By Pat Gillett;
It is surprising how many anglers that give up and sit in the house just because the river is flooded or even in some cases just carrying a bit of extra water. For years it was a commonly accepted theory that it was always best to fish a river just as it was ‘fining’ down after a flood. Over the last few years though (especially on rivers such as the lower Severn) it has been recognised that for barbel the opposite is in fact true. The fish will very often feed the hardest at the ‘top of the flood’ in fact on a couple of occasions using two rods I have had a brace of double figure fish hooked at the same time.
If you wait till the river is fining down there is a good chance that you will struggle as the barbel will have probably gorged themselves during the high water levels and will no longer be feeding for a while. Obviously here I am talking about extra water that is in the river due to rain and which will generally cause the river temperature to be on the rise. If the extra water is cold (such as snow melt) it can be the kiss of death. The same can be said if you suddenly get a few frosts when the river is in flood. High coloured cold water and you are going to be ‘scratching’ for a bite.
So as long as you can fish safely get out there and give it a go. Some of the biggest barbel have been caught when the rivers are in flood, probably the most famous for the Midlands area was Howard Maddocks’ record fish caught from the Lower Severn when the level was so high there were only one or two areas that were fishable.My standard approach is to use two rods (where possible) . I will generally fish one rod upstream and one straight out in front or just downstream. One rod will carry a large modified Drennan oval feeder carrying whatever extra weight is required to comfortably hold bottom. This feeder is usually filled with 4mm pellets and the bait is a chopped down 15mm Quest Special Crab boilie which is wrapped in paste. This rod will be fished static and left in for up to an hour at a time if conditions allow. The other rod is usually set up to take a big lead and used in a more roving role. I will also regularly change baits on this rod because at times the barbel can be contrary creatures and will prefer a certain bait on any given date. Good alternative baits to try are flavoured luncheon meat, flavoured meat balls and also large halibut pellets. The Quest bait glugs can be used for flavouring the luncheon meat and meatballs. You are basically looking for anything that will give off a good flavour trail.
If you get to know your stretch of river during the summer this will stand you in good stead for the winter flood fishing as you will have a fair knowledge of where the snags are etc. Snag swims are best avoided when flood fishing. If you are fishing a new stretch in the winter during the floods then look for swims which are smooth on the surface (usually means a gravely/ smooth river bed with no snags) and where the current is not racing through. Other good swims are crease swims where two different flows meet, cattle drinks and sluices. If there is a lot of debris coming down the river then it is a good idea to fish downstream of any bushes or bankside foliage as this will collect a lot of the debris and stop it from all gathering around your tackle.
I hope this has got a few of you thinking and willing to give the floodwater fishing a go because lets face it, the way the winters are going now we are going to have plenty of times when the rivers are flooded.
Cheers, Pat
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