Fresh Corn. Fishing for freshwater silver cod prefers corn. So use fresh corn to make a nest. The shorthead barbel, also known as shorthead barbel and freshwater silver cod, is a fish of the genus Barbel in the subfamily Barbel, family Cyprinidae. Native to Central Asia, after its introduction to China, it was first farmed on a small scale in the Xinjiang region, and the fish can often be found in various waterways of the Yangtze River Basin.