THE BAITS YOU NEED TO CATCH BARBEL
Paul Garner reveals his favourite home-made pastes and boilies W
E ARE now entering my favourite time of year for barbel, with short evening sessions into darkness being the best of all. The fish will have bulked up, and have a fantastic bronze glow.
Barbel are usually easy to predict at this time of the year, and if you can time your trips to coincide with mild, wet weather then success is almost guaranteed as they will be feeding hard.
Unfortunately, we cannot always find the time to go fishing when the conditions are perfect, so how do we make the most of those trips when the fish are less inclined to feed? Over the last few years I have looked at this problem and adapted my barbel fishing to make the most of every condition.
Often the most consistent tactic, in all but worst conditions, is to use boilies and pastes sparingly.
This is a surprisingly flexible approach, and one that can select the bigger specimens too.
SIMPLE FEED
Although boilies can appear to be quite expensive to buy and tricky to make, the fact is that you won’t need many for a barbel session at this time of year, so they are in reality among the most frugal baits that you can use.
If I am spending the evening in one swim I will trickle in a couple of boilies every 10 minutes, aiming to alert the barbel to the free food on offer. More often than not, though, I will fish several swims for about an hour each. This lets me bait up with half-a-dozen baits in each spot, topping up every hour before I fish the swim.
Because I am only using such a small amount of bait it is really important to make sure that it stays where I want it. Catapulting it mid-river will see it quickly carried away. Look for swims with a crease, where you can place the bait just in the slack water where it will stay put, or use a bait dropper to position the freebies precisely.
FLEXIBLE PASTE
Paste baits have many advantages, no the least of these being that you can instantly change the size of the baits that you are feeding and using on the hook.
It will be a rare day when I don’t have a ball of paste with me when fishing for barbel, as this is just such a versatile bait.
From wrapping boilies to give them extra attraction, to using an over-sized hookbait to beat the attentions of small fish, paste gives you so many more options compared to a normal boilie.
Most bait companies offer a paste to match their top-selling boilies, and for me this is essential.
If you are not confident in making your own paste then buy it ready-made, but it is cheaper and, I think, more effective to mix it yourself because this gives you total control over the consistency, freshness and flavour level.
I spend an evening each autumn making my barbel bait for the coming months, filling the freezer with balls of paste to match my chosen boilie.
About a fist-sized lump of paste is ideal for a session, and I store the bait in airtight bags to keep it in top condition. Stored like this, the bait will easily last all winter and it saves me the hassle of making paste for each trip.