the summertime as the barbel may not be prepared to move very much, if at all, to pick up a bait. Barbel like to feed in eddies, such as those formed as visible creases where the water enters a swim with pace. They move in and out of the flow in these types of swim and spots like this often produce all year round. In addition, there is often a ‘dead spot’ in water that appears quite turbulent and this, also, is often a great spot for catching barbel at any time of year. Another point worth remembering is that barbel may be forced to move due to flood conditions, particularly flash floods which can, literally, flush them out of hiding. This makes it a good time to be bankside as the fish are often back on the move, looking for another safe spot to lie up until levels subside. This may appear quite unhelpful but it should help to start to narrow it down a little. In winter, the barbel are less likely to be found in the main flow of a weir, or on very fast stretches of river, as the energy required and resultant ‘burn-off’ would surely be too great to match the reduced