River Fishing Tips | PVA or feeder for barbel? - Alfie Naylor

Both the feeder and PVA bag have their place in barbel fishing and are brilliant tactics at delivering loose-feed close to your hookbait.

Personally, I think that a PVA bag and lead arrangement creates much less disturbance than a feeder. The feeder does work for the bigger barbel, though, if you want to slowly build a swim by constantly casting and introducing bait.

The feeder is a great tool to build a swim with feed

When fishing for barbel on rivers like the Trent, I like to put a fairly big bed of bait out at the start, then have one cast with a bag on and leave the bait out until I get a take. After each fish, I’ll top up with two bait droppers of feed.

I prefer to use a PVA bag for a ‘bait and wait’ approach

I feel the disturbance from me landing a fish pushes them away from the baited area, and now is the time to feed the swim again.

Both methods will catch big barbel if used correctly