Skuimkop here are the questions.
- Thread starter Franktjie
- Start date
steelpulse007
Sealiner
Antjar wrote:
Some great advice there Antjar, your setup and strategy makes a lot of sense.Franktjie wrote:Good day all,
Iv received some advice from Skuimkop to post my questions here reagarding barbel, so that all may answer, an all may learn from expert advice.
My goal this year is to land a 15kg cat. Currently my PB cat is only 3kg.
I fish mostly with my uncle, we planning trips to either rietvlei, roopdeplaat, the vaal or anywhere where we could catch really, some time this year.
I'd like to catch small ones first then work my way up.
My gear:
2 x 11foot black widow carp rods,
2 x 7ft shimano carp combo rods & reels.
1 x 7ft pioneer combo rod & reel.
My approach:
After reading a lot of posts. I was thinking of fishing:
1st rod- earthworm on parternoster rig.
2nd rod- fish head, circle hook top lip.
3rd rod- mielie bomb + dough, rietvlei or babyshoes rig. (For carp)
4th rod- sweet dough, small hooks (For muddies).
5th rod- (day old chick. If I can get).
circle hook under spine.
>If I'm fishing from the bank how long should I let these baits lie in the water?
>And wat distance should I cast them out?
1 thing that confuses me is when to strike:
>If I'm fishing with policemen I would have them 3/4 down so that the cat has minimal resistance?
>If I'm using alarms, should I strike as soon as the alarm goes off?
Sorry for all the questions,
I just love fishing and really want to reach my goal this year.
Thank you Franco.
What has worked for me so far ,
Gear - we all have our own pref and depending on the waters structure , avg size of fish etc. there is not a one size fits all setup . I use from ultralight spinning to heavy boat rods with multipliers.
My approach is to keep it simple, overcomplicate and you create too many weakpoints . I dont fish for carp at all apart from for bait , my pref would be to use Rietveli Rigs in the Vaal system after discussion with competive carp anglers.
I have a 3 rod alarm pod and usually fish it as follows (Vaal River)
- 2 x 9ft spinning rods , one reel 20 lb and the other 30lb braid.
-1 lighter rod, either a 5 , 6 or 7 ft depending on what i feel like (8 or 14 lb fireline )
My baits are as follows
9ft rods, Carp head 30lb,Day old chick 20 lb both with 8/0 circles (I use cable ties to secure the bait) . After a few runs I will change bait to the one getting the attention.
Light rod - chicken heart , gizzard,crickets, flying ants,worms etc with a 3/0 J or small circle.
Distances , The 9ft rods go as deep as I can cast- the light goes shallow. If Im not getting any action on the deep rods after 3 hours I will bring them shallow or bring one shallow and leave the other out. The deep rods are usually in 4-6 m deep water, the shallow in <1.5m
Finding the fish becomes important , I fished the exact same spot over 3 weekends (private house) 2 of those weekends we only got fish deep and not a bump on the shallow rods and the other weekend the exact opposite. Once I have found the distance I usually stick it out and move all my rods to that distance.
I will leave a bait out for as long as I feel confident, but if no action after 3 hours I would usually recast and try a new distance or spot.I have left a bait out for way longer eg if the weather is not great and as soon as conditions change the pick ups start.
Some cats hit the bait and run hard straight away , I usually give them 5 or 6 seconds to swallow the bait and then hit it ( j hooks). I have also found that sometimes they will take a few short initial runs say 3 or 4 and then one long run . With circles I let them have a nice long run and then tighten up the drag without striking.
On one of the above mentioned weekends they kept toying with the bait, taking multiple short 2 or 3 seconds runs and then dropping the bait. We were only fishing with circles and at that stage were 4 - 0 down to the cats. After a few choice words we decided to switch to j's and finally managed to hook up every single one of the next 5 runs, so be prepared to adapt your tactics if need be.
Last bit on my rigs, I fish a sliding ball sinker on my light rig. 8lb braid as the mainline and 20lb braid leader (double my rod length to act as a shock absorber when casting).
9ft rods, 20/30 lb braid mainline connected to 1meter .55- .75 mono leader via a jap power swivel. I use a 2/3oz sliding grapnel sinker with a clip so that I can clip the bait when casting (it sends a day old chick a mile) . It is the same technique that is used in R&S , the sinker line is 12 lb mono so that if it gets stuck , the sinker will just break off and not your fish or entire rig.
