Barbel on the fly: techniques, flies and curiosities

Premise

We are in April 2020, in isolation due to the Covid19 world pandemic, an experience that unfortunately will change our lives forever. Writing in chat with various people among groups of friends and anglers, I rediscover photos saved over the years of fly-caught barbels: what good memories! So, having strangely so much time available, I decide to write this article for the blog, which I think will be very useful especially to those who, like me until 5 years ago, ask themselves: but how do you fishing barbels with the fly?
I will accompany you in this story, made of both technical aspects and an emotional side experienced personally and fortunately I could share with some fishing friends!

I had already been fly fishing for a few years, when I made up my mind to figure out how to catch at least one of the beautiful barbels that populated the bottom of the Taro river. This was the river where I started fly fishing, fishing for shads. But I'll talk about this in another article, now let's go back to the barbels. Asking around friends and acquaintances, who fished in the most varied spots between mountain streams and rivers, and reading on the web that it was enough to get the nymphs to the bottom, I tried the classic nymph tied for trout. Big leaded nymphs to go down as much as possible, changing colors and sizes but nothing for 3 years! And I kept asking myself: but why? Why do others make it and I don't? Why do they make it so easy and say that you just have to go to the bottom with the flies? Well, the speech is more complex and articulated than you can imagine, meanwhile we must differentiate what are the "local" barbs or the Barbel Common or Padano Barbel (Barbus Plebejus), from those that I was facing, that is the Spanish Barbel or Iberian Barbel. Then there is also a discussion of the seabed and environments, between a river of the valley bottom which is still torrential in character, where the barbels live in promiscuity with trouts and graylings, and a riverbed of the lower Po valley with a cyprinid regime. The barbels in my objective in fact, were in part resident fish of the river, but in large part fish that go up from the Po river together with glanis and shads in spring for reproduction, and then return from where they came with the falling levels in summer. Then as I said a few lines above for the speech of the backdrop, the barbel must be "within reach" of fly rod. The Taro in March, April, May also occurs with depths well beyond the meter, with really very fast water (melting snow of the Apennines). So even if you can catch a glimpse of the bottom, it's not at all easy for the nymph to pass at the height of their mouth. Because basically the trick is all there: to bring the artificial exactly against the mouth of the fish, even a few centimeters away make the difference between success and failure! So starting to reason with his friend Carlo, always the same, him: the salt water angler who occasionally gets himself convinced to face even freshwater fish! We started to analyze more than the "how to do", the "where I was wrong", we tried to cross our experiences and sources: he had already had some sporadic catches fishing to go down with a sinking tail making the fliess work on the bottom, but not a nymph as we intended. When I was still spinning I remember that I also caught barbels with a rotating Mepps when the lure ran close to the bottom. In addition, several fly fishermen who reach the Taro in the spring to catch the shads, fishing with very sinking lines, catch them! So the fish attacks, it is not strictly a bait speech, we had to be able to catch them as a nymph!

And here three elements come into play: research, strategy, approach. Now we will analyze them step by step.

Ideal spot and season

We had to look for the spots best suited to our technique, which in this case has big limits compared to those who manage to fish barbels in the Bolognese technique. You need a spot where the barbel is not too far from the tip of the rod, it is a spot not more than one and a half meters deep, because after you lose the visibility as well as the control and you can not go well in fishing. So the ideal are either the heads or the final parts of the pools, or not too fast scrapers or medium-small pools, not too deep precisely. As for the spot and the search, in our case the period factor also comes into play, given that, since we are dealing with fish, we unfortunately did not have the whole year available to study them, as instead it could be in spots where the barbels they remain sedentary throughout the year. Also the fact of facing a river that is affected by the melting of the snow in spring and the summer dry, has had a great impact on our experience. In fact, the "good time" is concentrated in a few days / weeks a year or when the level is neither too high to be able to face it in fly, nor too low to bring the barbel back to the Po.

Equipment

Once we understood where to catch them, Carlo literally pulled the trump card, with the "perfect leader" for that fish, in our river. It was necessary to work "L" between the tip of the rod and the bottom.
The fly line is not used, only the nylon leader in order to get better, faster and directly into the fishing.

