The Fish I REALLY Wanted! Centrepin Trotting On Rivers 

Hi I am paul been fishing since i was 4 i am 5 now no 48 a all round angler love it i was buzzing with you getting that barbel mint start just started watching you good luck its not easy trotting keep trying thats best way

I am always consistently surprised you have “only” 20,000 subscribers. Worthy of even more! Much more for me

You should try centerpin fishing for trout to, pins are hella fun when water is deep

Love this video! So nice to see barbel caught on float. I trot meat on a pin at Elvaston on the Derwent there's no better way to catch them 👍🏻

When I returned to fishing as an old codger, I did little of the same styles I practised when young. I learned trotting with a centrepin and lure fishing. Now I’m learning to use baitcasters and a closed-faced reel. It does make you a better angler, but it’s also great for your mental fitness I think. I love every minute. Even the odd birdsnest 😂

The ultimate fishing rush to catch a good fish on new gear and using a new technique which you have planned and executed

Challenging conditions Andy cuz these floods but did short evening session when water & nice 3lb Chub on the bread feeder & flake on hook & went home happy,tight lines

I really enjoyed this, mate! Brought back lots of memories for me of trotting for barbel on the Severn in years gone by. It's great to see your enthusiasm and unbridled joy when that barbel hit the net! Wonderful!

Bloody brilliant! I had ago for barbel for my first time ever in September. Just like you ended up buying a new rod and other bits and bats. Caught my first one on 3rd trip and was only in water 20mins. Was a unreal fight and I went mental when it was in the net telling myself well done 😂 awesome mate, completely get the feeling your bud gives out!

Hi Andy, I used to fish for barbel before the addiction for fly fishing took hold! My first barbel was while float fishing for grayling using a pin and trotting through on the upper Severn. The depth change issue is resolved by checking the line - hold your rod thumb against the centre pin’s rim near the rod. The bait then lifts off the bottom. Takes a bit of practice and sometimes you’ll find that just by feathering the rim lightly it will be enough to slow the pace of the float over snags etc. Use pressure on the rim to control the fish as a sort of drag, it will be one second nature in no time. Another tip, take off your line guard if you can and have the line coming off the top of the centre pin. It takes a while to get used to winding backwards to retrieve but it reduces the inertia so the line travels easier. You taught me so much on our guided session last year so I thought it would be good to give a bit back. Incidentally, if you really get into it, invest in an Adcock Stanton centre pin but make sure you get one with a check. Some of the early ones didn’t have one but you can pick them up off eBay pretty reasonably. Forget about the ridiculous price of old Ariels etc., the Adcock beats them hands down imho. Many thanks, Carl Waine

wonderful. Another string to your bow. Really great to see genuine excitement on your face as you showed the fish to the camera. Well done Andy.

Bloody awesome Andy!

Brilliant! Well done!🎉

Great effort and getting bites, personally with luncheon meat I like to a use 15mm pipe punch trim it a little let the hook point show and put shrink tubing on hook shank to help hold meat. Hope that helps

Congrats on the 20k! Lots more adverts 😡 Looking forward to barbel fishing on the Trent next year 🤞🏽

Brilliant Andy never loose that excitement of catching superb 👏 🎣

Great video it's always fun to try something new when you go fishing

Hi Andy brilliant video you can’t beat catching on a new method and what a barbel it was 🎣good luck

Good on ye Andy!!!!!!! And again, another great vlog 😁👍

Enjoyed that mate well done 👏 🎣

Love this Video Andy. I'm obsessed with fishing for Barbel on the float. My new obsession is fly fishing on river after acquiring some fly gear from a passed friend. In my Xmas stocking will be a guided day with yourself to get me on the way.

Well done Andy! Cracking fish. Enjoyed watching.

Awesome mate, cracking video 👌🏻👍🏻

Great video, nice to see honesty at the forefront. What a beautiful fish and your technique is getting there😊. A lovely piece of water with some lovely scenery. Keep ‘em coming.

