tomhaggett

27th March - 28th March - Berkshire Stillwater Decided on a slight change of scenery so visited the other big fish water that the ticket offers. Got down around 10am and had a walk around and a chat with the fellas that had done the night before. It had been fairly quiet and nothing was showing, but I donned my polaroids and set off to find something to go on. I'd done a full lap of the lake, when I arrived back at the car park end and saw a fish ghost past around 2ft under the surface. It was one of the bigger commons for certain, and after watching it I noticed an area that was clouded up from fish grubbing around on the bottom. I quickly slipped a rod out of the car, chucked a handful of pellet over the area to semi-spook anything that was down there before lowering my little dumbell hookbait on the money. With the clutch slackened off and the rod on the deck I turned around to speak to a mate when I heard the clutch hissing away.. I'd hooked one within 30 seconds. I saw the fish early on in the fight, and realising it was a common my legs were knocking.. knowing I'd seen one of the bigger ones in the area just before. After a good 10 minutes my mate bundled it into the net where it shrank 20lbs. Still a lovely fish at 17lb.. and one for the future. Following such a quick success on a normally tricky lake I set up for the night in the same area as I'd caught from, and spent the next 24 hours without a liner. The place certainly knows how to kick you in the teeth.

20th - 22nd March - Berkshire Stillwater Firstly some good news... After attending the interviews last week I've finally been offered a job . 3 months of unemployment, relentless job searching and hardly an acknowledgement of my 20+ applications had worn me down a bit but finally things are starting to look up. On the flip side it has allowed me to get on the bank a lot more than usual over the winter period . I heard from the job on Monday and within an hour I was sorting my kit in preparation for a couple of nights back on the pit, just incase it was to be my last opportunity. Arriving early afternoon Tuesday I did a lap and found nothing of note. Only one lad was on and he was packing his gear away. Anyway, after a quick chat he revealed he'd had a real result over the last couple of days, landing 8 fish, so I decided to slot in next door and fish similar areas. Rods out, grub on and I sat back to contemplate what the start of my new experience would entail whilst keeping an eye on the lake. Unfortunately I saw nothing, despite sitting up till 11pm before I retired to my pit full of hope for the night. 6am soon came around and I peered out of the bivvy door only to see the bobbins exactly as I'd left them . A few minutes later a mate arrived to join me for a day session.. little was he to know how productive it would turn out to be. We sat around watching the water and pondering what to do for a few hours, becoming less and less confident as time went on. A bit earlier we'd seen a fish move down the far end of the lake and a few others that looked like they were on the top. That was enough to make me want a move. Then out of nowhere the wind sprung up and started blowing down that end of the lake. Although it was a brand new wind, it was blowing from the east and felt quite cold so my mate talked me out of going up there. As you'll see that turned out to be a terrible decision. I was clinging on to 11 o'clock being bite time once again, and believe it or not at 2 minutes past 11 and the rod I'd relocated just 10 minutes earlier melted off. A real good scrap ensued and with all the big fish so due my heart was in my mouth.. unfortunately our estimations were 15lb out but a pretty 21.8 mirror had it's picture taken and the pressure was off for the rest of the session. Once again the fish had come from shallow water so my mate had a move on swim down which resulted in a mid double mirror a few hours later. The fish I had caught was more from the swim to my left's water so I decided to move up there for the night as it allowed me to fish the same spot and also cover the area where fish were moving on the top that morning. It was around 4pm at that point and as my mate had to be gone at 5 he packed up and decided to give the corner I didn't move into earlier an hour before leaving. The wind had got up a fair bit by this point and did look quite inviting as it was piling in there. I was just taking the last of my stuff next door when I heard a shout from my mate asking for a net.. He'd been in the swim less than 5 minutes and both rods had gone off simultaneously. One was already in his net and a minute later the other was in mine. First one up on the bank was an incredible looking double row linear of 27.12.. we got some cracking pics in the sunshine before slipping it back and seeing to the fish in the other net. Upon lifting the net it was obvious this was a bigger fish.. 34lb of pristine mirror infact, and a rare visitor to the bank. What a result that was. He quickly canceled what he was supposed to be leaving for, giving him another hour to try for another. 10 minutes later and it was off again with a 25.8 common. Unbelievable!! I obviously had to get in there after him so I started moving my gear once again. I'd just got everything up there when, with everything else on his barrow, my mate was away again.. another drawn out scrap and a big common was in the net, all 35.8 of it . An hour and a half's fishing for 2 mid-upper 20's and 2 mid 30's.. the session of a lifetime and one I'm sure he won't be equaling anytime soon. I got my gear in there and just about got the rods sorted before dark.. the spots were tight up to a reed line so when 10 minutes after dark a tench hung itself on my right hand rod I wasn't best pleased. I'm not one to dismiss other species at all, but the timing was awful and getting the rod back out properly would be nigh on impossible. Somehow I managed it after 2 casts and I sloped off to bed fully expecting to be woken in the early hours. Sure enough a few bleeps and my locked up rod was buckling in the rests.. I could feel the fish grating in the reeds, but it was definitely coming out.. all seemed fine until a sudden burst of power ripped line off a very tight clutch and the hook was dispatched in the reeds . Rod back out and an hour later the other one was away. This one came away from the reeds easily and a 16-17lb common went in the net first time. I managed to get a good nights sleep after that and woke at 8am after no more action. I now had the benefit of the light so I got the rods sorted properly.. both going in perfect on the first cast. Half an hour later and one was away.. I'd kept it out of the reeds but this time it had stuck solid on something 10 yards off them.. probably the back of a dead lilly bed. 20 minutes of trying every trick in the book later I hadn't felt a single movement.. the fish had once again shed the hook and eventually the line parted.. what more could go wrong. I sat right on the rods all day, praying that I'd get another chance and finally at 2pm one of them was off again.. Thankfully after stopping the first run the fish kited away from danger and rolled into the net 5 minutes later. A nice end to the session at 23.8. The big'un from a pit just up the road did its first capture of the year at 46+ in the early hours or Thursday morning too.. What a week it's been for captures so far.

