Barbel in United Kingdom — catches, stats & how to catch

Description and behaviour

The barbel (Barbus barbus) is a powerful river cyprinid with a streamlined, torpedo-shaped body, bronze-gold flanks and the four barbels on its underslung mouth that give it its name. The back is a dark olive-bronze and the fins often carry an orange or reddish tinge. A typical British fish weighs 1.5–4 kg, but rich rivers grow specimens of 6–9 kg; pound for pound it is one of the hardest-fighting freshwater fish in the islands.

Barbel are bottom dwellers of fast, well-oxygenated water: the runs, glides and gravel-and-rock reaches of classic rivers such as the Thames, Severn, Wye, Trent and Kennet. They shoal on the bottom, using their barbels to root out larvae, caddis, molluscs, crustaceans and eggs. Strong and hardy, they drop back to deeper, steadier pools through the winter.

Spawning and seasons

Barbel spawn in late spring and early summer, in May and June, running onto shallow gravel riffles with fast flow where the females shed sticky eggs. This period falls inside the river close season: on running water in England and Wales the coarse close season runs from 15 March to 15 June inclusive, when fishing for coarse fish including barbel is banned. The season opens on 16 June — the traditional Glorious Sixteenth that marks the start of the river coarse season. Canals and most enclosed stillwaters are exempt, but as a river fish barbel are governed strictly by this rule.

When it bites

Barbel fish best from the June opening through the summer and into a mild autumn. The classic feeding windows are early morning, late evening and the first hours after dark, especially in warm weather. A river carrying a touch of extra pace and colour after rain is prime, as barbel feed boldly then. In cold winter water the fishing is harder and demands patience. When planning a session it is worth checking a bite forecast and timing a warm evening or the drop after a spate, when fish move onto the flow.

Methods and tackle

The main methods are feeder fishing and straight ledgering on the flow. Use a powerful rod of 1.5–2.25 lb test curve (an Avon or barbel rod), a 4000–5000 reel with a good clutch, 0.25–0.30 mm main line or braid, and a 0.20–0.28 mm hooklink. Match the lead or feeder to hold station in the current. Rigs are the running ledger, helicopter or a simple bomb with a PVA bag of feed. Bait a tight line just upstream so the scent trails down to the hookbait. Bite indication is the quivertip or a swingtip; a barbel bite is usually a sharp, powerful pull.

Baits and lures

Classic baits are boilies (halibut, monster crab and natural flavours) of 10–18 mm, halibut pellets, tinned sweetcorn, meat baits such as luncheon meat, and a bunch of brandling worms. Combinations shine — meat tipped with corn. For feed, use pellets, crushed boilies, hemp and meat crumb delivered by feeder or PVA. Match the bait to the pressure on the river: on hard-fished stretches barbel grow wary, and a small unobtrusive pellet or a single grain of corn will often out-fish a big boilie.

Playing and tips

Barbel are among the hardest fighters in British rivers, powering off into the flow the instant you strike, so your tackle must ride out that first run. Don't bully them; work the clutch and steer the fish away from snags and piles. After landing, always hold a barbel upright in the flow, head to the current, for several minutes until it recovers, or it can die. Observe the river close season of 15 March to 15 June and the spawning rest, and use a big soft net and a mat. An Environment Agency rod licence is required; return every fish with care.