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1 or 2

It's more often than not dictated by the swim and the access to it, as well as snags. If clear of snags and plenty of room to play and land fish, I will fish both upstream and downstream simultaneously. Otherwise, all the concentration goes on one rod. Some say (perhaps mischievously) that an angler can't concentrate on two at a time. For most of my fishing, however, I really don't need to concentrate on either rod - as nothing tends to happen. 😂
 
Definitely only one on my river.And this morning even one was a waste of time.Couldn’t keep it in more than a couple of minutes without getting wiped out with floating weed.I didn’t stay long.
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Exactly as Rich described above. It depends on what’s infront of me at the time . You’ve also got to take into consideration the likelihood on your water of a double take. That can be very interesting if you’ve no one around to help.
unfortunately in my case single takes are rare as RHS so 2 rods aren’t a concern in that respect
 
Ironically I'm going back to how I used to fish when I first started targeting barbel, fishing one rod but running the line over my fingers so if I get distracted looking at birds ect I can feel the bite!
Also quite often I find when I fish one rod now I'm thinking more about exactly where the barbel are likely to be in front of me, rather than just automatically fishing one up and one downstream.
...But on one particular stretch of my local River Ouse where its snag free I do tend to have the main feed area bang out in front of me, then a hookbait and lead further downstream with no feed!
This rod sometimes picks up more barbel than the feed area!
 
Always just one rod for me, I’m happier just focusing on one swim, getting the feed right and looking for indications. I think I’d get in a right mess if two rods went off at the same time. I prefer to watch the tip, but do have a bait runner set just in case my mind wanders and I get distracted watching kingfishers etc..
 
Why the fcuk are they cutting the weed?
Probably because I’ve only picked a rod up in the last couple of days,my usual late start to the season,and they like to wind me up 😊.
Luckily I only live 10 minutes from the river,so not as though I’d traveled far.
 
Out of habit I take 2 but actually this season I've had better results fishing just one rod. Not sure if I concentrate more, less disturbance for sure and keeps the bait in a a tighter area, but definitely more consistent sport on one
Despite this I went last night, and fished 2 but all fish came to the same rod, and as has been stated 2 rods can be a right pain if you get fish kiting into the other line or a double hook-up. Consequently if I have to fish 2 rods and the swim is suitable I tend to go upstream with one and leave it as a sleeper rod
 
Out of habit I take 2 but actually this season I've had better results fishing just one rod. Not sure if I concentrate more, less disturbance for sure and keeps the bait in a a tighter area, but definitely more consistent sport on one
Despite this I went last night, and fished 2 but all fish came to the same rod, and as has been stated 2 rods can be a right pain if you get fish kiting into the other line or a double hook-up. Consequently if I have to fish 2 rods and the swim is suitable I tend to go upstream with one and leave it as a sleeper rod
I take two, use one and tell myself the spare is "just in case", presumably if I break a rod. Who knows?
 
It depends...

If I've just got a few hours or if I'm fishing the Wye, I'll take one rod and rove - two rods are more trouble than they are worth in such a scenario.

If I am fishing a big river (Thames, Trent) I will usually fish in a different way, baiting so the fish come to me rather than going to find them so would tend to use two rods.

If I do use two rods, I will invariably fish different presentations and baits on each - no point putting all your eggs in one basket.
 
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