Barbel on Fly

Stones

Senior Member
Hi All Sealiners,

I may not have any recent salt water tales to tell you but I do have an inland story, which involves catching barbel on fly, in the city noggal!

Us city guys really enjoy our break aways from the hussle and bussle but it is not always possible, being so far away form it all......you know where you guys are from; the Coast. So we settle for what we can get, locally!

We are fly fisherman and catch just about any fish we can on fly. Barbel being one of the target species is a great fish to catch, freekin ugly, but great fun anyhow. The method used is basically, big features = large creatures! Simply put; big flies for these buggers and I'm talking about salt water type flies, fished tandem style. A salt water popper followed by a dropper fly, namely: Half Chicken, Clousler Minnow ect (barbless). Cast these puppies in the vicinity of gulpping or feeding barbel, pull the line hard to get the popper to make that "dooink" splash. Wait a few seconds, if nothing pulls hard at the other end, repeat the process. We also use 6 - 10wt fly rods, basically entry level saltwater kits with 20lb tippet, nothing smaller otherwise you could have a "bust-up" on your hands.

Enjoy.
 

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bastion

Senior Member
Dude! A Light just went on in my head!

We spend hours "Calling" the fish with a single large fly by repetetively casting the fly on the same spot then quickly ripping it off. After about 3 of these casts we let it sink and the Barbel comes up and takes it.

That is so much more P.T. compared to the technique you guys use! I am really going to try your way.

Do they ever take the popper?
 

Stones

Senior Member
Hey Bastion,

Your right, it is PT! This is why we came up with this method. It kind of keeps them interested for a while. They do take the popper sometimes but generally take the dropper, which is about 1/2 meter or so under it. Try a double popper even, just abit of a bastard to cast.

This method goes back on how they catch the Wels Catfish. They stand the rod upright off a boat and the line hangs down, then they idle along and use a stick with a sort of cup shape at the end, creating a popping sound on the surface. This supposibly represents feeding fish, which attract the bigger ones. Strange method but damn this works!

Regards,

Stones
 
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