Something like that will work as an instant bait but it's far from nutritionally complete. If you're just going for the odd day it should catch you fish but it's not suitable for a campaign.

Finding the fish is the most important thing mate. Do a few laps of the lake, talk to other anglers and try to find out where fish have come from recently. I wouldn't set up until you have something to go on. When you've found them, fish for them accordingly... single pop ups on hinged stiff rigs have done the business for me this year. In my experience they're waking up fast but aren't getting on beds of bait yet.. one bait in the right place would be better than a kilo in the wrong place.

7-8th March - Berkshire Stillwater After my success last week I'd well and truly got my carp head back on and was gagging to get back at them. Tuesday morning bought good news in the way of 2/3 interviews. It's taken me 2 months of unemployment and 20+ applications just to get an interview so I decided to celebrate with a night on the bank. I arrived at 4.30ish and had a walk around but saw nothing. One lad had managed a 25lb common on a day session and was due to leave that evening so I decided unless I saw something I'd follow him in there. I stood around pondering for a further 2 hours without seeing anything of note before he had another 25lber and decided to pack up. I followed him in there, but it was 9pm before the rods were out and I wasn't 100% confident they were on the spots as it was well past dark. Not too much of a worry as most bites are coming in the day, so I vowed to sort them out properly at first light. I was up at 6.30 watching the water but other than one porpoising over deep water I saw nothing for the entire morning. I remembered the bite time was 11-2 last week so I held out for then without loosing too much confidence. I'd got the rods sorted properly in the light, positioning both in the smooth silt at the bottom of the island slope and at midday one of them roared off and after a decent scrap a dumpy common went in the net. The scales showed 20lb 2oz and I was keen to get some good pics while the light was good. Unfortunately there wasn't anyone around to take one so I had to make do with the camera balanced on a bucket and 10 second timer. After a few failed attempts I managed to get a decent enough pic before slipping the fish back. I fished on until evening, moving swims for the last couple of hours having seen a fish show twice on the same area but nothing came of it and hunger got the better of me. Lets hope the interviews go as well as the fishing is for me...

