HEAVY rain has added a much-needed touch of flow and colour to York-area watercourses.

Anglers targeting the battling barbel have benefited from this with fish feeding well in a number of the well-known hot-spots.

Beningbrough Park is as always the most consistent section on the Ouse with several anglers reporting multiple catches. As is always the case with this hard-fighting species more have been hooked than landed.

Good areas to try include the pegs known as the roots opposite the top of the wood upstream of the Nidd mouth and the area upstream of the culvert below the Nidd mouth.

With the extra water in the river during the week fish could be located hugging closely to the bank side where a lump of meat or a big juicy lob worm could be effective in luring them to bite.

With water colour now fading caster or maggot in conjunction with a feeder might be more appropriate.

One specialist angler who fished the area regularly has also had a good deal of success using trout pellets.

The pellets can be loose-fed in some pegs or scalded and packed in a cage feeder in the deeper swims.

Hook bait is either a hair-rigged halibut pellet, known as a donkey choker, or pellet paste moulded around a hair-rigged pellet.

There have also been reports of good numbers of barbel being caught from the tidal reaches of the Ouse as far downstream as Cawood, near Selby

Location in the murky, silty water is the key on the tidal river. One useful approach is an evening stroll when fish can often be observed rolling on the surface.

My sources tell me that this behaviour is most regularly observed on a full tide when the fish are most often actively feeding. Reference to tide tables is therefore essential.

The period around low tide is not a fruitless one, however, as many of the snags and underwater features that the barbel favours are often revealed.

Another tip is to look for tributary streams flowing into the main river. The extra clean water often scours the bed clean of silt and surprisingly large areas of gravel can sometimes be revealed at low water.

Tidal river fishing is not for the faint-hearted with stout tackle the order of the day. Lines of 15lb breaking strain are not out of place and leads of 3oz or more are often required to hold the bottom on a strong spring tide.

Bait choice is not crucial as long as it is big, smelly or preferably both. Someone I know uses a home-made pat that includes liver and liquidised squid.

MATCH BOOKINGS

Saturday

Stamford Bridge - Shepherds, Sutton (below) - York GPO

Sunday

Beningbrough Above - Clifton Hotel, Laybourne Lakes (Marley) - Bishopthorpe and Acaster, Paradise Farm - Cygnet, Park View - Huntington WMC, Redhouse Lagoon - CIU Les Hood Memorial, Tockwith - White Rose

Updated: 10:17 Friday, August 01, 2003