balaced tackle

[Guest Graham E]

Peter, I use Shimano Match f/spools for everything, even piking!

For my Rolling I use a 13ft heavy feeder rod.

I think it is a Maver Connoiseur X ?

 

Regards bites when rolling. I have no problem with using mono. In fact for me it is the fingers holding the free line gathered when the bait rolls downstream towards me that usually feels the bites.

They sometimes are felt simply as stops in movement. Downstream the bites tend to be firmer as you release the line that has been gathered.

Mr Crabtree to thank for this method addapted from his sidecast method (crap reels)

 

Of the many Barbel caught I can only think of 2 foulhooked, a ratio of maybe 300/1!

 

Far more are foulhooked when trotting either shallow or overdepth with the float, after inciting the barbel to midstream feed with hemp/tares/casters etc. Probably a ratio of 40/1. This generally in early Season when they are still generally tightly shoaled.

 

I don't use braid because It feels "wrong" to the touch and actually makes bites standout less from the bottom debris. That's my view!

[Guest Gaffer]

Hi all, Steve, I gathered that it was a river thing , but now you've explained that the current keeps the bow under tension it makes a bit more sense to me. (I don't get to fish many rivers!)

Thanks Steve, all the best,

Gaffer.

[Guest Stuart M]

Yep Barry i do agree that some anglers do tend to go heavy just for the sake of it. Bad news i think because even if it is a so called "safe" rig and the lead comes off, it still leaves a fish towing braid that it can't possibly break should it get snagged. i have only used braid for a while last season 14lb fireline and whilst the bites were good there was two problems.It's abrasion resistance isn't as good as people might think(it parted unpredictably on three occassions). It floats...badly..in clear water or during daylight i have seen fish spook off it loads.

10lb big game does it for me with no problems and at least when touch ledgering i don't run the risk of slicing off my index finger on the strike!.mono still rules..for now anyway.

[Guest barry ford]

Originally posted by Stuart M:

Yep Barry i do agree that some anglers do tend to go heavy just for the sake of it. Bad news i think because even if it is a so called "safe" rig and the lead comes off, it still leaves a fish towing braid that it can't possibly break should it get snagged. i have only used braid for a while last season 14lb fireline and whilst the bites were good there was two problems.It's abrasion resistance isn't as good as people might think(it parted unpredictably on three occassions). It floats...badly..in clear water or during daylight i have seen fish spook off it loads.

10lb big game does it for me with no problems and at least when touch ledgering i don't run the risk of slicing off my index finger on the strike!.mono still rules..for now anyway.

Hi Stuart, Sorry I have not been about to answer. Yes braid seems to part for no apparenrt reason

 

I had hoped that some of the anglers who use 30lb braid would have given thier reasons for doing so but I susspect that they really can't justify its use??? I live in hope that someone may be willing to explian

Tight lines Barry

[Guest Ray Walton]