We all have our own methods and I took little bits and pieces from the barbel forum and even the Saltwater section to formulate a strategy that works for me.
Tight lines , cheers Ant
HennieB wrote:
Uglystiks are amazing and are the only rods I use from 5,6 UL to the 9XH and Tiger Specials for the multipliers.
Here is a random pic of my setup ,the 9ft is on the left and the 5ft6 UL on the right while I was rebaiting the second 9ft that usually sits in the middle
EDIT: That might be my 7ft Med on the right LoL
Uglystiks are amazing and are the only rods I use from 5,6 UL to the 9XH and Tiger Specials for the multipliers.
Here is a random pic of my setup ,the 9ft is on the left and the 5ft6 UL on the right while I was rebaiting the second 9ft that usually sits in the middle
EDIT: That might be my 7ft Med on the right LoL
Attachments
.
ill work on my wish list in the mean time.[/quote]Good day all,
I’ve received some advice from Skuimkop to post my questions here regarding barbel, so that all may answer, an all may learn from expert advice. [/quote]
See it worked now I don't have to type that much anymore, hahaha
[/quote]My goal this year is to land a 15kg cat. Currently my PB cat is only 3kg.
I fish mostly with my uncle, we planning trips to either rietvlei, roopdeplaat, the Vaal or anywhere where we could catch really, sometime this year.
I'd like to catch small ones first then work my way up. [/quote]
I don't think you will catch 15 kilo plus barbel at Rietvlei as I understand it. At Roodeplaat you will get them but you are going to battle and might lose interest. I'm going to target Dinokeng at Roodeplaat this year myself as it is on my doorstep, lol. Places you can look to get your 15 kilo plus at the Vaal are Tago, Collage farm, Roslea's and at Barrage. You will get that 15 kilo plus at other venues but my homework tells me the above mentioned venue must have good food sources for the Cats, structures and/or good 'landscapes' that suits the bigger Cats. Reason why I say this is because I hear of 15 - 19 kilo Cats coming out there more often than the other venues. Here and there you here of bigger Cats at these venues. Other excellent venues you can consider strongly are Die Hoek at Bloemhof dam, Bloemhof dam, Venues at the Vaal river (especially near Parys) and offcoarse the Oranje river.
and if I can give you more advise start straight away to target the big Cats because practice makes perfect. Old cliché I know but what will happen if you find yourself at a venue which holds big Cats and you don't know how to target them? Yes you can target the small Cats on lite tackle as Antjar is doing and myself.
[/quote]My gear:
2 x 11foot black widow carp rods,
2 x 7ft shimano carp combo rods & reels.
1 x 7ft pioneer combo rod & reel.[/quote]
Don't know the black widdow rods but the other seems fine. You might want to look into getting yourself proper Cat rods like for example Ugly sticks, Airaki red Bayliner, Penn, Sensation big game and Shimano rods made for big game fishing. These are surprisingly not expensive.
[/quote]My approach:[/quote]
Before we start here remember that you must use rigs, gear and technique that you believe in and feel comfortable with using and that makes sense to you. There is thousands of ways to catch the Cats but try everything and keep what works for you.
[/quote]After reading a lot of posts. I was thinking of fishing:
1st rod- earthworm on parternoster rig.[/quote]
Nothing wrong here only thing I don't like about this rig is if you fish with a stiff line so you can see the bite with a policemen the Cat might feel the tension on the line and can then leave your baits alone. I like to use rigs like sliding sinkers so there is no resistance on the baits when the Cat picks it up.
Tip: You can try earthworms on the hair rig with the help of a maggot clip. The strike rate is much higher with this method and don't sit with 'just' earthworms, try to have 'miswurms' (cutworm) and crickets/cockroaches at your disposal.
[/quote]2nd rod- fish head, circle hook top lip. [/quote]
I’m not a big fan of circle hooks but I reckon if you are going to use them you must first understand the ‘mechanics’ of the circle hook. The big game circle hook ‘bobs’ (if I can describe it like that) to one side of the mouth (different to Carp fishing which swings downwards to hook the soft bottom lip) as you tightens your drag on your reel and the bait start to slide out of the Cats mouth and then hooks on that soft but very tough leathery like tissue in the corner of the mouth. You want to exploit this fact to the upmost. That is why I won’t hook (if I must use circle hooks, haha) my circle hook threw the bait itself but I will rather use it on the hair rig to ‘free’ the circle hook to ‘bob’ freely to the corner of the mouth. Will post a pick of my rig if I can find it, lol.
