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Active maple 8 was the dogs wotsits, the original grange was probably the best bar none! My summer secret weapon, NRG is discontinued too, the Cell, caught me 1 fish, not a barbel bait, but slaughters most carp waters, most, but not all???? Active8 is good, but loads out there, good luck with...

The test results are interesting, would be interested to know just how they tested it, my findings ,and those of a couple of very capable & successful anglers, certainly with the 15 & 20lb would somewhat contradict those results? I use the 20lb for hooklinks for salmon, tied with a double davy...

Used it for years, I like it, need to tie the right knots though, a double davy knot is the best by a mile, avoid grinners, a fig8 loop is good too. peter

I,ve used X-line for both hooklinks & mainline for years, as good as any, probably better than most, cheap too, £14 or so for 250mtrs. peter

Definitely, no reason why not, its only a barbel, not some alien hybrid! peter

Have fun trying them out, Justin, if your fishing the Trent ,they should be perfect, they are really nice for carping too, a powerful through action, I know they are rated at 2.25lb tc, probably a tad under rated if anything, good build too. peter

Got a pair, don,t use them much for barbel, but great light pike rods, and nice for carp, chuck a 3oz lead miles, good for floaters too. peter

snap

It will be interesting to see how the syndication pans out, I noted Johns thoughts on the Salmon side, saying that they would start after the coarse season, problem with that is that the season starts 1st February, so expecting, no doubt premium pricing, loosing 6weeks at the start, then the...

Sad but true, the reasons are clearly explained, so not that surprising, a club on the the very slippery slope to near oblivion, but still another year ! peter

I,ve used a Mclean salmon weigh net for the last 5years, handles just about anything, well built, easy to use, as bullet proof as they get, light too, weighs a kilo. Will easily handle a 20lb+ pike, so barbell, no problem. peter

Mine is a pair of Adzaki barbel rods(Preston Innovations), unbeatable action, will do everything from trundling meat ,to lobbing out 6oz feeders, also the best salmon bait rods, love em! peter

I got my smartcast years ago, caught me loads of fish, a quick recce can be very revealing especially on the Thames, watch out for pike though, had a few have a go, so the thing is rigged with a 100lb mono leader, just in case! peter

The Cell is undoubtedly a killer carp bait on most waters, but not all, I tried it many times for Thames barbel, only catching 1 fish on it, at the same time I used my old faithful Active maple 8 and slaughtered them, I won,t be using it again! peter

That looks very much like a smoothound, no teeth to worry about there, but 5ft, that's a huge one!!!!!! peter

The Youngs 5 piece is a decent choice for an in the boot rod, cheap enough, buy 2, I,ve used mine for salmon with no problems, nice action, light in the hand, will handle any barbel etc, I wouldn,t trust it with a huge lead, upto 3oz no worries. peter

Tried loads of flouro,s, Seaguar I found unreliable, keep going back to X-line, if you need a stiffer line, use the 20lb. I,ve used it for years for both barbel and salmon and it is by far the best, most reliable, learn to tie a "Davy knot" and your sorted! peter

Get them in quick, keep them in the water in the net & release ASAP. Be very quick if you must weigh them, photo,s too, think fish ,not personal glory, and they should be OK. In slow to non existant flows like the Thames, problems can and do occur, be very careful, I had a 9lber die on me...

Tried allsorts of particles, tigers were good for river carp chub and even bream, apparently peanuts are OK for barbel ,but I never used them. Chickpeas work, crays aren,t keen on them, they flavour up/colour up well too, maple peas are good too. peter

Stunning brownie that, a rare beast too, very few wild trout of that size get caught from rivers, definitely your lucky day, well done. The strangest by-catch I,ve had was a near 6lb seatrout from the Avon on trundled meat, tasted good though!!! peter