been reading the last page of posts with the thought that for many anglers, fishing at this time of year means fishing with lighter line and hook lengths and bait and hook sizes are reduced so as to increase the chances of a bite. that's what most of us have come to regard as 'the norm' for general course fishing.
But, like carp and pike where many waters have minimum line strength limits, my own club is 15lb, and quite rightly so, most barbel anglers seem to have the opposite mindset and in as far as i have seen, and read here and on other forums, use a sensible strengths right through their tackle to cope with the need to not spend ages landing the fish and causing it to become exhausted leading to possible injury or worse. I once realized that while fishing for roach and chub with a 12' shimano twin power feeder rod, a shimano 3010 bio master loaded with 4lb line and a 2 1/2lb hook link and size 18 drennan feeder hook that the fish i had hooked was not a roach i stopped messing around gently persuading the fish to leave the bottom of the river where it had set up camp and put as much of a bend in the rod as i dared while walking up and down stream, as much as that the bank-side vegetation would allow, to try to get the fish, still unseen as then but it was a choice between a barbel and a polaris nuclear sub as to what it was, i'll say barbel as the water is less than 5 feet there and the top of the conning tower would be visible
. needles to say i eventually pulled to a point where the hook-link gave way but not until 15 minutes had passed.
after that experience i was a little more wary of swims that held barbel and have tended to fish gear a little more beefed up when bottom fishing (6lb main and 4lb hook link, 1 1/4lb avon specialist rod), just in case, but to keep the barbel from munching your bait when targeting other species can't be helped, where as using lighter tackle to target them is fool hardy and counterproductive as well as bad for the fish from what has been said here.
the point made about catching fish in sub zero temperatures is a concern too, in the water the temp is stable but once taken out in to air temps reduced further by wind chill cant be good for any fish let alone one that has put it's all into a fight to remain in it's watery domain. maybe a little more of your take on this could be helpful to us Ray
now i am what i consider a novice barbel angler, although i have fished other species for over 35 years, so i like to take on board as much information and wisdom from others as i can, but, most of the 'wisdom' seemed to center around what tackle, bait and swim to chose and far less about the ethical treatment of the fish themselves, many reveling on how long they took to land a fish, either how fast by using carp gear that was to say the least unsporting or using the lightest float rod in the bag lightest line and tiny hooks . to that end i seldom fish with others on the river if i can find a quiet place i do even if it's just because it's too early for normal folk on a town stretch in winter, just me and a dog walker or two
Balanced tackle for barbel seems a wide range of rods and reels, and i thought i had a lot when i carp fished
, from 1 1/4lb avons to 2 3/4lb floodwater rods and about every 1/4lb or so in between, cane and 'pin in the traditionalists style and even some more exotic ones like the Hexagraphs, one with a certain Mr Waltons name on ( got a no. 3 this week still looking for the no1
), all good, and some great, all different or at least interesting but more than anything else, all made for the job of hooking, playing and landing big barbel if your lucky enough to have them take your bait. In carp fishing i was told the most important part of your setup is from the hook back a yard, that doesn't hold with barbel, in my mind the bit in between the hook and the soul of your shoes needs to be working together
