Recent content by Stewart Harris

Richard, I believe the oldskool halibuts had an oil content of around 25%, probably as much as they could force a pellet to hold. Many of the current baits sold as halibuts have a lower oil content of around 15%, still not particularly healthy if that's all a barbel is consuming. I might be...

What are you looking to use the paste for? Just to wrap around your hookbait or to use as a free offering too? I tend to make the paste up quite differently depending on the intended use.

I gu I guess that's the difference between using something for a set purpose to overcome a certain scenario and using something just because it's the latest fad/what others do. Where I'm fishing at the moment the set up it is critical in terms of putting fish on the bank safely rather than...

In my experience both braid and flouro are generally over rated when it comes to their stated breaking strains, mono is often quite the opposite. The way these different materials are rated can be very confusing but I tend to buy them for their other properties such as abrasion resistance or...

A coated braid was my starting point initially but it I found I was writing off 3ft+ of material every time I turned a hookpoint or damaged the coating. The idea with combis was to keep a supply of ready tied boom and hook sections to replace the individual parts as and when required. So far...

Yes Keith, I'm using them longer generally. It's very much big leads and rod tips up kind of fishing so I try to keep a separation between the heavy mainline and the hookbait wherever possible. I can accept that at times longer hooklengths might mean more fish getting away with it but it...

Hi chaps, just wondered what everyone is utilizing for their boom sections on combi rigs? I'm fishing over some pretty rocky terrain, almost every capture results in me getting snagged up at some point during the fight, often as soon as you pick up the rod. I've been using .33 Seaguar Ace Hard...

I used the 'original' elips and they most definitely were effective. I just wondered if it had been proven that asthaxantin was what made them so attractive, or whether it was just an assumption that some anglers made. From what I saw it wasnt just the colour of the bait that differed when...

I know the original elips contained asthaxanthin but does it actually serve any real purpose in a barbel bait? As far as I was aware it was used as a colouring agent for farmed salmon and trout as that pigment would be missing due to their lack of natural dietary sources.

Leaving hookbaits in with your pellets will speed up the drying process or alternatively a glycerine based glug will have them rock hard after a while. Glycerine is extremely hygroscopic so will literally suck the moisture out of your baits, just make sure to make holes in them first😉

If you just want chub action then pretty much every club stretch along the Ouse should have something for you, much of it will come down to which parts of the river can be accessed most easily from where you are based. If its bigger chub that you are after then the Ouse might not be the best...

On the Gt Ouse 5 or 6 years back fish of that size were very common. My best winter I had 24 over 6lb with 4 of those being 7lb +. As impressive as that may sound it puts it in perspective a little if I tell you that I was perch fishing until after Christmas so most of those fish came in just...

Fingers crossed it works out for you. I'm lead to believe that the Warrior, Royale and Eos were all built on the same blank, they certainly do all look similar.

I'm not 100% sure on this but I've a funny feeling that the current Eos barbel is a rebadged version of the Royale, in which case the butt sections should be interchangeable. You'd have different logos but it might be another option worth pursuing, there are also spare sections on ebay atm...

It was on the Trent Graham. I've spoken to a few friends since and they knew who I was talking about before I mentioned names🙈 He is certainly a 'Dick', interpret that however you want😂😂