Has anyone ever caught a barbel on a fly? I was watching a group of barbel on a small river in the summer and they were coming high up in the water to take nymphs.

I have never had one on the fly but i witnessed a barbel of 9lb being caught on a flying C

P

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I know john bailey catches them on the fly, but he mainly does it in spain.
I know someone who has caught a few on the wye though.

Appranantly gold head nymphs are good.

John

On the lower Sangro River, about 6 miles before it meets the Adriatic Sea, I've caught several small ones up to about 2 lbs on various nymphs: montana, olive damsel, gold bead prince, gold bead hare's ears, etc., sizes 10-14.

Ever caught ?

Of course I did !!

That fish offers great fight.

Here is a 7 pounders fighting hard :


Give it a try with really heavy nymphs (tungsten is perfect for that)

nice one nav! was it caught in the uk?

Not in UK, in the french pyrenees.

For that fish I assert that the most important point is to find a shallow spot where you can fish them on sight. Then a nymph heavy as an anvil will do the job.

Most difficult thing is to cast with such a heavy pattern without hurting your rod

sounds good I've hurled some heavy nymphs before it aint all that bad.... just gotta watch your head et al what set up do you use? typical nymphing gear? 4/5# stuff?

My rod is a #6 (shimano biocraft - the one I fish with in still waters), cos I was targetting big barbels. But a #5 does the job as well. My leader is 3/4 meters long, which is enough to enable classing casting (very slow mouvement) and catapult casts.

And for my nymphs : tungsten forever !!

Tungsten bodies (by bidoz) are perfect too, but mind your ears while casting !! I always wear a hat & glasses.

Hey you big mustache get out of that rock !!

I caught a nice 4lb barbel on a 5# using a gold head may fly nymph over here in Switzerland. No pictures unfortunately, to busy getting it back in the water safe and sound

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