So the line remains entirely inside the reel, and the following ending starts from there:

- A leader of about 9mt, which starts from 0.50-0.45 and reaches 0.25-0.20.
- About 2 meters from the end, a first loop is made to which a small carabiner is placed.
- Leads are inserted at the carabiner according to the current and depth of the spot (in our case from 1 to 3 gr) (we speak of spherical leads to which a "U" wire is crushed inside to form the ring to insert them in the carabiner).
- From what remains of the finish between the carabiner slot and the tip, 3 buttonholes are made: one 50 cm from the carabiner, another 50 cm from the previous one, and one at the tip.
- These 3 eyelets are attached to 3 nylon or fluorocarbon armrests of 0.18 about 7-10cm long (no more) to which the nymphs attach (this obviously in waters where it is possible to fish with more than 2 hooks tied to the line).
The armrests (tippet) tend to keep them thinner than the central "leader" so that if a nymph or perdigones gets stuck on the bottom and we have to tear, we do not lose the whole frame but only an artificial and an armrest.

As for rod and reel, the ideal is a 9' or 9'6" rod for line #4 or #5, because a compromise is needed between a rod that is powerful enough to contrast these real trains, and at the same sensitive time to feel the bottom. Then we tried them all, rods 10' and 11' also for line #3 and #4, we do very well but then it becomes difficult to bring them to the landing net. A #6 line rod is also excellent, even if it starts to slightly lose sensitivity at the tip to make this fishing.

The reel must have a perfectly functioning clutch, and at will you can keep the line or load it only with backing and leader.

Very important thing: get a nice wide landing net! This fish when it starts to feel "the thin" of the shore starts to go crazy, so a nice big landing net will definitely help us!

Last thing, which may seem obvious for those who already practice fly fishing: an excellent pair of polarized glasses.

Flies

We have tested a bit of everything, understanding that it is not only the fly itself that makes the difference, but getting the nymphs to the mouth correctly. Perdigon, imitations of worms, Pheasant Tail with fluo orange bead, classic trout nymphs, San Juan Worm, Squirmy Worms.They are all dressing that are fine.
In the traits frequented by Bolognese fishermen, therefore where the fish is accustomed to being groundbait, the imitation of the kitten is also excellent!

Approach

The approach maintained at the first few times is the same as that which we have continued to pursue in the future: enter the river slowly, possibly behind/laterally to the fish, let's say at an angle of 45° with respect to it. Then by "casting" or rather laying the nymphs upstream, the tip of the rod is kept upstream of the fish for as long as possible, so as to sink the nymphs before the point where the barbel is found. We continue to maintain control throughout the pass, "feeling" practically every single stone on the bottom. Then when the ending stops, for the first half second it is difficult to distinguish if it is for the bottom or for the fish, but after the other half of a second, if it is the fish you can feel it! The leader begins to change course and it's strike!

Story

It was a hot and sunny afternoon in May 2015 when the first catch came, for him Carlo, I almost start to cry: so yes, we can also take the barbels! These barbels! After that my turn came, and finally I had one of those trains in the barrel! What a show! Once I figured out how to do it, I have and we have also made "blind" captures, that is, knowing the certain presence of the barbel in that spot, and making passers-by on the bottom near the living areas, great success! From there it was all downhill: now that we had understood the game, we had to face even more difficult spots and understand what the most suitable equipment setup was.

Speak Carlo:

“After I heard on the phone with Matteo, who had this wonderful initiative of writing a nice article that tells about fishing for a barbel's nymph, I practically forced him to carve out a personal corner to tell some anecdotes of that beautiful day. I wanted to complete this article by sharing with him, and with you who read me, about this experience and moment that we shared together, one of the many happened to crown what I consider one of the greatest fishing friends and beyond.