Tip: Look for circle hooks with an offset.
[/quote]3rd rod- mielie bomb + dough, rietvlei or babyshoes rig. (For carp) [/quote]
I will go with the sliding Rietvlei because of the baits I use and the ‘mechanics’ of the rig. I put baits that will lie on the bottom (mielies, dough) of the dam on the bottom hook because that bait will lie next to your mielie bom. Floaties, floating artificial maize/mielies, maggots and baits I use with floating foam (earthworms) that will be buoyant I put on the top hook because as your bomb brakes up some of the mielie bomb particles will rise or start to float putting your baits right in there path on their way up to the surface. The Babyshoes rig are seldomly used but still remains a good rig especially in the right conditions.
Tip: If the small fish bothers you and you struggle to catch bigger fish for big baits make use of the ‘haas oortjies’ metode –translated: ‘rabbit ears’ method to give the bigger fish the change to get to your baits. Just note your tempo will decrease.
[/quote]4th rod- sweet dough, small hooks (For muddies). [/quote]
Not a boffin here but what I understand and seen is that plain dough works very well for muddy’s and that you must use small hooks as you mentioned. The ‘boer strop’ (rig) or also called the ‘Vaaldam strop’ (rig) I believe is also the way to go.
[/quote]5th rod- (day old chick. If I can get).
circle hook under spine. [/quote]
Very good Cat bait especially in the right time of year and in the right conditions. Actually it is a good overall bait to always have with you. I hook them threw the head and neck or by the tail. My thinking here is it will be easier for the Cat to swallow the chick from the front or back rather than in the width of the chick. Again same counts for the circle hooks as I mentioned above.
Tip: Experiment on the day with the day olds just as they are or by removing the feathers and/or punchering the stomach. And for the bigger cats you can make use of the ‘chicken bomb’ or ‘chicken boilie’ as I jokingly describe it. Will see if I have a pic on my laptop.
[/quote]>If I'm fishing from the bank how long should I let these baits lie in the water? [/quote]
It depends on too many different factors like time of day, season, temperature, water, structures, venue, day code, size of the bait and off coarse the size of the Cats in the dam/river. Good rule of thumb is to go with your cut feel. Bait will lie longer during the day as Cats are nocturnal hunters but if it is cloudy or rainy your baits won’t necessarily lie that long. If you use big baits your baits are going to lie longer as well. Etc etc. If you wish I can discuss it in more detail later on.
[/quote]>>And wat distance should I cast them out? [/quote]>
Good rule of thumb here is to search and target structure such as reeds, old trees, rocks, drop offs etc. During the night there is no need to go deep as the Cats move into the shallows to go on the hunt. Avoid light over the water and noise on the bank.
Tip: Think where the Cat’s natural pray would hide from the Cats and target those areas. Example: If there are a lot of small Kurpers in the shallows try to catch yourself some of them and then drop your bait close to where they move but so that the Cat can get to your bait.
[/quote]1 thing that confuses me is when to strike: [/quote]
Difficult to say but again go with your gut feel. I must just mention that you will know when a Cat takes off with your bait and do not jump the gun as Dorsal mentioned. With big baits they normally pick it up and give a good consistent run. After this run they most of the time take the bait and takes off. Either like a lightning bolt or again a very but strong consistent run. These are big boys that pick your bait up like this. You will also note that this run most of the times will be in the direction of some structures. Medium size Cats sometimes will toy with your bait. You will hear a very irritating grr, grr, grr of your reel the whole time and almost always when you want to sleep. Ps: Big Cats can play with your bait in this manner as well but not as often (see tip at bottom). If you are using a big bait it is most probably a small Cat that can’t swallow your bait. If it isn’t a big bait you are using then you will have two or three runs before the ‘take run’. The reason for this is that and we are speculating here is that the smaller Cat pics up the bait and just moves it away (holding the bait just between his lips) from all the other Cats that are swimming in and near the sent trail the bait created. He then drops the bait somewhere where he feels his meal is safe for now. Now one of two things can happen. He then will either:
1) Swallows the bait and moves off with it. This is where you must strike (J-hook) or tighten your drag (circle).
