Now we have had consistent mild conditions for over a week the barbel are feeding really well. Don’t be afraid to give them plenty of feed to bring good results.

On a recent session I arrived to find that the water temperature had risen a whole degree in 24 hours. Although the river was running clear I was fairly sure that the barbel would be feeding well.
I opted for a swim that I new held a good number of barbel and decided to bait fairly heavily and rest the swim for a while before fishing.
A mixture of sonu halibuts was wet down and left to soak for ten minutes. My swim required a cast of 30 yards to a far bank gully so to bait up I used a 3-ounce Korum feeder. The feeder was filled with the pellet mixture and cast out, I then simply struck out the contents on impact to spread the bait around the swim. About twenty feeder loads were put in and then the swim was left to rest for about an hour.
   
A simple running lead rig was used with a 15 inch mono hooklength to a size 10 Korum S3.Hookbaits were alternated between 8mm crab and halibut pellet ‘O’s. I opted to use small PVA bags filled with mixed pellet instead of a feeder to give the barbel something to home straight in on. I find that when barbel are feeding well the bites using PVA bags are very fast and positive as they are attracted straight to the pile of pellet and usually take the hookbait instantly.

The session that followed was perfect. Every cast the rod hooped around within 5 minutes resulting in a lovely barbel. Between each fish I rested the swim for 15 minutes before re-casting and each time a bite came almost instantly. I am convinced this makes a huge difference in getting the barbel to feed confidently.

Thanks to a combination of good conditions, good swim choice and a quality bait I ended the session with 8 cracking barbel with the best fish weighing 11.10,a perfect evening. Lets just hope it stays mild until the end of the season.