Recent content by David Barratt

Sad news, didn't know John but enjoyed his contributions to the forum

Got a pair of the 0.75s, very nice rods for the money as others have said. Imagine the heavier ones are going to be decent enough.

Fantastic way of sorting out the big fish. Generally fish a big piece hair rigged tight to the bend of a T6 raptor with a piece of twig as the hair stop on a strong fluorocarbon hook length. About as simple as it gets.

Not seen the Daiwa one but recently bought myself a Rovex folding net for about twelve quid. Plenty big enough, mesh maybe slightly lightweight, time will tell.

A bucket does me just fine.

Does anybody go down the route of adding weight to the hook shank via tungsten putty or similar, as an alternative to having to weight the line with plasticine ? I wondered if this would help achieve a straighter run through the swim ?

Freebies, what are they John !? Hear what your saying but I believe in any flow a barbel will almost always take a bait and turn downstream. May be different in slack water, hence my preference for a heavier lead in such conditions.

Caught quite a few UK sturgeon up to 90lb or so. Have always found the best bait to be a small roach, alive or dead, fished in the margins.

My approach is very similar to Dave Taylor's except I will more often than not be using half to three quarters of an ounce only for the main lead. Rod tip as low as possible (on the river bed if I can) and if I can maintain a tight line the lack of weight in the lead doesn't bother me as I think...

Last two seasons on my usual river have both been good to me on the barbel front, decent numbers, high average size and have increased my PB in each of the two seasons. I've definitely noticed a decline in the chub fishing though and this winter the perch fishing, which was very good last year...

There's been some God awful angling on TV over the years and The Big Turn Off is in that bracket, in my opinion. I don't subscribe to the idea that any exposure is good exposure and I'm quite happy that the general public thinks angling is a sport for old men. Why we feel the need to appeal to...

Difficult to answer with any degree of certainty. I'm catching more barbel on my local river than I was 4 years ago. Other anglers are catching fewer !

Graham Rowles was the guy at OBH Dave. I had some very amusing run ins with him over the years, definitely a few sandwiches, or perhaps I should say "hot pies", short of a picnic !

Didn't know Keith personally but he came across as a nice fella and that rarest of anglers, an original thinker. Sad loss, R.I.P.

Trailer for this looks cringeworthy and as far removed from my angling ideals as you could get. I will still have a look though !