hello from a romanian barbel angler

[Mihai Tomescu]

hi guys, my name is Mihai (Mike) and I am from Romania. I love fishing for barbel and carp and will do it in all wether conditions.
I've read about this site on FishingMagic and I'm looking to learn new tricks about barbel fishing on here.
So, I hope I'm welcome here and wish you all good fishing.

[Paul Matthews]

Mihai,
I love reading your posts about Barbel fishing in a different country...........please keep posting !!!!
How big is the river you fish ? And is the population of Barbel large ?
The reason for my question being, that 'sorting out' the larger fish will become harder, the more prolific the head of fish............
I am a big fan of pellets...........especially during the warmer weather, even the large 'Catfish' pellets will catch ! AND they are more resistant to being 'worn down' by smaller fish !
I wish we had Crucians as an annoyance !!!!! I love to catch them, they are a rare species in England now.......
Good luck and best wishes,
Paul M.

[Mihai Tomescu]

Hi Paul,
The river is not so big, maybe 30-40yards.
The barbel population is ok, not large shoals of fish (maybe up to 10-12 individuals) up to 8lbs, but they are spread allover the river. The reasoning for that is, I think, there are only a few places with gravely or rocky bottom due to gravel extraction.
The places that keep barbel all season are very far apart.
The realy big barbel (10lbs+) are cought in places that are not known as barbel spots. I mean they are found in the mouth of the big reservoir that I've mentioned earlyer. And they are found in silty swims. I have found that by chance when fishing for carp. I thout I've hooked the "Mother of all Carp". And was cought on a 14 mm halibut pellet fished with a PVA bag of trout and halibut pellets soaked in Amino liquid.
I have put some photos in my album and you can see the River that I'm talking about.
I will upload some more photos from another swim about a mile up-river from the one in previous photos.
Tight lines,Mihai.

[Mihai Tomescu]

About the crucians, they are so prolific that they almost pushed the native species almost to extintion. The tench is one that use to live in all rivers and lakes, but now they are found in only a few places. Though I've heard some incuraging reports that they have start to rise their numbers in the River Danube and the Danube Delta.
Roach, rudd, even bream in some rivers.
Here, the crucians are not really loved, actualy I would say is the oposite.
I think in UK they can't spawn succesfully, otherwise you would hate them just like me.
Best wishes to you, Mihai!