24/05/2015

Wake up before dawn for an "any attempt" on a morning ascent of the shads in Taro. They are on the spot at the right time, with some other fishermen, all intent on trying to catch some pair, which are rather desired because of the falling levels. After a morning to freak out with the #10 obtaining little more than a "zero fish", known not far from me a bunch of barbels. Immediately, Matteo's voice echoes in my head, so eager to concretize the capture of one of these fish that is still missing from the appeal of the fish caught in the fly. To tell the truth, I personally miss it if only for some accidental catches that can take place in this period. Shads don't go up today, so what do you do? After a few moments of hesitation, I remember having a rod in a corner of my car that could adapt to some experiment, so I run to the car to deposit the #10 and I go back with a 9 '#5 to which I connect a nymph, not convinced of what really could be done. I soon realize that I am absolutely not fishing, and although I changed the type of nymphs and above all the weight I noticed that the presentation was not effective or in depth, or naturally. A few thoughts on my set-up and I convince myself to mount 3 flies, of which that of the first arm is very heavy and the last two are very light and natural. I reposition myself and launch upstream of the pack, follow the pass until the train arrives near the pack, and here I feel a decisive stop at the end to which I immediately respond with a strike. I was not ready for such a reaction, the fish starts very fast upstream and breaks me almost immediately without even allowing me to react. But something had turned on me, maybe I really understood how to do it! "Well guys, it's only postponed!" I say to myself, and go home to eat and rest from the early rising. The afternoon, however, in my head I had too many thoughts to be able to rest and divert my attention from my gimmick. I had the day off, and I had to try again because I felt that today something Matteo and I had been looking for could have happened. I change and go back down. I park the car, get ready in a hurry and go to the pool with only the barrel "for the barbels" mounted properly with some details (which you will find in the dedicated section). I reposition myself in the same place this morning and wait for them ... and they always reposition themselves there. A few pitches to take the measurements without frightening them, then one straight to the point. Again that stop, again my strike having previously set the clutch and mentally ready to run after him. He starts, and I also shoot in response. This time he didn't catch me unprepared, he pulls some nice heads on the bottom alternating with joints that I now expect and manage to manage. After a few intense minutes I will get the best of it and lay it down on the still wet shore. The usual photo, with the fly rod resting on the side, and immediately a Whatsapp to Matteo: "Barbel on the fly: YOU CAN DO IT!". Matteo doesn't even reply to the message, he calls me. He asks for explanations and I tell him that he will receive all the details as soon as he arrives down, because I knew it would come. My afternoon continues with a couple more catches, but suddenly, in the distance, I hear very loud footsteps and I turn to look. In the distance I catch a glimpse of Matteo running towards me. As soon as he arrives, he tells me he wants proof of how I did it, still incredulous. We lurk in two, wait for the herd to form and in the meantime I explain to him how I was successful, then my words to announce the action: "Now look". Launch upstream, we follow the final observing on sight the barbel who suddenly discards to catch my fly. The strike, but immediately it unleashes me. Not bad, Matteo is in seventh heaven and declares: “It is the same if he has lost heart! I saw clearly! You did it! You managed to make nymphs! ”. This afternoon he will continue with 5 other catches, some of which finally also by Matteo after having treasured some observations. One of the moments that I will remember with greatest pleasure will be his first nymph barbel. After ascertaining that it was not the bottom, but a beautiful fish, Matteo slips his cell phone out of his pocket and starts recording a video. I ask him if he was sure of what he was doing, in the water up to his waist with his cell phone in his right hand and the rod in his left hand with a nice furred barbel. In response he tells me he wanted to capture that moment and he didn't care if he lost the fish. However, we will be able to bring this fish to the fly net, a small fly net that I detached from the vest to dive under the fish's head and try to let it in as much as possible given the scarce size of the tool (which, from that day, I will always keep reminding him that the fly net wants big!). The ritual photos, the release and the smiles of satisfaction. A day that we will always remember. "

Conclusion

After all this experience on the Spanish Barbels of the Taro (or of the Po if you prefer), I found the approach to the barbels much easier also in other spots both in Italy and abroad.
I had a lot of fun with the friends of the Anglers group on the Brenta river in Bassano del Grappa, there I finally found the "Local" barbels, golden, beautiful! In this case I fished them with a classic nymph like trout are caught, only letting the flies go slightly on the bottom without using sinkers or tungsten paste. A lust!
Then I found the Spanish barbels, in the company of other fishes like carps and chubs also on Savinja in Slovenia between trout and grayling! (say border area between cyprinid waters and salmonid waters).
It is the last one I am writing to you today, even in the chalk stream! Yes, on Lia and Piavesella I had the opportunity to fish barbels, in the company of my friend Marco. A crazy female specimen that I put among the various photos that will follow.

The fly fishing of the barbel as you have understood, following some advice, is not so impossible and I believe that whoever tries it will be fascinated by it just like it happened to me! Then yes, if you want to see it from the point of view that it is not fly fishing, but alternative fly fishing "catching fish WITH the fly rod" I fully agree. Because, at least as we learned to deal with the barbels in Taro, it is more like a traditional fishing than a nymph fishing. But then when you wind it, you have a barbel even above 2kg attached to the fly rod! And there you have to run!

To fish together and experience these emotions go to page contacts.

See you next time :)

Matteo Lavezzini