27th-28th Feb - Berkshire Stillwater I decided against the nights carping last week but after a short, biteless trip on the river last week I decided to have a look at one of the lakes on the way back to the car. Stopped off in a mates swim and chatted away for a couple of hours before deciding I was extremely keen to get the carp gear back out. After a few texts I arranged to meet a mate down at the lake on Monday morning for a quick 24 hour session. I'd heard that one swim produced the few bites over the weekend to a very busy lake, so wasn't surprised to find my mate ensconced in that swim when I arrived. He said, it had been really quiet, with no sightings to go on after doing a lap of the lake so previous captures were all we had to go on. 5 minutes later his rod melted off out of the blue and a little 12lb common found its way into the net. A nice start indeed, and only an hour later he had a 26lb common on the bank as well. I quickly got my rods sorted and we settled down for the evening period having dined in style on on a steak lunch and creamy peppercorn chicken dinner . We sat up until 11pm but didn't see a single fish so we turned in for the night, expecting to be woken up at some point as all the weekends fish had been caught in the early hours. At 6am I opened my eyes to find my hangers exactly as I'd left them the night before which was disappointing, but the egg, sausage and black pudding sandwiches soon cheered me up. Winter feeding periods can be pretty short, so I was fairly confident we'd have more action, and predicted 11am as the first chance. Everything seemed very quiet but true to form at 11.15am my mates rod was off again with another common of just under 18lb. I had seen a fish show to the right of my swim just before the take, so earmarked the spot and after sorting the pictures of the 18, I tied on a single pop-up and wacked it over the where the fish had shown. It landed bang on, at the front of a bed of dead pads.. the water was so shallow it was hard to even feel the lead down.. probably around 3foot. Within an hour that rod was off and a seriously heavy fish was kiting around to the right, thankfully away from the danger of the pads. The fish felt like a good'un from the minute I hooked it, and after my mate saying that it was a definite pb after seeing its shoulders as it took off out of the pads my knees were knocking. 15 minutes of typical, slow and plodding big fish fight later we caught a glimpse of it, and it looked big. Another 5 heart-stopping minutes and it was ready for the net, one of the pits rare mirrors, but not quite as big as we expected as it was a short thickset fish. He went in first time and went 25lb exactly on the scales. A really muscular fish in prime winter condition. The perfect start to the year.. I must have fished 30+nights last year hoping to hook one of the mirrors that are vastly outnumbered by the commons, so to have one on my first session of a new year pleased me no end. I'd already got the rod back on the spot while the fish recovered in the net, knowing how short the feeding spells could be, so I was hopeful of another. Half an hour later and it was off again but upon hitting the rod it was clear that something wasn't quite right.. the fish was on the surface but the line was entering the water 5 yards infront of it. The lead was obviously stuck around the pads or more likely a gravel bar, and after 10 minutes of trying every trick in the book the line parted and it was gone. An unfortunate way to end the session but it's got me gagging to get back out there as soon as possible and capitalize on the perfect conditions. It's unseasonably warm for the time of year, and the fish are obviously starting to visit the shallower water for the first time in months.. All of the action we had came from areas of 4ft or less in a lake that averages 10-11ft. This was proven further when we walked past another lake on the complex en route to the cars and found a big group of fish sucking something of the surface.. in February !

Conditions are absolutely cock on at the moment everyone.. someone must have had a good result within the last week? Did my first night in 5 months yesterday and managed a 25 and lost one. They're really waking up... all the action came from shallow area's on a fairly deep pit. There were even a group of fish on the surface of a different lake on the complex .. it's only February.

21st Feb - Speen Moors and K&A canal After hearing that Speen had done 3 5lb+ chub in the weekend match I decided to have a rove around for a few hours. Baited and fished a number of swims without a bite. Gave up at about 2pm and decided to have a wander along a bit of the K&A I'd been told had done a few good weights of perch. Found the going swims but unfortunately they were occupied so I ended up at my usual stretch for the last couple of hours. Managed a handful of perch to 1.8 or so and a skimmer before i ran out of worms and called it a day. The weather looks cock on for the rest of the week... I'm predicting some serious results for those who are able to capitalize upon it. Planning on doing the night carping tomorrow. .. Air temps are well up, nice south westerlies coming in and a slight drop in pressure.. conditions couldn't look much better . Fingers crossed.

