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P a g e | 8 Floating rafts or thickset foliage overhanging the will probably be. I have heard various water water are obvious, undercut banks and temperatures bandied about as the lowest underwater snags are less so! Barbel holding up degree before they switch off completely. I for prolonged periods will generally favour remain unconvinced as ever and I believe that a deeper holes and darker, shaded water where stable temperature is the most important factor footfall on the bankside is at a minimum. at this time of year. Despite the disagreements Essentially, somewhere out of sight and quiet, concerning whether they ever do stop feeding where predators cannot sneak up on them very and at what degree this may be, most people I easily. If the swim is also packed with snags and have spoken with seem to agree that a stable if the bankside looks as if has not been trodden water and air temperature is far better than a for months, then it is likely you have found a fluctuating one. great spot. Some anglers always take a water thermometer Different approaches to catching barbel in the with them. I do not take a water thermometer colder months with me to the bankside as I have no real interest in truth - by that point the decision ‘I am If the temperature has dropped quite going fishing’ has already been made! All those dramatically, or plummeted from a steady, that have done this kind of research, and kept above average daytime air temperature for the detailed diaries, seem to disagree about their time of year (for example from 11°C to 2°C), findings anyway! Although 5°C is the number then personally I rarely bother going out fishing around which most people seem to congregate, specifically for barbel. That is partly because there are many confirmed reports of barbel where I fish there are not many anyway - if I was coming out in far colder conditions, such is the on a river where they are prolific then I would power and knowledge the internet can now be more inclined to give it a go - but mainly share. because I have never, ever caught one in these conditions. They would seem to completely I feel that a huge part of being a switch off and I am sure that at some point over successful angler, pre-baiting aside, is the years I must have managed to drop it neatly simply down to a combination of being on the nose of a barbel in these conditions - and I remain equally convinced that it just ignored it! bankside and having some luck, that Even the chub, which many people insist never there are many factors that we cannot fully switch off, do not seem to feed much at control and yet more that we fail to these times. I will never completely give up include within our own calculations and trying but my advice would be to try for a chub decision-making processes. or grayling, instead of a barbel, on these types of day! I freely admit that icy conditions are not ideal for barbel fishing and the first frost in weeks is Although many anglers would state rising often the kiss of death as far as sport is temperatures in winter to be best, do not concerned. However, theory is great but the discount stable temperatures as the barbel seem only way you will ever know for sure is by to feed even when it is very cold. The barbel will getting out there and having a go for yourself, adapt, but it usually seems to take a while whatever the weather and the water before they adjust to new temperatures and temperature! start feeding again, albeit sparingly. As a rule of thumb, the colder it is the less they move and Anglers also disagree on whether clear or therefore need to eat, so in practice this means coloured water is best, some state rising water the colder it is, the shorter their feeding spell levels are better, others insist a river fining