Or
2) He will move the bait to a more secure place where he will drop it again (making it the third run). He will now take it’s time (you will think your bait is off) to turn and swallow the bait. He might even lie in his ‘lair’ for a while before he will take off (Ps: Remember this turn of events on that rod so that you don’t start counting it as the first run if he moves again) either like a steam train or slowly but in a strong consistent manner.
Note: During this process he might decide he doesn’t want the bait and then you will notice the short runs again as another Cat shows interest in your bait. Start the above process over in such a case.
Note: With the hair rig you will find a lot of times that your bait gets picked up immediately and all hell breaks loose. This I believe is because the ‘loose’ hook caught him in his mouth which he didn’t expect and then tries to flee, obviously with hook set. In such a case I hope your drag are loose otherwise some other angler are going to catch a Cat with a rod and reel combo freebee, hahaha.
Tip: If the Cats (big or small) toys with your bait (your reel will grr, grr, grr the whole time) you can then take your line into your hands and pull the line in until you can clearly feel that a good yank will move your bait. Step forward (towards the water) and take a good stretch to take your line in your hand as far as you can and wait until you feel the Cat again starting to toy with your bait. As this happens give a step or two backwards and yank hard on your line. This must happen in such a way that there are no doubt in your mind that you yanked the bait right out of the Cat’s mouth/grasp. Reel up the excess line. One of two things will most probably happen:
1) If it was a small Cat you could/would have chased it away. The small runs on your bait will then stop for a good period of time.
Or
2) If it was a medium to big Cat he will have to make a discussion
2a) he doesn’t want the bait and he will then leave it and will move on.
Or
2b) he must take this food source or he will lose it to another Cat. This normally ends up on a very aggressive take and you can expect to strike or tighten your drag on this first run. I call it the Frik maneuver and it works. Dorsal does something in the same line.
[/quote]>If I'm fishing with policemen I would have them 3/4 down so that the cat has minimal resistance? [/quote]
I actually don’t use a policemen but that is only because I only use multiplier reels which has a loud drag setting whereby I can hear the runs loud and clear. I use them only at night time to quickly identify which rod was running. I also use a baby monitor to hear the runs in the tent but the way you describe you use it sounds 100%.
[/quote]>If I'm using alarms, should I strike as soon as the alarm goes off? [/quote]
Use the alarms just to ‘notify’ you of activity at your rod. Do not strike if the alarm sounds. You can then use the advice I gave you for the strike above.
Please excuse my grammar and spelling as I didn’t double check myself, lol.
I’ve received some advice from Skuimkop to post my questions here regarding barbel, so that all may answer, an all may learn from expert advice. [/quote]
See it worked now I don't have to type that much anymore, hahaha
[/quote]My goal this year is to land a 15kg cat. Currently my PB cat is only 3kg.
I fish mostly with my uncle, we planning trips to either rietvlei, roopdeplaat, the Vaal or anywhere where we could catch really, sometime this year.
I'd like to catch small ones first then work my way up. [/quote]
I don't think you will catch 15 kilo plus barbel at Rietvlei as I understand it. At Roodeplaat you will get them but you are going to battle and might lose interest. I'm going to target Dinokeng at Roodeplaat this year myself as it is on my doorstep, lol. Places you can look to get your 15 kilo plus at the Vaal are Tago, Collage farm, Roslea's and at Barrage. You will get that 15 kilo plus at other venues but my homework tells me the above mentioned venue must have good food sources for the Cats, structures and/or good 'landscapes' that suits the bigger Cats. Reason why I say this is because I hear of 15 - 19 kilo Cats coming out there more often than the other venues. Here and there you here of bigger Cats at these venues. Other excellent venues you can consider strongly are Die Hoek at Bloemhof dam, Bloemhof dam, Venues at the Vaal river (especially near Parys) and offcoarse the Oranje river.
and if I can give you more advise start straight away to target the big Cats because practice makes perfect. Old cliché I know but what will happen if you find yourself at a venue which holds big Cats and you don't know how to target them? Yes you can target the small Cats on lite tackle as Antjar is doing and myself.