16th Feb - Canalised stretch of the Kennet and K&A canal Back to the same stretch again, this time for a day with my Dad as we don't get the chance to fish together as much as we used to. Still fishing on the exchange permit as he's a member of the club controlling the opposite bank to the one I normally fish. Same routine once again, bait a number of swims and fish them in rotation. Fished all of the swims that have produced up until now without so much as a sniff between us. Reached my favourite area and settled down for a cup of coffee and a rethink as they clearly weren't going to play ball. After a few minutes we decided to pack up and go to the canal and fish an hour at dusk for the perch, but before I did I wanted to try something slightly different. I took most of the shot off, leaving me with one SSG, put on half a slice of bread, lobbed it over to the far bank, payed off a load of line to form a bow and let the bait trundle around a little. 30 seconds later I had a knock and upon picking up the rod everything fell totally slack. The strike was met with surprisingly little resistance, and the 6lb chub I'd hoped for turned into a 3-4lb bream. No idea how it even got the bait in it's gob. After putting him back we gave it best and headed off to the canal for the last hour of light. The fishing was fairly slow to be honest, but we had a few bites each.. Dad having 4 perch to around a lb and some colossal ruffe, before my swim came alive and produced 3 chances before the light was too bad to see the float, resulting in fish of 1lb, 1.12 and 2.4. The 2.4 gave me a bite more likened to that of a barbel. I'd put on a whole lob rather than the halves or dendro's we'd used in the past, popped the rod on the rest while I turned round to get some maggots when out of nowhere the tip hammered down almost 2ft and the clutch started giving line .

Feb 15th - Canalised section of the Kennet. Another trip to the same stretch today, although I'd got an exchange ticket and fished it from the opposite bank. Followed the same routine of walking to the boundary and baiting swims with mash, but this time I fancied giving it a go on the float. I decided against using my pin as the lack of flow would make things difficult, so I set up with a small fixed spool and a loafer to fish a large chunk of flake, just tripping bottom. As I expected the lack of flow made presentation fairly difficult, and coupled with the wind I was struggling. I'd had 7 or 8 trots in the first swim before I got it right and the float buried in a spot I never could have reached with a lead. The rod was doubled over and I couldn't really do much with the fish for the first minute or so.. I'd got the rod as a Christmas present, but other than a surprise 13-14lb pike I was yet to hook anything particularly big on it. I must admit the next few minutes were great fun and I wondered why I hadn't been fishing the float before. The fish went in the net first time and went 4.7 on the scales. By the time I'd got him back the wind had picked up considerably and I soon realised why I'd not used a float up until now. I persevered in a handful more swims before giving up and fishing the remainder of the afternoon on the feeder. 8 swims and two chub to around 3.8lb later I knocked the chubbing on the head and spent the last hour or so after a perch. I thought I'd have been in with a good chance after the period of warm weather but alas I packed up biteless. I'm really struggling with the Kennet perch this year, just can't seem to find them. I've fished a fair few evenings for them since November but have only managed the one at 2.8lb. The target of a mid 3+ is seeming pretty far away at the moment....

Feb 3rd - Canalised section of the Kennet Thought I'd have another go at the chub on this stretch of the Kennet, hoping to achieve my target of a 6lb'er before the end of the season. Once again I walked to the fishery limit and baited a number of swims with mash before fishing them in rotation. I was slightly disapointed to find someone fishing one of my preferred swims from the opposite bank, but a quick chat revealed he hadn't had anything as yet. The weather was seriously cold, with the margins lined with cat ice so I swapped the cage feeder for a 2 swan link-ledger to reduce the amount of bait I was introducing. The first couple of swims produced nothing, but the third offered a large near bank bush on an otherwise sparsely featured stretch. An underarm lob saw the flake land in the flow and swing round underneath the bush on a tight line. A tiny bite first cast resulted in a small chub or around 2lbs.. a nice start. Moving to the next swim 50 yards or so downstream, my hopes weren't too high.. it was a very straight piece of water with no features other than a nice smooth flow. First cast and I missed a twitchy bite.. luckily I got another chance on the recast, though I did have to wait 15 minutes for it to develop. The fish fought very well, but after a few minutes he rolled into the net. Up on the scales and he went 5lb 3oz. my biggest of the year so far. I got a passing dog walker to take a quick pic for me.. his efforts were pretty abysmal to be honest as I ended up a mere pinprick on the horizon but after a few minutes on Picassa I managed to get it looking a bit better. I fished on for another biteless hour before calling it a day. On the way back to the car the fella on the opposite bank said he'd managed a fish of 4.15 from my favourite area and a 5.14 from a swim I'd never given any attention so that was noted down as one to visit for next time.

