Swale Barbel Float Fishing Fiasco Type Thing

As I got the kit out of the car I was reliably informed by a passer-by that there had been quite a few barbel out over the weekend. Well that's jinxed my day I thought to myself. Unlike some stretches there was still a reasonable amount of water in the river. As I'd remembered the waders this time I headed for the same swim as last week. I'd brought a selection of baits along with the usual pellets I'd also got bread, hemp and luncheon meat. As the feeder rod was already rigged up I decided to chuck that out first, while I got the float rod set up. A 12mm pellet as hook bait and a few pellets in the feeder to provide a scent trail.  I'd only just got the action cam set up when the tip whacked over in typical barbel style. After a brief battle a nice fish around the 4-5lb mark was in the net. When I checked the camera to see if was framed OK I discovered I'd forgotten to delete the old files from the SD card so nothing much had been recorded.

At least there was a barbel in the swim and there may well be more. My plan was to fish either bread, pellets or meat on the hook and feed hemp. By wading I would be able to get more control over the float and trot further down the swim. I opted for the 13' JW Young Specimen trotter and a Grice & Young D'Or reel with 10lb Mono and an 8lb hook length to a size 10 Gripz hook for the bread or meat. A size 12 with a band was to be used with the pellet. This was supported by a 4.5g Chubber float. Despite fishing the float through at the speed of the current, fishing it over depth and holding back and all sorts in between I couldn't buy a bite on the float. When It got too dark to see the float I chucked the feeder rig our again and got a bite almost straight away. A similar sized fish to the last one, but putting up more of a struggle. As I went to land it it dived under the net and snagged to hook in the mesh. As I struggled to manoeuvre the net under it all I did was successfully unhook it.

Quite why the barbel aren't taking a moving bait I have no idea. In the past I've caught more barbel on the float from the Swale than any other river.

As I left I came across another angler leaving. He'd had a barbel last thing and a few chub. In the car park I talked to another angler who'd had the one barbel.  He told me he'd had very little success feeding hemp and that maggot or caster had been the best bait this season. For him any way.