[/quote]My gear:
2 x 11foot black widow carp rods,
2 x 7ft shimano carp combo rods & reels.
1 x 7ft pioneer combo rod & reel.[/quote]
Don't know the black widdow rods but the other seems fine. You might want to look into getting yourself proper Cat rods like for example Ugly sticks, Airaki red Bayliner, Penn, Sensation big game and Shimano rods made for big game fishing. These are surprisingly not expensive.
[/quote]My approach:[/quote]
Before we start here remember that you must use rigs, gear and technique that you believe in and feel comfortable with using and that makes sense to you. There is thousands of ways to catch the Cats but try everything and keep what works for you.
[/quote]After reading a lot of posts. I was thinking of fishing:
1st rod- earthworm on parternoster rig.[/quote]
Nothing wrong here only thing I don't like about this rig is if you fish with a stiff line so you can see the bite with a policemen the Cat might feel the tension on the line and can then leave your baits alone. I like to use rigs like sliding sinkers so there is no resistance on the baits when the Cat picks it up.
Tip: You can try earthworms on the hair rig with the help of a maggot clip. The strike rate is much higher with this method and don't sit with 'just' earthworms, try to have 'miswurms' (cutworm) and crickets/cockroaches at your disposal.
[/quote]2nd rod- fish head, circle hook top lip. [/quote]
I’m not a big fan of circle hooks but I reckon if you are going to use them you must first understand the ‘mechanics’ of the circle hook. The big game circle hook ‘bobs’ (if I can describe it like that) to one side of the mouth (different to Carp fishing which swings downwards to hook the soft bottom lip) as you tightens your drag on your reel and the bait start to slide out of the Cats mouth and then hooks on that soft but very tough leathery like tissue in the corner of the mouth. You want to exploit this fact to the upmost. That is why I won’t hook (if I must use circle hooks, haha) my circle hook threw the bait itself but I will rather use it on the hair rig to ‘free’ the circle hook to ‘bob’ freely to the corner of the mouth. Will post a pick of my rig if I can find it, lol.
Tip: Look for circle hooks with an offset.
[/quote]3rd rod- mielie bomb + dough, rietvlei or babyshoes rig. (For carp) [/quote]
I will go with the sliding Rietvlei because of the baits I use and the ‘mechanics’ of the rig. I put baits that will lie on the bottom (mielies, dough) of the dam on the bottom hook because that bait will lie next to your mielie bom. Floaties, floating artificial maize/mielies, maggots and baits I use with floating foam (earthworms) that will be buoyant I put on the top hook because as your bomb brakes up some of the mielie bomb particles will rise or start to float putting your baits right in there path on their way up to the surface. The Babyshoes rig are seldomly used but still remains a good rig especially in the right conditions.
Tip: If the small fish bothers you and you struggle to catch bigger fish for big baits make use of the ‘haas oortjies’ metode –translated: ‘rabbit ears’ method to give the bigger fish the change to get to your baits. Just note your tempo will decrease.
[/quote]4th rod- sweet dough, small hooks (For muddies). [/quote]
Not a boffin here but what I understand and seen is that plain dough works very well for muddy’s and that you must use small hooks as you mentioned. The ‘boer strop’ (rig) or also called the ‘Vaaldam strop’ (rig) I believe is also the way to go.
[/quote]5th rod- (day old chick. If I can get).
circle hook under spine. [/quote]
Very good Cat bait especially in the right time of year and in the right conditions. Actually it is a good overall bait to always have with you. I hook them threw the head and neck or by the tail. My thinking here is it will be easier for the Cat to swallow the chick from the front or back rather than in the width of the chick. Again same counts for the circle hooks as I mentioned above.
Tip: Experiment on the day with the day olds just as they are or by removing the feathers and/or punchering the stomach. And for the bigger cats you can make use of the ‘chicken bomb’ or ‘chicken boilie’ as I jokingly describe it. Will see if I have a pic on my laptop.
[/quote]>If I'm fishing from the bank how long should I let these baits lie in the water? [/quote]
It depends on too many different factors like time of day, season, temperature, water, structures, venue, day code, size of the bait and off coarse the size of the Cats in the dam/river. Good rule of thumb is to go with your cut feel. Bait will lie longer during the day as Cats are nocturnal hunters but if it is cloudy or rainy your baits won’t necessarily lie that long. If you use big baits your baits are going to lie longer as well. Etc etc. If you wish I can discuss it in more detail later on.
