Tigger

I haven't looked through them John, but they sell them here.... https://www.fishfriend.co.uk/mustad-coarse-hooks

Good luck with it John, you'll have let us know how you get on!

Yes John, I think you have the right idea, although, I catty feed out as though i'm float fishing if using a hook full of maggots or corn etc. You can fold a piece of line over your mainline and add or remove shot to it as and when you feel the need. I use a shot on the line as a stop on my main line, to sort of make a hooklength and fish straight through with 6lb line. You can lengthen or shorten your hooklength simply by moving the shot up or down the line. As an alternative to a shot on the mainline you could use float stops/leger stops if you wanted. You cou,d attatch your link via a couple of leger stops also. There are several or more ways of setting up the rig, all ultra simple.

If I remember rightly mustad did some fine wire hooks. I have some but they are spade ends. They are strong also and would be idea to use in a bread flake for roach.

If I can I always try to float fish John, I just enjoy it more and it is a much more sensitive way of fishing. I think you miss a lot more fish if legerring also. I know most people leger the swim where I fished yesterday, and i'm not lowing my own trumpet, but they seldom catch a chub on a leger, they usually catch dace or barbel. The chub are a bit clued up as that spot is hammered! I usually try to stick to bunches of maggots, 13 or more on a 14's drennan superspade hook. Often i'll remove several maggs and squash two pieces of corn on, they seem to like a cocktail. I very rarely leger and if I do leger I have found I get better results if freelining a bait.

Narrh, i've got a 14ft sphere waggler rod . The spliced tip is nice though, and I think it'll be sound for barbel. I did get a barbel of around 10lb with it when I first got it and it coped well enough, although that was a small river and they just don't fight anything like as hard in small rivers.

I would prefer to soak a loaf and mash it up with my fingers "bread mash". Put a flake on the hook and either leger or trott amongst it.

I had literally an hour on the river today before "rain stopped play" ☹. I was aware there may be some light showers, but there was no mention of windswept heavy freakin rain! Anyhow, I winkled a couple of chub out of a slow 10ft swim. I took a pic of the second one which was the smaller of the two. I used the browning sphere 13ft 6inch rod again today and it is growing on me a lot!

Just a heads up, tying hooks is much earier in broad daylight than in the house with electric lights. It makes a huge difference to me. Might be worth you trying it outside in the garden just to see if that helps you see fiddly things better.

I was being gung'ho with it Martin, it was hugging the bottom until I got it right up to the bank and I just bent the rod into it to get it to the surface. The hook was a drennan super spade which is barbed (I never used barbless hooks) but it had lost it's point. I knew I should have changed it but was just too lazy lol. I strike like a panther , so even if a maggot is masking the hook I still rattle the hook home into the fish....if the hook isn't blunted as that one was. The grayling looked every bit as big as the biggest chub which was over 3lb, but, who knows, it might have been hollow lol.

Fished 2pm until 4pm today. A distinct drop in temp's and atmosphere from last weeks trotting session. There was a nasty biting wind blowing downstream which wasn't good, but the bright sun cast an awful glare on the waters surface which proved to be far worse than the cold wind! Anyhow, I manged to land six chub and one grayling, lost two more fish that I thought were chub to hook pulls through a crappy blunt hook. Also lost a huge grayling at the net because I thought it was a chub and dragged it up from the bottom as I got it infront of me....darn it, should have changed that poxy hook!

You could sent it to fieldrine and have it put together. Failing that, there are a number of nice reels to replace it with. You could look on ebay for another like your old one... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Shimano-Exage-4000-RA-Spinning-Reel-/313749254486?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l6249&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0 Ok, thats a 4000 size, but would still be geeod to use, prolly better than you 2500 for legering. There are some others on ebay, 2500 which looms a bit naff to me, and a 1000 size which is proly to small. What to suggest to you depends on how much coin your prepared to spend John?

I had a few hours out on the river today, river was up a couple of feet and so that banjaxed any thoughts ofwading in my thigh waders. I know of places where I can fish off the bank and there I headed, about a mile each way! Anyhow, I used a 13ft inch browning sphere spliced tip rod which I haven't used since last november, no point having them if they don't get an airing at least once a year lol. I used a Chris Lyhte float master SU on the rod, and both worked great together. I finnished up with ten or eleven chub, nothing huge but all decent ones, here's some of them...

I decided to pop out to the river this afternoon to use up maggots left over from the last couple of trips. Anyhow, the conditions were quite grim, with strong winds, a rising river and heavy rain showers. Despite the conditions and walking a couple of miles I finally got lucky and dropped onto a shoal of chub. I'm not even going to say how many chub I caught because it will soumd like I am telling porkies! Anyhow, here's a couple of pics of the stamp of the majority of the chub...

I think you had a lucky escape John!

Had another go today, bites were slower in coming and only five barbel pulled my string, but I did have a nice chub also .

All chub last week, this week all barbel except a few dace. Had eleven barbel in all and I reckon a coupke of doubles amongst them. Here's a few pic's...

Thanks for the nice comments gents, i'll keep going if the levels permitt, although, I can't promise that i'll catch ewt LOL.

I've had a few sessions recently, not many barbel but lots of quality chub! Fished on sunday just gone and had 26 chub ranging in size (guesses, couldn't be ar$ed to weigh them) from 3lb to over 6lbs. So at a guess, over 80lb of em. It was great fishing, hitting them at between 60 and 70 yards plus downstream I just took video clips and released them in the river where I stood so no pics of them. Here's a pic of a barbel I had to make up for no chub pics lol.

For what it's worth, I totally ignore air pressure. I've had good sessions and bad sessions in both high and low pressure.

Hahaha, no, no, you know i'm not that low John .

Hadn't seen this post!

You got a production line going there Martin .

Good idea Martin, I may just do that. I think these people who have design this float must only trot very short distances, otherwise they would know it's garbage!

Ok, priming, you've taught me something John . Regarding the bleak jumping in groups or singular, yes, maybe they were evading a predator.