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For the Barbel fishing , I either use vintage Abu Cardinal 54's or 55's , sometimes vintage Mitchell 30l's or 411's , occasionally modern Shimano's if I feel the need for a baitrunner

Essentially Richard , despite all our best efforts as responsible anglers, we are putting fish under stress by the very fact of catching them and fish ,will ,on occasion, react badly to the distress we have caused them . There is no perfect solution to the issue of handling / caring for Barbel...

Yes I an , I have seen Barbel chasing fry in the shallows , seems to be an early season/ summer phenomena

Its all a compromise Richard . Say for example you have your 14 lb + barbel in your 36 inch landing net still tethered to your line with a 5oz feeder snagged in the mesh , the fish is belly up and its struggling to right itself / turn itself in to the current , perhaps its dorsal fin has become...

I think the problem with any retention/recovery strategy for Barbel is that everything is a compromise . A landing net is just that , a net for landing fish not retaining them . Like most others I tend to follow the perceived wisdom of leave the barbel in the landing net for a while before...

The wisdom on this subject seems to be that leaving a barbel in a landing net to recover is the best thing to do to allow the fish to recover after capture and before release back to the river . However if you look at it logically putting a barbel in a much larger well positioned fully...

Robin , as David has commented ,your rod is beyond repair , you could splint it but you would be sorely disappointed with the results , trust me . I would suggest you google split cane rod makers , there are a few around , chap called Ryan Burns springs to mind , he has a good reputation . They...

Could be worse David :) .I love reading Bernard Venables Mr Crabtree book , old Crabtree never had that pipe out of his mouth , I reckon he puffed away at it to keep the midges at bay . The lad Peter always does as he's told , and never questions his dads wisdom and methods. I wonder what Mr C...

Thanks for your kind words David . I do not build cane rods from scratch , I don't have the requisite facilities/equipment , most of my work is refurbishing rods,fitting new rings ,re whipping and re varnishing ,and / or repairing rods with delamination , sets in the cane , worn out ferrules ...

Very good advice from David , a man who knows ....

Robin I would not go down the road of replacing the damaged top section with anything other than cane , it would ruin the rods action and massively de value it . As I said in earlier post, put some pictures up and lets see how badly damaged it is . I restore cane rods and may be able to help you...

Post some pictures Robin and lets see how bad a condition its in . As to original posting .A B James MK1V Carp rod is more than capable for Barbel fishing , as long its in good condition, the Avon version is also OK for Barbel as long as you are not in a hit and hold / snaggy swim . Looking at...

See Yorkshire Ouse river report , maggots/ maggot feeder are working for Barbel

I don't neccesarily think that rolling Barbel is a sign of feeding Barbel , however it certainly boosts your confidence when it's going on in front of you ! I have seen this behaviour on all the Yorkshire rivers that I fish regularly [ Ouse , Nidd and Swale primarily] . It seems more common in...

I think theres a lot to your observation Terry . I sometimes fish in a local clubs evening matches , nothing too serious ,but I enjoy the craic .The relatively short stretch we fish contains a reasonable head of Barbel but stick 15 or so anglers on it, most fishing ''on the tip'' and usually...

Fair enough Paul .but no group is truly private , not even BFW . There is nothing to stop people joining BFW then telling all there mates what they have just read . As I said in my previous post ,put up reports by all means ,if they are discreet in terms of areas fished ,then they can do very...

The '' problem '' as I see it is this . I primarily fish various stretches of the Yorkshire Ouse as its only a 5 minute drive from my home , I also regularly walk the river banks in my role as a bailiff for York and district amalgamation of Anglers and also walk other club/association stretches...

Paul , I am no expert but I don't think the amount of bait put in to rivers has any real effect on the bio mass ,however I think anglers chucking in large amounts of bait in popular swims / areas can spoil the fishing in that immediate area . As to stocking rivers and creating an artificial...

I dont think BFW river reports reflect accurately the state of Barbel fishing largely because relatively few people post catch reports . I am not a big fan of social media but if you dip your toe in the water so to speak, Facebook,for example , reflects a picture of many rivers fishing well for...