Quote:
Originally Posted by Ron Clay
If you want to catch a double figure barbel, your best chance is the River Trent.
Not only that, and as people who read this section are "Classic Coarse Fishers", The Trent is England's classic barbel river.
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Did they survive the recent much publicised cyanide/sewage pollution incident intact?
I thought the EA had to restock the Trent with many many thousands of farmed fingerling barbel.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ron Clay
Or didn't you know that the barbel in the Dorset Stour and Hampshire Avon don't belong there, they were introduced, only about 100 years ago too.
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Didn't Mr. Crabtree catch lots of large barbel on the Royalty Fishery in Christchurch
Dorset?
Total Fishing
Quote:
The Royalty has long been associated with barbel and jointly held the British record for many years – along with a fish from the Thames – with two fish of 14lb 6oz.
With the record now standing at more than 20lb, these fish sound relatively small beer, but those Ouse barbel have distorted national specimen weights, and the Royalty’s recent fishery and river record of 15lb 7oz to Will Ward is a monster by any standards – other than those of Adams Mill.
While the barbel fishing on the Royalty nowadays is nowhere near as prolific as it was in the 1970s, the average size of the fish has increased dramatically and the fishery now holds several barbel that weigh in excess of 14lb in the autumn and winter months.
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It's where I would try. Invasive species or not. Failing that the river Wye isn't too far a run up the M5 and the Severn bridge; another river plagued with parasite diseased stock.
Quote:
Freshwater Fish by Dr Nick Giles.
Redistribution of barbel in Britain began in the 1890s when fish could lawfully be moved anywhere without consent: in 1896 barbel were stocked in the Dorset Stour from where they spread into the confluent Hampshire Avon. These fish are thought to have come from the Thames.
Barbel from the rivers Lea and Kennet were subsequently stocked into the Avon. In 1956,509 Kennet barbel were transferred to the Severn. This population has subsequently thrived and spread into the tributaries (Vyrnwy, Tern, Worfe, and Teme).
Fish from the Swale were released into the Warwickshire Avon in 1964 and a series of stockings from the Kennet during the 1950s and 60s firmly established the species in the Bristol Avon. From here fish have been moved to Bristol Avon tributaries, the Somerset Frome and the River Chew.
In Northumbria, barbel were illegally stocked in both the lower Wear and Tees.
The Great Ouse, WeIland and Wensum all contain small localised barbel populations which have been supplemented by stocked fish. Barbel also occur in both the Kentish Stour and the Medway system.
Barbel were never native to Wales but have been stocked illegally into the Wye in mid-Wales, the Usk and possibly the Dee.
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