Dan Dan

I live near Weybridge in west (i think?) surrey. Not to worry anyway, i wasn't really pinning any hopes on being able to make it anyway

That would be a session of a lifetime for me! Congrats I couldn't comment on Barbel as I've yet to catch one

I say twigfish beats them all hands down....once you get a mature one (or branchius fishius as they are known in latin) then say bye bye to your hooklength. seriously voted perch though

my solution is to stay single

this post is so good i printed it out I bought some size 6 and 8 drennan specialists, a pack of #10 swivels and #8 snap links, a couple of new bombs (1,2,3 oz) and the reel this lunchtime so looks like im almost set! thanks again Rabbit, you own.

Went out this lunchtime to the tackle shop down the road (yeah I'm lucky I have one 5 mins from work ) and they had a Okuma 150 baitrunner for £20....should I get it? I was told it's the basic model, but for what I want will it be ok? Is braid necessary as mainline? I didn't realise how expensive it is compared to mono/fluoro ><

if anyone around my area wants to go jungle fishing then hit me up a PM i know some guerrila spots i'm willing to share!

Sounds like I need to go barbel fishing with someone before I venture out on my own. My dad suggested Okuma but to be honest i'd never heard of them so just passed them off. I know hooks are important, but that wasn't really the problem I have, just really about the reel and what sort of braid/line I should be using.

Colin that was a sound piece of advice, I myself also need to learn to sit on my hands a little longer...the numbr of times ive struck at something too early because i'd got tired of waiting for a proper take. Must be more disciplined! Good tip too about a smaller feeder more often, I'll try that one!

Had a look on ebay, there are a couple going for around £30 but likely to shoot up in the last hour or so... I'll try my local tackle shops and check the prices but that shimano 5000 looks beefy enough for me ;D

freelined Lobworm on a larger hook sorts the men from the chublets from my experience, especially with free offerings in the swim. Guess what I'm doing after work...

I've never had a centrepin to call my own...I must enquire! How do I go about getting one? I actually own a Mitchell 300, but the bail arm has snapped off =[ Didn't get to use it much before that happened, so can't really say how I felt using it! Thanks for the idea though, I guess all these new fangled reels with a gazillion ball bearings don't really have a lot on the older ones?

I'd like to try both methods, fixed baits on a leger as well as running baits along the bottom so a reel that can deal with both situations would be good. As I said, the closest Ive gotten to fishing for barbel was watching people on discovery real time >_<

Ok so now the rivers are back on the agenda, I thought I'd try my hand at some summer barbel. I've never caught one before, but know how they go and really want to catch one! I've got the Thames, Wey and Bourne all available to me and I know all 3 contain barbel, but I really need the kit first before trying! Rod -> an 11 foot carp feeder rod about 1 3/4 TC I think. Line -> I've looked around at what sort of terminal tackle I need and decided to go with 20lb (0.28mm) PowerPro braid for mainline to 15lb Suffix Stealthlink hooklength. Is this any good lol? I've not used braid before but after reading some barbel forums it seems these are the most popular. Hooks -> Apply to bait so not really an issue. Rigs -> Probably running leger or running patenoster with easy clip to change from bomb > feeder quickly. Reel -> Ah now we have a problem. I only have small spooled match reels! My deepest one can only take about 100metres of 5lb and all my reels are getting on (all over 10 years old) so I think I need to dig into my back pocket for a decent deeper spooled reel that I can confidently tackle larger fish and distance fishing with. I've had a look around, and two names that pop up are the Shimano 3500b and Daiwa SS 2600. Shimano 3500b Daiwa SS 2600 Again, not really sure what I should be looking for...but they all seem bloody expensive. Any sort of help with choosing a suitable reel would be great

i'd imagine bread in the harbour for mullet would be great fun, although hooking one may prove much harder.

and it's not like you'll need the support whilst playing a fish as bream tend to come in like a wet sack ;P

Hey guys, As you may know, I intended to fish the Laleham stretch of the thames on opening day, but had to work so couldn't get down there until evening. Having spotted out my peg a week or two in advance, I headed towards it pleaing to the piscatorial gods that it was empty...and it was! One thing I hadn't accounted for the depth of my swim....having only checked it out fleetingly on my moped I just assumed it was pretty standard in depth. From me on the bank to the edge of the fallen oak to my left (about 15m) the water was no more than 18 inches, then it dropped off to about 5 metres. My initial plan was to float fish on the inside picking off silver fish with a longer set up just at the point of the tree with a chunk of meat or pellet, but I had to change. I only bought match reels too, with nothing more than 100metres of 4lb/5lb mono. Not a good idea to risk a chuck over to the far bank especially with boat traffic. I decided to put on a large swim feeder and fill up with hemp and maggots, and bombed it out to the edge of the tree and let it sit. I made up my second rod, which had a straight bomb through to a size 4 hook with a chunk of meat. This rod i just chucked out into the middle, as i was really focusing on the first one. Well to cut a long story short, I blanked. Not a nibble from anything and to make things worse a load of kids decided it was a good idea to have a rave on th eother side of the road behind me with their drum and bass playing loudly above everything else. I'll update with 17th later...im still **** off as it is.

Hey guys, As you may know, I intended to fish the Laleham stretch of the thames on opening day, but had to work so couldn't get down there until evening. Having spotted out my peg a week or two in advance, I headed towards it pleaing to the piscatorial gods that it was empty...and it was! One thing I hadn't accounted for the depth of my swim....having only checked it out fleetingly on my moped I just assumed it was pretty standard in depth. From me on the bank to the edge of the fallen oak to my left (about 15m) the water was no more than 18 inches, then it dropped off to about 5 metres. My initial plan was to float fish on the inside picking off silver fish with a longer set up just at the point of the tree with a chunk of meat or pellet, but I had to change. I only bought match reels too, with nothing more than 100metres of 4lb/5lb mono. Not a good idea to risk a chuck over to the far bank especially with boat traffic. I decided to put on a large swim feeder and fill up with hemp and maggots, and bombed it out to the edge of the tree and let it sit. I made up my second rod, which had a straight bomb through to a size 4 hook with a chunk of meat. This rod i just chucked out into the middle, as i was really focusing on the first one. Well to cut a long story short, I blanked. Not a nibble from anything and to make things worse a load of kids decided it was a good idea to have a rave on th eother side of the road behind me with their drum and bass playing loudly above everything else. I'll update with 17th later...im still **** off as it is.

I may have to take you up on that if my other lift falls through, I'm in Surrey which is sort of on the way

As long as the meshing is tiny...as you probably know barbel have lovely large fins and it would be awful to see them damaged in bad keepnets

Try adjusting the shot, try 2-3 inches first and watch for lifts on the float as the tench dislodges it. if you still miss them, move it up a bit more (10mm each time) until you start hitting them or get used to when you should strike. Other than that I think you're pretty much fishing perfectly for them

Wow! I had no idea we had our very own tackle making expert on this site! I've never owned a centre-pin before, but have many a stream to use one in! *hint*

28-29 is ok with me as long as I can still get that lift

not sure if you saw this page when looking for info on bedfont lake, it seems a bit old but there's a bit of info about it here.

I don't know of it, but would like to as I live/work around Sunbury on Thames. Try googling it for more information.