Barry Ford and Steve Pope .... Please state your barbel tackle set up and the places that you fish to get a rough idea to where your coming from? Here's some answers to yours and others questions from personal sightings and experience over the past 20 years of barbel fishing and nothing else. When i was a "noddy" and first started barbel fishing on the Royalty, i used 3 lb Bayer Perlon and thought the guy using 10 lb 'rope' in Fiddlers was a c**t, c'os he did'nt give the fish a chance to get away! How views change with experience after finding, at times, 5 or more 'corroding' hooks with trailing 2-3 ft of 'mono' and 'mono' line damaged mouths of barbel! I landed a lot of barbel on my CTM 13ft and lost a lot as well and over the following years, i increased the mono B/S from 3lb, to 4 to 5 to 6, to 8 lb maxima of which i was satisfied, but i still lost or dropped 3 out of 10 fish, especially when snagged in weed and pulled for a break.Then up to 10 lb Maxima and the weed broke before the line. The rods changed as well to thru' action adapted trout blanks then 11 ft medium feeders. Confidence at last. I landed more barbel, especially big ones, and i got very clued up when playing and landing fish. The introduction to other rods, braid and plasticine followed, and the benefits and the answers i will state later and hopefully rest your unwarrented critisms. Foul Hooking.... No 1....It is very rare to foulhook barbel when rolling meat as they tend to move out of the way very quickly when it comes near them especially when they are not interested in the slightest. It's amazing how you can 'rove and roll' miles of river on highly prolific barbel venues throughout the year, where there are hundreds of barbel and thousands of chub, roach, dace, pike, bream, carp, etc on the Benyons, Aldermaston on the kennet and the Royalty on the Avon etc, and not get a flaming bite or indication that anything is in there at all. So it is very rare indeed that it happens at all, and i don't believe that what you say is a 'fact'. 2...As the hook is nearly always buried in the meat, as not to hook the weed or snags, it is virtually impossible to foulhook a barbel without it picking the bait up in it's mouth. 3...The reason that you do very 'rarely' foul hook barbel on the body, when using luncheon meat, is for the reason that it has picked up the hookbait, but the hook has not penetrated the lip or mouth on the strike or as your rod pulls from the rest.(ie, you have missed the bloody bite!). As the barbel turns or bolts, the hook pulls out or is ejected from the lips; the meat goes one way and the hook 'flashes' at great speed along the side of the body, latching into the 'cheek' on the side of the face or front ray of the 'pectoral' fin, or failing that, 'whisking' off a number of 'scales' as it scrapes across the barbels 'flank'. 4.. The reason why you very rarely hook a barbel in the 'tail' is as mentioned above, at the last port of call as the barbel swings around. Dorsal fin hooking is also experienced, but rare. Tail hooking can also occur because some 'clever' barbel have copied the chub into 'whacking' the meat with it's 'tail' to see if it is attached to a lead weight and anchored to the riverbed. If it is attached to a weight, the meat will rise in the current and drop back to the same position and the barbel will have 'sussed' you out, hence a knock on the rod tip owned by you lazy boys and then usually nothing else, so you can go back to sleep!. If the bait is a 'freebie' and not anchored, the bait rises in the current then gets washed down in the flow and the fish, will 'watch' it, 'follow' it and then 'take' it further downstream, 100% in the mouth. It's very rare to hook a barbel in the tail on buried meat unless the hooks showing, or your using hair rigs (which is a foul hooking in itself) or maggot with the hook showing,.

On the other subject...the braid questions i will answer for the umpteenth time, next time or wait for the book!. Barry..I recently retrieved a 'mono' snagged feeder with a dead fish skeleton attached to the hook! Hope it's not yours? I cannot believe how many 'broken off' 'snapped up' 'mono' lined rigs i have dragged in with my 'heavy' braid including 2-3 oz lead bombs, feeders, hair rigs, live barbel attached to broken branches trailing 8-10 lb 'mono' with bolt rigs, yards and yards of broken 'mono' line, swivells and hooks. I've ‘literally’ cleaned up on rivers since using braid for the last five years, of fish and your lost baited rigs and terminal tackle. More to come!.. Rollin' Ray... have a nice day!

[Guest RollingPinBoy]

No takes in 3 day???

[Guest barry ford]

Originally posted by Ray Walton:

Barry Ford and Steve Pope .... Please state your barbel tackle set up and the places that you fish to get a rough idea to where your coming from? Here's some answers to yours and others questions from personal sightings and experience over the past 20 years of barbel fishing and nothing else. When i was a "noddy" and first started barbel fishing on the Royalty, i used 3 lb Bayer Perlon and thought the guy using 10 lb 'rope' in Fiddlers was a c**t, c'os he did'nt give the fish a chance to get away! How views change with experience after finding, at times, 5 or more 'corroding' hooks with trailing 2-3 ft of 'mono' and 'mono' line damaged mouths of barbel! I landed a lot of barbel on my CTM 13ft and lost a lot as well and over the following years, i increased the mono B/S from 3lb, to 4 to 5 to 6, to 8 lb maxima of which i was satisfied, but i still lost or dropped 3 out of 10 fish, especially when snagged in weed and pulled for a break.Then up to 10 lb Maxima and the weed broke before the line. The rods changed as well to thru' action adapted trout blanks then 11 ft medium feeders. Confidence at last. I landed more barbel, especially big ones, and i got very clued up when playing and landing fish. The introduction to other rods, braid and plasticine followed, and the benefits and the answers i will state later and hopefully rest your unwarrented critisms. Foul Hooking....  No 1....It is very rare to foulhook barbel when rolling meat as they tend to move out of the way very quickly when it comes near them especially when they are not interested in the slightest. It's amazing how you can 'rove and roll' miles of river on highly prolific barbel venues throughout the year, where there are hundreds of barbel and thousands of chub, roach, dace, pike, bream, carp, etc on the Benyons, Aldermaston on the kennet and the Royalty on the Avon etc, and not get a flaming bite or indication that anything is in there at all. So it is very rare indeed that it happens at all, and i don't believe that what you say is a 'fact'.  2...As the hook is nearly always buried in the meat, as not to hook the weed or snags, it is virtually impossible to foulhook a barbel without it picking the bait up in it's mouth. 3...The reason that you do very 'rarely' foul hook barbel on the body, when using luncheon meat, is for the reason that it has picked up the hookbait, but the hook has not penetrated the lip or mouth on the strike or as your rod pulls from the rest.(ie, you have missed the bloody bite!). As the barbel turns or bolts, the hook pulls out or is ejected from the lips; the meat goes one way and the hook 'flashes' at great speed along the side of the body, latching into the 'cheek' on the side of the face or front ray of the 'pectoral' fin, or failing that, 'whisking' off a number of 'scales' as it scrapes across the barbels 'flank'. 4.. The reason why you very rarely hook a barbel in the 'tail' is as mentioned above, at the last port of call as the barbel swings around. Dorsal fin hooking is also experienced, but rare. Tail hooking can also occur because some 'clever' barbel have copied the chub into 'whacking' the meat with it's 'tail' to see if it is attached to a lead weight and anchored to the riverbed. If it is attached to a weight, the meat will rise in the current and drop back to the same position and the barbel will have 'sussed' you out, hence a knock on the rod tip owned by you lazy boys and then usually nothing else, so you can go back to sleep!. If the bait is a 'freebie' and not anchored, the bait rises in the current then gets washed down in the flow and the fish, will 'watch' it, 'follow' it and then 'take' it further downstream, 100% in the mouth. It's very rare to hook a barbel in the tail on buried meat unless the hooks showing, or your using hair rigs (which is a foul hooking in itself) or maggot with the hook showing,.

On the other subject...the braid questions i will answer for the umpteenth time, next time or wait for the book!. Barry..I recently retrieved a 'mono' snagged feeder with a dead fish skeleton attached to the hook! Hope it's not yours? I cannot believe how many 'broken off' 'snapped up' 'mono' lined rigs i have dragged in with my 'heavy' braid including 2-3 oz lead bombs, feeders, hair rigs, live barbel attached to broken branches trailing 8-10 lb 'mono' with bolt rigs, yards and yards of broken 'mono' line, swivells and hooks. I've ‘literally’ cleaned up on rivers since using braid for the last five years, of fish and your lost baited rigs and terminal tackle. More to come!.. Rollin' Ray... have a nice day!

 

Sorry it's taken so long to answer but I have been falling about laughing.

 

Arrogance,self importance,remoteness,conceitedness, all atributes you would link to the labour party, Oh no these seem to be Ray Walton's qualities.

 

As you have requested I fish most rivers that hold barbel too many to list here.

 

The Kennet being one Dorset Stour and Hampshire Avon being others.

 

My tackle set up being a Harrison 12 foot 1lb 8oz test curve and 12lb braid and a No2 hook, this will be weighted to suit whatever the flow, and with 12lb braid I can usually get out of any weed bed or snag, hope that has answered your enquiry?????

 

To deal with the points you have raised, you state that foul hooking is almost impossible with the hook buried in the meat.

 

It matters not whether the hook is totally obscured foul hooking will still occur in some situation.

 

Quite frankly I find your answers on this subject ludicrous, foul hooking happens and will always happen with a moving bait.

 

You use scenario's as to how this may happen, do you swim with the fish?????????????

 

Why 30lb braid you havent answered, can you answer? can you justify it's use to let us mear mortals understand or is it just for you self made barbel gods???????????

 

In your response you have made some scathing accusations relating to other barbel anglers, and implied that you single handed have cleaned up the mess we supposedly have left them in.

 

This outburst can only be described as the actions of a scolded child and re-enforce's my view that some barbel anglers are tetchy and unable to take fair criticism, a view Steve Pope thought was unfounded. I wonder if he still feels the same!

 

Saved the best till last, you have implied that you have cleaned up the rivers and I quote "of fish and your lost baited rigs and terminal tackle" unquote, you also implied that you found a snagged feeder with a skeleton attached may have been mine just who the hell do you think you are! I find your comments not only an afront but also untrue and a slur on myself.

 

I use this forum to demand a full retraction of the slurs you have placed on me and other barbel anglers you know the one's, the lazy one's the sleepers and alike, along with an apology.

