aversion/intolerance/fear of lobworms so I asked a friend to bait my hook with one for me, then I cast that bait out on a rod that I had rigged up myself. If I caught a fish on that rod, I'd be ok with claiming that fish as my catch. But if I kept on missing bites (say, chub bites) and I asked someone else to strike for me, and they hooked a fish and then handed me the rod, then I would not claim that catch as mine.
I wouldn’t claim it either but your point is completely well out of context.
Terry if you use hairs for your barbel fishing then you don’t need your mate to strike for you because the rig hooks them perfectly all by itself, Hence 3 ft twitch
My point which obviously wasn’t very clear first time round was that although the hair and the twig are different things and operate different, they are equally as effective when you put the twig into a specimen carp situation and the hair into a barbel situation.
In the two different situations they are both doing the hooking for you.
If you disagree with that then please explain how they are different in those situations
PS... re. barbel being stupid/thick whatever. Watch "Barbel Day & Ways". Dumb fish eh.
I have my own experience to back up my point which I’ll try share.
I don’t fish rivers that are rammed with barbel all that often. Occasionally I do, but most of my time is spent targeting very large fish in small numbers on the nene mostly.
These are big old girls that have seen it all before, yet they are caught over and over and over again. To the same baits, same group of anglers, doing the same thing.
My friend caught one twice in the same day once and myself and my friends have caught the same fish several times just a day apart.
Don’t get me wrong I know they are spooky fish and it doesn’t take much to make them shy away through fear but they ain’t the sharpest knife’s in the drawer when it comes to taking a bait.
Hence the reason….. we haven’t had to evolve past the knotless knot.
Evolution of rigs or lack of in this case is hard and fast evidence that the hair rig on its own is perfect for self hooking barbel.
Things would be different if barbel were able to pick em up and spit em out regularly
It’s evolved and evolved and evolved in the carp world because those crafty fat buggers know how to spit em back out.
I fish for barbel on the float a lot too. The daft buggers can even regularly hook em selves on those rigs with hooks deeply buried in meat.
The chub pull the floats under slowly and if you ain’t sharp enough they’ll let go. The barbel ram the floats down at a million miles n hour and if you ain’t sharp enough they’ll take the rod out your hands.