Search results

What's a Boilie ?

Paul , I think you have hit the nail on the head there ,[use] ' the method that gives you most confidence '.Confidence is the key . Another observation I would make is this . Most of my Barbel fishing is done on the Yorkshire Ouse which is a big river . I have found over many years that ground...

Keep em lean and keen . As I understand it the point of ground bait is to attract fish in to the swim and hopefully find the hook bait leading to you catching the fish or fish attracted by the ground bait . Too much ground bait or free offerings gives any fish around more choice ,therefore less...

One reel with a weak ratchet is the Okums Aventa , lovely reel otherwise but it is too easy to pull line off against the ratchet in my experience

Another thought .May be worth using braid when touch ledgering , as its zero stretch it might make it easier for you to feel the plucks and pulls

Not particularly my cup of tea , but you could use a baitrunner reel/ centre pin with a strong ratchet and a bite alarm , negates staring at the tip for hours or getting cramp in your crooked finger . That said , touch ledgering is absorbing and its amazing what you can feel through the line...

To be honest Barbel have very catholic taste and if they are feeding they will eat almost anything . If I had to choose 3 baits I would go for maggots , worms , or spam , the latter being particularly effective in coloured / flood conditions . Sweetcorn is also worth a try

Low as possible for me , can't do with the neck ache with rods high up and it looks naff , but will tolerate it in flood conditions or on big rivers .

1- How to Fish , Chris Yates 2-A Dream of Jewelled Fish , and the Glorious Uncertainty , John Aston 3-Still water Angling , Richard Walker 4-Small Stream Fishing , David Carl-Forbes 5-Somwhere Down the Crazy River , Paul Boote and Jeremy Wade 6-Match Fishing with Benny Ashurst , Benny Ashurst /...

Could be fun if you were a little rotund in the belly department , under the belly , over the belly ? I reckon a waistcoat with a few pockets and a maggot bag would do fine . Can you still get maggot bags ? ....

That Barbel is no stranger to the pie shop is it , what a porker ! Great story , and well done for giving it a go despite your mobility issues .Round these parts a 12lb Barbel is a very big fish , nay a whopper ! I would suggest you get a large unhooking mat with a grass design printed on it ...

Yes I see ,just looked at some images . I guess the idea is to reduce the likelihood of the hook coming out , sort of barbed variation , interesting idea .

So whats the thinking behind the Pallatrax gripz hook ?

Ultimately the intention of a barbed or micro barbed hook is to reduce the chance of the hook coming out of the fishes mouth thus helping us land more fish . The debate should be do barbed hooks do more damage to the fish than barbless hooks when we are trying to extract them from the fishes...

Howsham busy , which bit of Howsham are you thinking of ? There's miles of it between the Howsham Bridge and Kirkham Abbey which rarely sees an angler . As to the original post , it depends what you are after . If its solitude and a challenge I would go for Howsham up to Kirkham Abbey , or the...

That must be a hell of a mouse to eat a whole landing net , never mind x2 bedchairs ! You are going to need a bigger trap . I'll get my coat ......

Worms and maggots will catch anything that swims . For Barbel, if I had to choose one it would be garlic flavoured Spam . These days I very rarely use a feeder when Barbel fishing , except with maggots ,so that part of the equation doesn't come in to it

Interesting read , thanks for that Terry . I am afraid the cons far outweigh the pros for me . I simply don't understand why braid manufacturers don't explain the actual/real breaking strain of their product , can't they be bothered ? I note that some of them break at nearly 50% lower than the...

Anyone have a view on braids breaking strain , i.e. stated BS and actual BS ? I have heard many accounts of its unreliability and tendency to break far below the actual BS, leading anglers to use braid in ridiculously high stated BS to compensate for this .

A face only a mother could love !