[/quote]>>And wat distance should I cast them out? [/quote]>
Good rule of thumb here is to search and target structure such as reeds, old trees, rocks, drop offs etc. During the night there is no need to go deep as the Cats move into the shallows to go on the hunt. Avoid light over the water and noise on the bank.
Tip: Think where the Cat’s natural pray would hide from the Cats and target those areas. Example: If there are a lot of small Kurpers in the shallows try to catch yourself some of them and then drop your bait close to where they move but so that the Cat can get to your bait.
[/quote]1 thing that confuses me is when to strike: [/quote]
Difficult to say but again go with your gut feel. I must just mention that you will know when a Cat takes off with your bait and do not jump the gun as Dorsal mentioned. With big baits they normally pick it up and give a good consistent run. After this run they most of the time take the bait and takes off. Either like a lightning bolt or again a very but strong consistent run. These are big boys that pick your bait up like this. You will also note that this run most of the times will be in the direction of some structures. Medium size Cats sometimes will toy with your bait. You will hear a very irritating grr, grr, grr of your reel the whole time and almost always when you want to sleep. Ps: Big Cats can play with your bait in this manner as well but not as often (see tip at bottom). If you are using a big bait it is most probably a small Cat that can’t swallow your bait. If it isn’t a big bait you are using then you will have two or three runs before the ‘take run’. The reason for this is that and we are speculating here is that the smaller Cat pics up the bait and just moves it away (holding the bait just between his lips) from all the other Cats that are swimming in and near the sent trail the bait created. He then drops the bait somewhere where he feels his meal is safe for now. Now one of two things can happen. He then will either:
1) Swallows the bait and moves off with it. This is where you must strike (J-hook) or tighten your drag (circle).
Or
2) He will move the bait to a more secure place where he will drop it again (making it the third run). He will now take it’s time (you will think your bait is off) to turn and swallow the bait. He might even lie in his ‘lair’ for a while before he will take off (Ps: Remember this turn of events on that rod so that you don’t start counting it as the first run if he moves again) either like a steam train or slowly but in a strong consistent manner.
Note: During this process he might decide he doesn’t want the bait and then you will notice the short runs again as another Cat shows interest in your bait. Start the above process over in such a case.
Note: With the hair rig you will find a lot of times that your bait gets picked up immediately and all hell breaks loose. This I believe is because the ‘loose’ hook caught him in his mouth which he didn’t expect and then tries to flee, obviously with hook set. In such a case I hope your drag are loose otherwise some other angler are going to catch a Cat with a rod and reel combo freebee, hahaha.
Tip: If the Cats (big or small) toys with your bait (your reel will grr, grr, grr the whole time) you can then take your line into your hands and pull the line in until you can clearly feel that a good yank will move your bait. Step forward (towards the water) and take a good stretch to take your line in your hand as far as you can and wait until you feel the Cat again starting to toy with your bait. As this happens give a step or two backwards and yank hard on your line. This must happen in such a way that there are no doubt in your mind that you yanked the bait right out of the Cat’s mouth/grasp. Reel up the excess line. One of two things will most probably happen:
1) If it was a small Cat you could/would have chased it away. The small runs on your bait will then stop for a good period of time.
Or
2) If it was a medium to big Cat he will have to make a discussion
2a) he doesn’t want the bait and he will then leave it and will move on.
Or
2b) he must take this food source or he will lose it to another Cat. This normally ends up on a very aggressive take and you can expect to strike or tighten your drag on this first run. I call it the Frik maneuver and it works. Dorsal does something in the same line.
[/quote]>If I'm fishing with policemen I would have them 3/4 down so that the cat has minimal resistance? [/quote]
I actually don’t use a policemen but that is only because I only use multiplier reels which has a loud drag setting whereby I can hear the runs loud and clear. I use them only at night time to quickly identify which rod was running. I also use a baby monitor to hear the runs in the tent but the way you describe you use it sounds 100%.
[/quote]>If I'm using alarms, should I strike as soon as the alarm goes off? [/quote]
Use the alarms just to ‘notify’ you of activity at your rod. Do not strike if the alarm sounds. You can then use the advice I gave you for the strike above.