Jan 30th - Speen Moors Decided to have a days piking, and chose Speen as the location due to its fairly good reputation as a pike water and as I wanted to explore a bit more of the stretch. Fished a number of swims throughout the day but didn't receive any action other than a crayfish that had obviously forgotten how cold it was and decided to come out of his slumber. Ashamed to say I also left early due to the biting wind.. I don't normally feel the cold but this was beyond ridiculous. It wasn't a complete waste of time though as I'd got to know the stretch well and earmarked a few swims for future chub sessions.

22nd Jan - Kennet and K&A canal. Got back out for a short stint on the river before going home via the canal for a couple of hours perching at dusk. Visited another new stretch to me, just upstream of one that I'd fished previously, with the boundaries separated by a busy road bridge. I walked the short stretch with the intention of fishing as I have been recently... baiting a number of swims with mashed bread and fishing for 15mins with either a feeder or light link-ledger over the top. Unfortunately the stretch turned out to be very shallow and the only swims that looked worth a shot produced nothing. It looked much more of a trotting water to me so I headed back to the car to get my float rod and pin. Upon reaching the road bridge I decided to roll a piece of flake around the slightly deeper but very fast water, and first chuck I had a tentative pull that resulted in a hooked fish. As if to emulate the events of my last session this thing took off using the fast water to its advantage and making a mockery of my chub gear. With no idea what I'd hooked again I followed the fish downstream and got it into the slacker water close to my bank where I quickly regained control. A minute later and up pops a small barbel which was bundled into the net before it got a chance to get back into the flow. A quick weigh for curiosities sake showed a weight of 6lb 5oz.. a very welcome surprise. Bread is proving to be a very versatile bait for me this winter.. the last 3 bites have all hooked different species.. chub, carp and barbel. Time was getting on by this point so I grabbed my gear and headed off to the canal to meet the old man and spend the witching hour targeting the perch. Conditions looked good and we both enjoyed pretty steady action until it was too dark to see the floats, with me taking the biggest at 2.3lb.

20th Jan - Canalised section of the Kennet So after exploring new beats ended in disaster a couple of days ago, I thought it best to stick to a stretch of river that I knew for today. Visited a canalised section that I used to fish a good few years ago, albeit from the opposite bank. Baited a number of swims with mashed bread and fished them in rotation for 15 minutes each. By the time I reached my final baited swim I hadn't had so much as a touch, and had rather lost confidence, infact I nearly turned round and went home without casting a line in the last plot. I managed to talk myself into having one quick cast in the swim, which was at the start of an area I had been told produced in the winter. A little underarm flick saw the feeder land just in the flow and a bit of careful feathering allowed it to swing round under a very unsubstantial tree on my bank. A couple of minutes later a twitchy bite resulted in a nice chub that went 3.15 on the scales, despite me weighing it three times in disbelief... I was sure it was going to go mid 5's :s. Happy with the result, I decided to have one more chuck in the swim before going home, not expecting much to happen. The feeder went out perfectly first time and within minutes the line tightened across my finger in a far more positive manner.. if I wasn't holding the rod it would probably have gone in. The resulting strike was met with some serious resistance, that plodded around for a minute or so before taking off 50 yards downstream. I should have realised that it wasn't a chub but couldn't put my finger on what else may have picked up my bit of flake. This thing dragged me all over the river for a good 15 minutes before it came in and flashed a brown flank just under the surface at short range, at that point I was sure I'd hooked a monster of a brownie.... another 5-10 minutes passed and I finally had the fish under the tip and under a bit of control, bearing in mind that I only had a 3.6lb hooklength on. It came up to the surface and rolled just out of netting range revealing itself as a bloody massive, scale perfect linear, exactly like the ones I'd failed to tempt from the neighbouring pits earlier in the season. Another couple of runs and he was done, head up and coming to the net when for no apparent reason the mainline parted.. the fish hung in the water for a couple of seconds as if to mock me before slowly drifting back off to the depths. Needless to say the rod flew into the bushes, the air turned a deep shade of blue and I sloped off home with my tail well and truly between my legs. When home I reminded myself to change Sensor more regularly than every 6 months and spooled up with some fresh stuff ready for my next outing.

I think a lot of the decline can be blamed upon Anguilicola Crassus - A disease that effects the swimbladder and prevents the fish from migrating.

