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MMMM? reading the rules, if the lead wire is wrapped around the hook, the hook inserted into a bait, then its legal, same as a trout fly, incorporated within being the key phrase! peter

MMMM? why not look at it another way, use something like a size 10 and use a long very fine hair setup, used to work well, absolutely no reason why it wouldn,t work now! peter

The only barbel I,ve ever deep hooked was caught on a chunk of meat, fished on the hook in very deepwater (26ft), couldn,t even feel the hook, no chance of unhooking, probably lucky it didn,t bite me off. The use of knotless knot type hair setups make deephooking near immpossible, they hook on...

I just don,t get it, why hundreds flock to fish the place, yep, plenty of barbel, but its fished intensly, everyday, certainly through the summer, even in winter it gets busy, must be one of, if not the most heavily fished bits of river in the country, not my scene. A flowing commercial...

Its not just the rod to consider, the reel also, they need to balance, get that right and it makes life easy, generally the lighter the better, within reason, depending on the average size of your target fish. I,ve caught plenty of fish using the rolling method, and now use the same, or similar...

Does make you think, when I buy high quality hooks for fly tying, all produced to the same specifications, chemically sharpened etc, for boxes of fifty I pay less than the price for the average pack of ten "carp"hooks, a lot of these fly patterns make very good barbel hooks, checkout Tiemco...

The Test is now showing some good form, salmon showing in decent numbers, hooked 10 fish in my last two days, landed 8, one grilse, the others all between 10-12.5lb. Numerous eels, chub and trout,maybe a shadow of years gone by, but a definate improvement, having such a good time, the barbel...

I think the slow down in activity after the first few hours of darkness, is probably down to the fish spooking, try moving swims when it goes quiet. Not suitable if your bivvied up, but are you fishing or camping?????? peter

Done

Friend and I, fishing a Test salmon beat yesterday, friend,fishing just up from me, heard a couple talking, turned round and spotted two people walking down river, they saw him and turned into the undergrowth, reappearing on the track running alongside the river, one tried to hide, but his white...

Today the river was a weed ridden mare, heavy rain cut visibility, not much fun, but midday a 4lb brownie, next cast 12lb 8oz salmon, a further 5 trout to around 5lb, and a couple of pesky eels, not so bad. Found out my waterproof coat doesn,t work in torrential downpours, used to, time to go...

Caty with a big pouch, put them out 6 at a time, that makes an impact. peter

Each to his own, saw a very amusing result of someone not quite doing it right last season. A couple of friends turned up at a very popular swim ,midday on the15th, around6pm a barrow load appeared, complete with camoued up carpy type. He went into an absolute fit at finding "his"swim taken, the...

I much prefer tungsten tubing, far heavier than leadcore, much better for river work and more suited to barbel fishing rigs. The leadcore I use as loop on leaders for salmon fly fishing, certainly gets a fly down in a good flow. peter

There,s so much choice, find one you have confidence in and stick to it, be aware that manufacturers do change recipes, making apparently the same bait, but with different ingredients to cut costs usually, but it can make what was a killing bait into yet another also ran, rarely improving it...

They are here to stay, they will spread to most river systems soon enough ,and there,s Nothiing we can do about "THEM". I,ve given up caring, I,ll fish for whats there, not what used to be there! Even the most unlikely habitats will be populated, IE the Lower, heavily populated Thames and...

I,ll be out on the 16th, but salmon will be the target, barbel will get a look later, probably into july, the Thames is always a tad slow to start! peter

Gutted, Another pristine springer lost at the net, yesterday morning, great take, great scrap, just that final lunge away and that really sick feeling as the hookhold failed , DOH! Not a monster, 12-14lb, but still , got those, if only thoughts, not the first one I,ve lost, won,t be the last...

No shortage of coarse fish on show yesterday, loads of chub, some roach,grayling and a few decent pike, the keeper saw a possible double figure barbel swimming with a ghostie, even a salmon, seen but refused every type of fly and lure I threw at it,Doh!!! The water is clearing, by no means gin...

On big waters like the Thames I often fish 3, when faced with 30yards + of water, fish can be anywhere, when hotspots are found, I will just fish 2. peter