One thing that we can confidently say about barbel, due to their wide-ranging diet, is that they will literally eat anything. They can be caught on dead baits and a number of anglers even target them with fly fishing tactics. However, for the sake of this article we are going to look at baits from a beginner’s point of view and so will be sticking with more conventional ones.

Baits such as maggot or caster will freely take barbel, and it hasn’t been that long ago, before the advent of the commercials, when matches on the Middle Severn were won with huge weights of fish taken on swimfeeder tactics. And whilst angling fashion changes just like everything else, these baits will still catch barbel today.

However, the big downside of maggot and caster is that they will also attract every other fish in the river! Fish maggot on the River Teme in the summer and even though you may set out with the intention to remain dedicated, after the minnow count passes the three figure barrier you may just start to get discouraged. The winter however, could be a different proposition, but there are still more ideal baits.

In order to eliminate the smaller fish and remain focused on barbel, you have to consider a larger or harder bait – or both. The traditional one (although it’s bigger but not that firm) for many years now has been tinned meat, and whilst it probably isn’t as popular as it used to be, it still works. A cube of luncheon meat can be fished either directly on the hook or with a hair rig presentation.

Many a good barbel has been captured on something that can be bought from the shelf of any supermarket in the country. And if your confidence struggles with tinned meat (as it can be a bit on the soft side and often anglers wonder whether it is still on the hook after they have cast out) then why not try one of my favourite baits – peperami. I’ve had many a good fish on a small piece hair rigged.

One of the reasons that meat has dropped down the popularity scale is that pellets and boilies have come into their own in recent years. And for anyone that has used either bait, it’s easy to see why their respective stars are on the ascendancy. They are easy to fish with, are not expensive and above all produce the goods. And one of the big advantages of these is that you will eliminate smaller fish. Not that you will avoid catching decent chub or bream, but that’s another story!

It’s also worth mentioning pastes as barbel bait. The beauty of using paste is that it can be moulded to the hook and therefore you have the flexibility of being able to increase or decrease size accordingly. And if you make your own paste you also have the advantage of being in total control of the ingredients that go into it. There’s nothing more satisfying than catching something on one of your own concoctions.

And finally it’s worth mentioning flavours. Although boilies (which I use for the majority of my barbel fishing these days) and pastes are the obvious candidates, other baits can also be used in conjunction with dips. Meat, peperami and so on can all be soaked in a whole array of flavours, whilst hook bait boilies and pastes can be dipped to give them the edge over any freebies put out.