Lovely to see you trying this, I agree so nice to take on all aspects of fishing. I spend 80% of my time with a float rod and Centerpin in my hands. I too use Olivets, but will go back traditional shot in these situations, you can lift some of the weight up nearer to the float to get you over those ledges. Looking at the water you are fishing you definitely don’t need all that bulk down low. Hold it back as it first enters the water to get the bait in front and ease it into the trot letting it speed up as you clear the ledges. Don’t ever feed line off your pin, should never be a need for that. I would have said the time of year is perfect and switch to a traditional metal bait dropper, those plastic ones look hard work. Also loose feed your hemp every cast, it will get down in the water you are fishing. Love the work, keep them coming. Tight lines, jon Barrett

That was a great brown to show such disappointment with! Interesting video, I've never seen that technique before. Good job!

I did the same a few years ago, bought a centrepin with the hop of using it but got terrified of it, thats me now, this weekend im off to use mine , thanks for the motivation

Congrats on your 20k+ subs...and a beautiful Derwent barbel...well floated and trotted :)👏

Cracking Barbel & quality video & gave me some good ideas on me own fishing,cheers mate tight lines

Top angling Andy. Nice one. I’m gonna have to sneak some more kit in to the garage again after watching that !

Great video Andy, congratulations on a stunning barbel 👏 Hope you vlog some more of your trotting sessions, I will be trying shads and crank baits for the first time this winter 🫣

Brilliant Andy - well done mate. Great to see barbel in the Derbyshire Derwent & that far upstream. I grew up fishing a little downstream in Darley Dale and I understand decent barbel are coming out down there too. You have inspired me to leave my local Trent & Dove and head back up the A6. 👍👍

Great fish! Love seeing this other content as a multi-species/method angler. Would love to see some more pike and perch vids. I've caught some of my best perch on the fly!

Hi Andy, A very enjoyable video. The format of PTC linking together clips from multiple session worked exceptionally well as it created a strong uninterrupted narrative. Congratulations on catching your first barbel on the pin and thank you for sharing it. "Holding back" it the technique that would help with the changing of depth. Thanks again for sharing a inspirational film.

Well done on your new catch! I am also planning a fishing expedition using centrepin as a remembrance for my late father describing his boyhood fishing experiences in Derbyshire. As for float and depth setting, the American steelhead anglers have lots of RU-vid material on river fishing. Australian luderick anglers also use centrepin reels on rocky coast and estuary waters.

So you finally got to do it Andy ! Well done and some rather familiar water! Just a note about the Centre pin , you are letting the pin control you, if you keep the line off the water direct to the float you can inch a bait through making sure the Olivetti is just off the bottom( essential as it starts getting colder). Similarly when you are trying to get to deeper part of the peg , keep holding the float back until you you get to the deeper water. Great result for your first attempt! The stretch where you got the Barbel is better for this time of year, the shallow stretches are better in the summer.Also you don't really need a bait dropper in that depth of water you can loose feed hemp and meat at the top of the peg .

Well done. I remember catching a couple of barbel partly by accident, on the Wharfe whilst trotting casters and that was an amazing feeling as I only ever caught them previously on static baits when targeting them. They’re an amazing fish, no mean feat to achieve what you did pretty quickly 👍

Hi @Andy great video, I miss doing this sort of fishing, To answer your question at 15:40 - hold the float back to lift the hook bait, then when you are sure(after a few runs through) let it drift at the rivers speed. but your there, it does tranlate from your nymphing style.

Cracking video m8. That's a lovely Barbel 👏👏👏. Looking forward to the next one. Cheers Paul up on the Thames in Oxfordshire 🎣🎣🎣🎣🎣🎣

I've never seen you so excited for a fish in all your videos aha.. =D

Anby + iB well done on the barbel, you taught me E/ nymphing, so hopefully, i can reciprocate with a few pointers here for you. 1. The bait dropper needs to sink on a taughtish line so the weight hits bottom first, if it sinks on a loose line it will lay flat and not open. 2. The olivette needs to be 2/3 to 3/4 of the depth youre fishing, any higher, you wont see bites and worse may end up end up with a deep hooked fish. 3. Try a hair rig for the meat, it offers far superior presentation and the meat stays on better. 4. Get yourself a net float, it will really help when the river is up and the flow is strong. 5. If the depth is constantly varying you either need to prime a small 'taking spot' the right depth or generally people would tackle it with a feeder or lead or rolling meat etc. 6. I really think you underestimated that barbel, i'd put it somewhere between 6-8lbs - good luck, tight line and enjoy. Steve. Ps when will we see Mrs B on the Barbel???