18th Jan - Speen Moors and the K&A canal. After rekindling my interest in fishing the rivers and fishing a few sessions on a stretch that I'm familiar with I decided to give Speen a shot. Having read a fair bit about it in Chris and Rusty's respective blogs I decided to take a loaf of bread and wander around to get an idea of the swims etc. Things didn't start ideally... I'd loaded up with tackle after baiting a few swims and just two steps from the car I slipped and ended up with everything caked in mud. To make things worse a group of joggers saw the whole thing and were in fits of laughter!! Anyway, after a bit of walking I stumbled upon a weir that looked very familiar from the pics I'd seen on here so I set up a cage feeder and gave it an hour or so, catching a chub of approx 3lb and a brownie slightly smaller. For some reason I then decided to check out a new section of the K&A in the hope of a few decent perch and that's where the drama started. I drove up the track, over the bridge to the other side of the canal and came to the "car park", that was actually a muddy slope. Now, I'm not quite sure what went through my mind but for some reason I decided my rear wheel drive BMW was in fact a 4x4 and decided to try and turn around on this patch of mud and park at the top of the slope. Within seconds I realised my error but instead of stopping and coming up with a solution I went all Jeremy Clarkson and decided POWER was the wise option. I thought if I gave it enough welly I could spin the car around 180 degrees and end up facing the right way.. to cut a long story short, that didn't work at all and after a while I ended up facing the right way but at the bottom of the slope and merely feet from the canal and slipping sideways. At that point I decided to stop being me and do what any "normal" person would have done in the first place and stopped to weigh up my options. After a few minutes of deliberation I decided to knock on the window of a barge that was parked at the other side of the bridge and was met with a couple of very friendly fellas that were more than happy to give their assistance. With a combined effort we managed to push the car a suitable distance from the canal. Once that was done and I'd made the only phone calls that I thought may help, the two blokes invited me aboard their boat for a cup of tea and a very overdue cigarette. I hastily took up their offer and went aboard with visions of the film Hostel going through my head. Nearly 2 hours, numerous cups of tea and plenty of conversation later I'd totally forgotten about my car and had a couple of new friends who I now knew to be a gay couple and the cousin of a good friend of mine from my years at college.... small world. Half an hour later the AA turned up and with the patrol man driving and all 3 of us pushing we managed, with an obscene amount of effort, to get the car back on the track and my dilemma was over. I popped off to the local shop, bought the two guys a bottle of wine to say thanks, politely declined their offers to come back aboard and went home to reflect upon the most bizarre fishing session I'm ever likely to experience.

Cheers everyone. Looks very unlikely that I'll be out tomorrow due to the snow . Real shame to see that Chris... I think a lot of the fish otters kill are purely for sport.

Braved it again today.. spent the morning piking..not a sniff so went chubbing for the afternoon.. fished 12 swims for 2 chub.. one little'un about 2.8 and a 5.3.

I don't normally feel the cold but I'm ashamed to say I packed up early yesterday... that wind was insanely cold. The weathers supposed to warm a little on Sunday and a bit more on Monday so I'll probably venture out on one of those days and take a coat with me.

Got access to a couple of pits in Berkshire that hold them.. can't think of anywhere you could try in Wiltshire other than up in the Cotswolds.

Now that were into the new year, what targets are you all setting yourself, if any? Personally I want a double figure barbel, 5 or preferably 6lb+ chub and a 3lb+ perch from the Kennet/K&A canal before the end of the season. The close season's main aim is going to be a double figure tench. Though I may put in one last ditch for the upper 40 mirror I've been after for a few seasons before the rivers re-open. Then I just want to enjoy the rest of my year and diversify my angling a little, spending one day trotting for silvers and the next sitting it out for something a bit bigger. Nothing like setting your sights high .

No 'publish entry' option for me :s, I'm thinking perhaps I need a minimum number of posts before I can publish it?

This sums me up to be honest.. I can't sit and look out at a set of rods that isn't set up perfectly, it gets on my nerves to the point where I can't relax until I've sorted it out.

Fished plenty of nights in snow storms and -5 temperatures while on work experience at White Acres.. net and mat completely frozen to the floor and the lake freezing infront of our eyes. Still managed a rake of fish though. Also lived in my bivvy for 3 weeks in early February on Farlows, again while on work experience and I don't recommend it .

ESP Longshanx come in barbless... excellent hook, had plenty of fish on them last year. I'm pretty sure the Fox armapoint longshanks have a barbless version as well.