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The ones I have seen have very little water in them which exasperates the problem. And as they sit higher than a mat any escapees will have a nasty fall.

A few years ago now nobody would have fished short hook lengths on ledger tackle for roach or tench. Now, according to one recent thread on here that is now the 'classic' wayof fishing for tench. If you consider how barbel feed I think the heli or chod rig is worth a go especially on waters...

I have come across these in France and discovered the water to be way too hot for the fish's welfare. One was stood out in full sun with the ambient temperature at over 30C and the water in the cradle was much warmer than that. I asked the angler to test the water. He was shocked and immediately...

I have resisted using alarms whenever possible. However, if I have two or more rods set out so that I cannot monitor them all then it makes sense to put alarms on the furthest rods. Mine are Delkins from the 70's and are muted in that each speaker has a blob of Blu-Tac in the hole. And mostly I...

Regards line strength of the hook link that can depend on what is above it, i.e. the leader, main line and rod rating. If what you are using isn't getting broken on low doubles then it is strong enough and I wouldn't go below 6lb in the scenario that you describe. Mono, flouro' and braid all...

On the plus side, dead and dry giant hogweed is a brilliant kindling for the Kelly Kettle. I must have burnt an acre of the stuff over the years on the banks of the Dearne.

It would be interesting to see a similar video showing how much of the ground bait and particles reaches the bottom when using a feeder in various depths and flows using different groundbait mixes. One of the reasons I make my hemp & maize ground bait sticky using the natural starch in the...

IMO you only need 3 components for a feeder mix; maize, hemp and pellets. Simmer ground maize in enough water to cover it for ten minutes, add cooked hemp seeds, ground hemp and maize ground bait, cover with boiling water then take off the heat and allow to cool. It should be a claggy mix as...

I can be fishing the Vienne within 15 minutes of leaving the house, but the best swims on that river and the Charente are an hour away. My work takes me over a wide area and so wherever possible I try to combine fishing sessions with the end of my working day to save time and cost. Discounting...

Ha-ha! I have less free time now than when I was working a 40 hour three shift week. I only have one 'membership'. It cost €100 a year and gives access to around 90% of all French rivers and the public lakes. I haven't got around to them all yet :)

I have a Pike rod that bends almost to the butt. And two Carp rods that have a similar action, but I also had a Carp rod that was like a poker. Grading rods by their itended species is a load of baloney. There are Carp rods designed to chuck a lead to the far side of the moon and they will have...

I agree with your first point. But you wouldn't use a rod that hasn't got the backbone or ability to cast the required weight or exert the required pressure on a fish no matter what the action was, and that is where the test curve comes into the equation. You can get Avons down to 12oz test...

In that case I had better recommend the Drennan 3 metre twistlock 😂 But I don't lift the fish with the pole from horizontal. Once I have put the rod back on its rest I shorten the handle to leave a hands breadth of upper pole section and use that to lift the net with the pole vertically. I...

As said; they all have their pros and cons. Where I now fish it has to be latex simply to avoid the mesh snagging on every little thing. It has to be strong as many places entail a dead lift of five feet or more. Access to river level cannot be taken for granted. The folding style is better for...

Simple running lead with shortish flouro' leader, 2 foot max, pva bag and acurate placement. I would use a heavyish lead and a bobbin rather than the tip so as to be able to strike before the fish reacts to the tension of the tip going round. As has been said; rigs that were used 20 years ago...

Julian, You have described some of the method you intend to use, but we really need to know the venues and size of barbel you expect to encounter. For example anglers on the Wye with all its sharp rocks, etc will set up differently to anglers fishing over sand or gravel.

Test curves on their own are no more of a red herring than action is. You need to consider both aspects. Going back to the original question; the primary necessity for a rod is to be able to deliver the desired bait and rig to the desired location and keep it there. If that is 40 metres away...

From reading Tim Paisley's book Memories of Carp it appears that the fish hook themselves and can be safely left towing the rig around until the angler, I use the term lightly, gets around to attending to his rods. Personally I like to be on hand if not to actually set the hook, but to at least...

Tried the River Vienne up near to Limoges airport this afternoon.

Had 1h:45m on the Vienne at lunch time after finishing mole-patrol. One bite, one fish. 6lb exactly.