Recent content by Mike Hodgkiss

In todays depressed market £200 + is steep for a Chapmans 500/550 unless it is absolutely mint which looking at the photos the rod in question isn't . As regards suitable for Barbel fishing I would say a qualified yes , however whatever model, it is not capable of prolonged casting of leads over...

Clearly a lot of Barbel present in the river where you fish Jim , It would be an interesting to see what happened if you didn't feed at all and just fished a single large bait . As for the casting in every 5 mins , well that goes against my instinct to create as little disturbance as possible...

That's an interesting point Julian , maybe on the lightly fished stretch the Barbel are liking your bait as its the only bait that's going in the water , hobsons choice, other than any natural food that's around . As for Barbel choosing one bait over another I am not convinced . If there is a...

As a little experiment , a number of years a go I stopped using pellets altogether for Barbel fishing . I caught plenty of Barbel using pellets as bait and filling up little PVA bags with small pellets as an attractant as this was what most anglers were doing but I get fed up with fiddling about...

I think all these different names / flavours are just marketing ploys primarily designed primarily to attract anglers . As is evident in this thread all these different pellets will catch Barbel that's because Barbel are not fussy eaters, if feeding they will eat almost anything that's put in...

Welcome Michael , BFW is your one stop shop for all you need to know about Barbel fishing , great bunch of folks on here

Here in North Yorkshire it has been holing it down , all the spate rivers are rising fast but to be fair that's pretty normal for this time of year . It will be a brave angler who tries his luck for Barbel in the next day or two , cold water and tons of leaves , branches , trees , dead sheep...

I think the issue for me is multiple numbers of Barbel , placed immediately after landing in to a keepnet after a protracted fight with no room to move about and recover properly , that is poor form .Will it stop ? In big matches I doubt it very much ...

Kings Weir ?

Whether we like it or not this is the nature of competition angling . Yes a bigger landing net would have helped , but in a huge match like this you would need a lot of folks to be running up and down weighing individual fish like this specimen and then releasing them , not practical really...

Not in the middle ! Upstream swim you have first chance of intercepting /catching Barbel that are moving downstream , vice versa on the downstream swim . In match fishing drawing a downstream end peg is often seen as good as any fish moving upstream into the length meet your bait first ...

Easy solution to this plucks and pulls debate , just sit on your hands and wait for the rod to go round and stay round , most barbel either hook themselves on the weight of the lead or the resistance from the rod tip , Barbel are usually not the most delicate of feeders although they can be a...

That is a very fine Barbel , well done , what a beauty !

Interesting dilemma this one . In theory claiming the record should not in itself spoil things , it's not that hard to take a photo of the captor holding the fish making sure there is no background to identify where the fish was caught and of course do not identify the stretch of the river where...

I can see the sense in this Neil, but I very rarely put any feed in preferring to fish a single large smelly bait , the only exception being when fishing maggots in winter when I will use a feeder full of maggots . I primarily fish the Yorkshire Ouse , feeding lots of pellets , groundbait ...