Please excuse my grammar and spelling as I didn’t double check myself, lol.
Dagse' skuim moenie worry nie jou grammar is 100%
I'd like to thank u to u and everyone who has given there opinion,(mana for all);-)
if there r anymore to comment pls feel free, we can never stop learning, that's y I love sealine, we learn something, every time we log in
:sval:
Dankie vir al die raad manne
Tight Lines
I'd like to thank u to u and everyone who has given there opinion,(mana for all);-)
if there r anymore to comment pls feel free, we can never stop learning, that's y I love sealine, we learn something, every time we log in
:sval:Dankie vir al die raad manne
Tight Lines
Excellent thread! Great posts guys. I Havent caught a barbel before other than those pesky bait snatchers that weigh nothing more than a few grams:lol:1. Mainly because I only fish carp nowadays (coz I lost interest in barbel fishing a while ago due to numerous cat-less outings) but with the season approaching and all this sought after info I've read, I might just go out and try and break my barbel deadlock. 
Ja nee dis sommer nonsens, lol.
Lets see if we can assist you to catch real fish, not that Carpy crap, hahaha
.
So lets start with the venue you would prefer to target. I will start a new post for you later on so we don't hijack this post or you can start a new post if you want.
Lets see if we can assist you to catch real fish, not that Carpy crap, hahaha
. So lets start with the venue you would prefer to target. I will start a new post for you later on so we don't hijack this post or you can start a new post if you want.
I'll start a thread now now.Good day guys. Love the info being shared.
My 2 cents worth. If your targeting barbel id just target barbel. Overnight session is a must if you do not know the water well. Daytime fishing for cats can be extremly frustrating. I can name 2 waters i fish for barbel in the day time. Night will be your best chance. Leave your baits in the whole night, do as dorsalfin recommended. Just move them around every now and then. You will need a canoe or soemthing of that effect to place baits. With yourset up id fish one rod shallow, just past your casting distance with a big bait. The others i would stagger, you need to find the band of water these guys are feeding in. I would solely use big bait. Big bait equals big fish, circle hooks are the only way to go, just my experience. But as skuim said learn how to use them first, if you have not used them before you will miss a fish or 2 before you get the technique right. But once you have close to 100% of every run you get will result in a fish. I personally would use bait you have caught in that dam. Reason being it is what the fish are naturally eating. Big fish got big because they are smart, what you will find with catfishing is that it becomes a game of chess. Also as skuim suggested use a sliding sinker rig, any resistance felt by the fish and he is gone and wont be coming back. If you have bait runners this will be great, other wise fish oin the lightest drag you can. Again any resistance and say good buy to the fish. With a larger bait give the fish some time to position it in his mouth and than strike, again know what you are doing with a circle hook or you are going to miss him. There is some great advice on here, im sure you will reach your goal. Keep us filled in on your progress.
Tight Lines
My 2 cents worth. If your targeting barbel id just target barbel. Overnight session is a must if you do not know the water well. Daytime fishing for cats can be extremly frustrating. I can name 2 waters i fish for barbel in the day time. Night will be your best chance. Leave your baits in the whole night, do as dorsalfin recommended. Just move them around every now and then. You will need a canoe or soemthing of that effect to place baits. With yourset up id fish one rod shallow, just past your casting distance with a big bait. The others i would stagger, you need to find the band of water these guys are feeding in. I would solely use big bait. Big bait equals big fish, circle hooks are the only way to go, just my experience. But as skuim said learn how to use them first, if you have not used them before you will miss a fish or 2 before you get the technique right. But once you have close to 100% of every run you get will result in a fish. I personally would use bait you have caught in that dam. Reason being it is what the fish are naturally eating. Big fish got big because they are smart, what you will find with catfishing is that it becomes a game of chess. Also as skuim suggested use a sliding sinker rig, any resistance felt by the fish and he is gone and wont be coming back. If you have bait runners this will be great, other wise fish oin the lightest drag you can. Again any resistance and say good buy to the fish. With a larger bait give the fish some time to position it in his mouth and than strike, again know what you are doing with a circle hook or you are going to miss him. There is some great advice on here, im sure you will reach your goal. Keep us filled in on your progress.
Tight Lines