River Fishing Tips | How to find barbel on a flooded river - Dai Gribble
In prolonged floods, barbel seem to gradually move out of the main flow into slower flowing water. I suspect this coincides with them having fed well and preferring to rest up in areas where they need to expend less energy.
Barbel will move away from fast flows in prolonged floods
This helps you locate the barbel as once the river has been in flood for a couple of days, they are more likely to be found in the classic flood swims where the flow is less than in the main river.
I’d look for the following:
Bends with slack water on the inside and a crease where the main flow passes by.
Cattle drinks where there is slow-flowing or slack water out of the main current.
Slacker water behind overhanging obstructions such trees.
Deep holes where the barbel can lie in slower flows beneath the main pace of floodwater.
Slacks downstream of large bridge supports.
Search out slacker areas of water for barbel in times of flood
Specimen Fishing Tips | The rig for roach on coloured rivers - Phil Taylor
The float is unbeatable for river roach, but only in the right conditions. The rapid pace of the water after a deluge of rain often rules this out. The beauty of the float is its sensitivity for shy-biting species like roach. A feeder is a little too clumsy for my tastes.
The answer lies in the old-fashioned link-leger, the resistance of which the fish will struggle to detect when picking the bait up.
I clip several SSG shot on to a length of line that is tied to the mainline, using just enough shot to hold bottom. The link itself is around 6ins long. This means that when a fish picks up the bait the shot will remain on the deck and the first bit of resistance it will feel is the rod tip. By that point I’ll have seen the bite, struck and hooked the fish.
Try a link-leger for roach when floodwater makes a float too difficult to control