Recent content by Mike Hodgkiss

In terms of modern pins , the Okuma range are hard to beat excellent build quality , the cheap centre pins / bearing reels are OK but they are not built to a high standard and tolerances vary , I had one and the line kept finding its way between the back plate and the drum as gap was wide ...

Seer?

As, Jim says glycerine work fine .

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...