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If it’s only being used once a year, I’d go for the new JW Travel either Avon or Barbel depending on your style of fishing. I’ve got the Avon (1.25lb test) and it’s handled barbel to 8lb easily. For 60 notes you can’t go wrong.

Hi guys, I’m selling my Shimano Alivio AX Barbel Classic rod. This is a nice light all round barbel rod. I’ll be sad to see her go, but two piece 12ft rods and public transport don’t mix well. In excellent near-mint condition. This is the 1.5lb test curve version (ALVAXBCL). It comes with two...

One other thing to bear in mind when you think you’ve sprung a leak, sometimes you haven’t and it’s your brain playing tricks. If you’re out in the rain in winter, the outside waterproof layer gets wet and its temperature drops. If the inside of this layer touches your skin (or even through a...

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I took a punt on a pair of photochromatic polarising glasses from Aliexpress for £12 and they are excellent.

The blurb says 2.3kg which is the same as the aeronium I think. They even use the same “built using a special alloy” spiel.

I like William Bailey’s advice from “The Angler’s Instructor” (1857): “Ground bait with worms for Barbel & place which you fancy, and in which you may think a stock of fish lie. Use for this purpose fifteen hundred dew worms, but do not mix them with anything as some Anglers recommend. Believe...

Perhaps could use the slotted tungsten beads used in fly fishing. Depending on the size/gauge of hook used it may or may not fit. For example, here’s a 4 mm bead on a size 8 Drennan barbel hook. Probably not weighty enough for meat (but works a treat on squirmy wormy flies).

Kings Weir last Saturday.

I’ve been fishing on and off since I was about 11. In my junior years I didn’t have access to anywhere that held barbel, so they always held some mystery for me. Fast forward many, many years later got back into angling and living in London heard there were some in the Wandle. Started fishing it...

Yep seen it in barbel, chub and perch. Sometimes referred to as scoliosis but I think it’s actually lordosis/kyphosis as the curvature is usually dorsal or ventral (or both) rather than lateral

I always struggle in that swim, obliterated by chub bites and struggle to get fish back safely with the drop. Here’s one from the Wandle jungle.

My advice before splashing out a lot of cash would be to buy a less expensive pin, second hand or borrow one and see if you get on with it. They’re definitely not for everyone and spending over £300 on something that then lives in a cupboard is a little crazy. For something less extravagant...

Yep Hampton Court 👍

I usually take the best pics when I blank.

Agree with Jean-Pierre on baits. Free-lined/rolled meat works well as does a large hunk of bread with a shot on the line a few inches from the hook. Maggots & worm work well for dace, chub & trout. Float or legered worm can catch trout all day long, whether you want it or not!

From Colliers Wood I think it’s easier to fish the free stretches. You’ve got the option of heading downstream and hitting the swims around Plough Lane & Garratt Park or upstream Sainsbury, Merton Abbey Mills to Deen City Farm.