Great video Andy, amazing enthusiasm and reaction to that fish. I wonder if its possible to get one on the Nymph? Talking about learning something new, i am getting to grips with the EN with some of your Grayling flies and finally managed a PB grayling on the Itchen a couple of weekends ago, so thanks for the great flies, including the Gold head red tag and Pink shrimp (that got the PB). Tight lines , Eliot

B&M bargains always have the Plumrose luncheon meat in stock Andy. 👍

Sweet. As the others have said, holding it back is the answer to managing her depth and usually a good thing anyway. Different approach to trying to dead drift.

Check the tension on your spool the centrepin should peel off line with no help at all maybe put a little mineral oil on the pin itself.

Best way to catch them.on the pin ...well.done

Great video Andy never fished for barbel before looks like great fun. Gona fish for pike on the fly this year that will be me out of my comfort zone 😂

Ah - you are also now getting the barbel bug! (as we discussed!).

Hi Andy, I have been fishing for nearly 50 years now, rivers are my favorite venue and have long trotted for most of that time, usually for chub and grayling. I tend not to spin the centrepin and let the river peel off what it needs to by itself, as this tends to help the speed at the bottom of the river rather than the surface speed if that makes any sense, it is very similar to euro nymphing in that sense. To me it is fly fishing that is fairly new and still learning at present, my local river is the Tees now and fish this as often as I can, during the cooler months I know where the Grayling shoal up and catch between 20-30 on an average session, The river at this point is around 3-4 feet deep and fairly sluggish in pace and would like to try nymphs for them, have you ant ideas as to the best method to try to catch these on nymphs in slow water if this can be done

Excellent work and a lovely fish Andy, Barbel on centrepin is as you say the purest form of coarse fishing. See my answer to the question you posed below. The trick to getting a good trot is to have the bait precede the float down the run. Unfortunately I can't do diagrams on here to explain that, but suffice to say, holding back the float with the centrepin is the way to achieve this. This technique forces the bait to stay slightly off the bottom, or lightly bounce along, and can be used to pull the bait up and over obstacles. Fish don't seem to care about drag when a big piece of smelly meat or a wriggling maggot comes their way.

Re the baitdropper, I find the plastic type hopeless as the body is too light, the solution is to place a strip of lead o n the outside edge next to the hinge or get an all metal version 👍🙂

Good effort. Lose the olivette. Use shot and learn how they influence the way the bait moves and behaves through the swim. If you are using hemp you may get false bites on the shot, so use smaller stotz close together.

Well done on your first float fished barbel. The reason the bait-dropper doesn't work well is because the lead weight isn't heavy enough. In shallow water like that I would just chuck the bait in by hand. If you're have to tap the reel to keep the line going out there's a problem. Float of that weight in that current should have no problem pulling line from the reel. When Nottingham casting let go of the top loop first, the the next. Letting go of both at the same time can cause it to wrap round a rod ring. Good luck with any future attempts at this. Perhaps a spot of nymphing for them next summer?

They are cracking little reels if its the one I think it is and a reasonable price. Its always nice to catch on your local patch. I remember my 1st Barbel 40 years ago been there about 3 hours and nothing so I thought time for a cuppa and Bang ... 10lb on the button never bettered it 🤣. Not to get IB to catch one thats your task.😉

❤

B&M mate for your luncheon meat 1.69/tin👍

Enjoyed the video 👍 Have been thinking for giving trotting a try for grayling this winter, can I ask what make and model of Centrepin reel you used? Thx

Really enjoyed this video. Thank you. I still have an Edgar Sealy Octofloat rod from the mid 1960s (11ft, 3 piece, split cane) that I used trotting maggots for grayling and chub on the Nidd, Wharfe etc., (and for pretty much all my bait fishing). What centrepin reel are you using, please? It seems to run well. Congratulations on taking a good barbel on a 'pin.

l lke it

I am embarrassed by the indecent amount of joy it gives me watching you being less than an expert at a fishing method! Of course you caught one though, well played great vid.

Can u do some more pike fishing videos

What reel are you using, please?

Can you get a day ticket for barbel on that part of the river

Why use a bait dropper, I have trotted for fifty years and never used one. I would feed chopped worm fed by hand and trotted worm on a size twelve hook.

Trust you to catch a trout