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The Upper River Ouse
Barbel
Barbus Barbus
A large growing powerful river fish, which has become a popular target species for many anglers in recent years. Characterised by a long lean muscular body, and four sensory barbules.
Originally the barbel was indigenous to the River Thames only. But subsequent stockings by angling clubs and fish farms, has led to the species being far more widespread throughout England. The Hampshire Avone became famous throughout the 60's for its barbel captures, and more recently the River Severn, and Upper River Ouse, have become well known for the capture of large individual specimens.
The Barbel Society is an angling club designed to provide an effective link to all barbel anglers. Its a good organisation to join, and find out more about barbel fishing in general.
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The barbel has been a favorite species
of mine for several years now. They are big powerful, and at
times, elusive fish, which represent a significant challenge
to any angler. In recent years barbel fishing has become increasingly
popular, and many stretches of river, are becoming more and
more crowded, with fisherman eager to catch a double figure
specimen.
 My
local River Great Ouse, has now become very well known for its
record sized fish, and the Adams Mill, and Kickles Farm Stretches
of this river , have become famous as the places that regularly
produce 15lb+ fish, and the current British record of 19lb 6oz,
was caught from this area of the River Ouse, two years ago.
For the last 6 years these two stretches have
continued to produce mega barbel. Although the River Great Ouse
contains many large specimen barbel, it has been the Adams Mill
and Kickles Farm stretches that have continued to produced nearly
all the notable mega sized barbel in recent years. Quite why
this area of the Upper Great Ouse produces such huge fish is
pretty much a mystery, and it would appear, at the time of writing
this article, that it is only a matter of time before one of
these two stretches produces a 20lb+ fish.
 Much
of my own barbel fishing involves exploring the lesser known
quieter stretches of the Upper Great Ouse, where I can fish
in the style I am accustomed to and I can sometimes fish these
quieter stretches, without seeing another angler. Although such
areas may not contain the huge barbel of the Adams Mill Syndicate,
I do much prefer fishing in this fashion, as it allows me to
fish in the freedom, and style which I am used to, and which
I believe puts more fish on the bank. But I will be explaining
more about this later.
I would say that nearly all the mega barbel
seen in the angling press, over the last six years have come
from the famous Adams Mill and Kickles Farm syndicates. However,
the overall average size of the barbel population on the Upper
Great Ouse is big, and very large individual specimens in the
15-16lb range do exist on some lesser known stretches! Obviously
I am not going to name such areas here, but I mention this in
passing, to further explain that the Great Ouse barbel are continuing
to grow in size throughout the upper reaches of the river, and
I believe, that in the future, there may be some very big fish
caught from other stretches well away from the notorious Adams
mill stretch. |
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