 

You may be the barbel record holder but these days that means chicken S**T in the real world. As anyone can go to that stretch of the Great Ouse and catch it, no skill there.

 

In your response you referred to an angler useing 10lb line in a rather crude way, I must say that that description rather fits you and an arrogant one at that.

 

So in the end if you cannot responed without slagging everybody off and trying to portray yourself as some angling god may I humbly suggest you don't respond at all.

Barry Ford

PS when are you doing the boot sale to sell all the tackle you removed from our rivers??????????????????????

[Guest barry ford]

Originally posted by RollingPinBoy:

No takes in 3 day???

Just had a take it was Ray Walton. I think he may be foul hooked up the A***E

Barry Ford

[Guest Ray Walton]

Get it right please barry or i might get 'tetchy'!.. You sound a bit like robbie? and seem to be pretty good at foulhooking fish and me up the bum... silly boy!.. and i will cetainly have a field day waitng to grab your swim after youv'e left before going to my sunday boot sale!.. However.. I agree and your right barry/robbie ...you are a great guy and you are truly a better person and angler than i with your choice of misleading and ill-informed comments, but i apologise deeply for catching a 17 lb 4 oz authenticated record barbel from an ‘easy water’ that i previously caught fifteen months before at 12.15 pm on Dec 12 1997 at 15 lb 7 oz, it’s heaviest weight ‘ever’ at the time of capture and before there were any ‘record’ fish around to 'chase', (i think an apology is in order here at this time please barry! Thank you!) and i admit that no ‘skill’ was ever involved, as it just jumped out over Stef Horak and John Barford onto my hook and ‘wow’ there it was, my first barbel on 'Spam' from the Gt. Ouse Mill in 2 years of sussing and trying and of course 'chasing' my own arse around Milton Keynes with my own method!. I also apologise for using 30 lb braid and non-toxic plasticine because i have found it safer than using 10lb or 12lb braid with lead which i have found 'snaps' at around 6 - 8lb in pressure and knot tests and leaves baited rigs in the water which fish can pick up and ‘swallow’ or ‘tether’, and apologies to you for also using a sharp hook and rig to boot that doesn't foulhook fish, and i also apologise for fishing for barbel for the past 34 years and logging and keeping photographic records of everything barbel related and informing you and others since 1979, and also making everything up and telling porky pies in what i have seen, written and talk about and for showing 'unique' false pictures of barbel, tackle, and non-existant fisheries at my 3 hour slide shows and in the press. Boring isn't it! Happy now.. I'm sorry barry! .. Why not book a day out with PAA Coach, Gordon my best mate! You might well learn something about Barbel, fishing and life! Seriously Barry/Robbie.. We are very nice people and i really dont know why you have a personal grudge and keep baiting? You seem paramount about fish welfare as we all do, but you aint no different to any of us, and 'you' also stick a sharp hook into a fishes mouth, pull them out of the water ‘on braid’ onto the bank, and think it’s great. So don't you play god either! 'Caring' is hypocritical to a point!. We all "care" but still do it, and you are no exception! There is a fine line drawn between ‘welfare’ and ‘anti’, and it seems that some 'caring' anglers could 'unwittingly' step over it! We are all travelling in the same Steve's ‘unity’ boat, as to speak. Everything else is secondary..Wise up.. i’m a nice bloke as others will tell you..well most. Where's that other R.W geeza.. Cheers

[Guest Ray Walton]

Barry...Read the first post again..it's all fact!. I know it's very hard for you to accept things unless you see it happen for yourself, and i can assure you that most only happen once in a lifetime. I was sceptical as you when i was told or read things on barbel in my eary days and i had the same attitude. Until it happens to you, you wont take it as gospel, and i really dont blame you or care as i was like that!. Most barbel anglers know i don't lie and most have seen my shows and Gordon and Steve admit they fall asleep when i show records and pics of my barbel studys, pollution and welfare piece, treatment, returning fish. Most of my sightings and captures were done over six years of being on the bank from 1983-1989, watching and fishing for barbel 'exclusively' on the Royalty in every condition including snow. None are 'scenarios' as you think. They are fact! I have experienced and seen everything i have written about, whether in my study or in the 90's up until today. It may even suprise you that Scientific Papers on barbel include a lot of the research done by myself and dedicated friends. I am doing a slide show in Reading in October and you are welcome to come and see some of it for yourself, albeit an edited down one hour show with Bob James as well. How's that for being nice? Cheers again!