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Andy, for me it varies. If I am getting chub bites I lengthen the hair - that hasn't been a problem for me this season so the hair has got shorter and shorter.

Go for it - I can't imagine a barbel thinking "ooh, if only it was summer I'd love that"!

OMG - I used to own the very same rod pod (it was one of the first available from memory), the optonics (with the carp ears too) and use monkey climbers for my carping - that must have been 35 years ago which is making me feel older than I want to feel...

Hi Jon, I've got two jack russells (the wife insists they are hers but we all know the truth....) and I have often wondered about using various of their food items. In particular, they had some treats which smelt exactly like Trefor's Sausage Sizzle. Sod it, I am going to give them a go.....

I was roving a small Thames tributary in the summer when a guy, with no tackle, climbed down the bank in the swim opposite me. "Are you taking the pi$$?" I enquired in that friendly way we all greet dickheads. Turned out he had been fishing the swim but gone to get something from his car - I...

I remember once using blood as a groundbait additive for tench many moons ago. As I recall it didn't put the tench off but it certainly wasn't good enough to make me want to do it twice.....

Totally agree - I only ever look retrospectively. Nothing worse than sitting there talking yourself into a blank....

Thanks Gary, I'll look at that

Many moons ago (do you like what I have done there?!) Chris Lyons used to produce moon phase charts predicting good, bad or indifferent days based on the moon phase. I should state now that I have never been in the happy position where I can base my trips around the moon phase, weather...

Because the Administrators need to maximise the return to the company's creditors; if that is achieved by a sale back to the original owners then so be it. It would appear counter intuitive to refuse to sell to the owner and reduce the amount returned to creditors on any supposed point of...

The chub were at it with a vengeance this morning. In your experience gentlemen, do barbel spawn before, after or around the same time as chub? Do you think they have spawned yet? I was sent a picture of a big (20lb +) Trent barbel over the weekend which looked absolutely huge and certainly...

You can use silt to find the barbel. A few pellets into a silty area and watch for the magic puff of brown smoke. As Mark has mentioned above, it is very exciting fishing as you know that you have barbel in your swim (although it could be carp, but not chub due to the way they feed) and that...

Hi Mike, I know that people blame otters and other factors but nothing was the same after those floods on a whole host of rivers. If the fish had merely been displaced, then they would be located and someone would be catching them. I don't think that's the case and instead they died. Whether...

Fishmeal and peach? That sounds like the original Premier Baits combo back in the late 80s / early 90s. Absolutely devastating at the time for carp.

The Eye was a different fish to the Thames 50lb - it is believed to have been killed having been hit by a speedboat on Sonning I believe. Ady, that is a once a decade stroke of luck! Mine came years ago when I was obsessed with reservoir piking and came across a Minn Kota electric outboard for...

I never tire of reading the Hurricane Barbel chapter - what a story that is

Thanks for that Dave. Like you , I do like to read about people's tactical approaches too.

Bob, perhaps you need a bit more cheese if your paste hardens too much in cold water? I use ready rolled shortcrust pastry and have no problems. As has been said on this thread it's an easy bait to experiment with and I can't help adding a colour or a flavour (invariably both).

Thanks Hatter, that bought back some memories. As a schoolboy living in deepest South London some 40 years ago during the school holidays I used to get the number 36 bus to the Oval, the northern line to Stockwell, the Victoria line to Blackhorse Road or Tottenham Hale and then walk to the...

This Fishing by Captain LA Parker is a great book if you want to read about clay ball fishing for barbel on the Thames with lobworms. 18 years ago I used to spend a lot of time fish spotting on primarily the Loddon with just a bucket of pellets which I would deposit (a few at a time!) into...