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Braid for Barbel fishing.

P

Paul Gaynard

Senior Member
can someone please explain the advantages of using braid for Barbel fishing, personally I use mono because in my mind it provides a shock absorber with the stretch it provides but braid has no stretch whatsoever and I think because of this there is always a danger of the fish doing damage to its mouth when it takes the final lunge. Am I missing something or is there some advantage using braid that I can't see .
Thanks
Paul
 
Paul Gaynard said:
can someone please explain the advantages of using braid for Barbel fishing, personally I use mono because in my mind it provides a shock absorber with the stretch it provides but braid has no stretch whatsoever and I think because of this there is always a danger of the fish doing damage to its mouth when it takes the final lunge. Am I missing something or is there some advantage using braid that I can't see .
Thanks
Paul
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I can’t see any advantage using braid . Used to use it as a main line years ago fishing for bream at range , during my match fishing years . But for barbel fishing I wouldn’t bother .
 
Craig Lea said:
I can’t see any advantage using braid . Used to use it as a main line years ago fishing for bream at range , during my match fishing years . But for barbel fishing I wouldn’t bother .
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I can understand that Chris and I have used it for fishing long range for roach and bream myself and can see the advantage for bite detection but know people that use braid for barbel and will argue black and blue how much better it is but I cant see it hence the question,cheers
 
Paul Gaynard said:
I can understand that Chris and I have used it for fishing long range for roach and bream myself and can see the advantage for bite detection but know people that use braid for barbel and will argue black and blue how much better it is but I cant see it hence the question,cheers
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Exactly, barbel bites are generally ferocious and not at all shy , like skimmers or roach . Each to their own , but not for me .
I’ll stick to mono .
 
Mark Harridence said:
I use braid mainline on the Trent when it's carrying lots of extra water, I think the lower diameter provides less resistance in the increased flow than my usual mono, and with a heavier breaking strain. I always use a fluoro abrasion leader with it too.
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I can understand that , although I can’t imagine the smaller diameter would make a huge amount of difference regarding resistance.
Fundamentally it’s what ever one feels confident using .
 
My experience of braid mainlines is they are less robust in in rocky waters and fray a lot easier than a good quality mono, so I now only use braid for drifter fishing for pike or lure fishing
 
Craig Lea said:
I can understand that , although I can’t imagine the smaller diameter would make a huge amount of difference regarding resistance.
Fundamentally it’s what ever one feels confident using .
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My fishing partner and I switched over to braid in the early 2000s and found that bites were much more savage although not as frequent as when using mono. We switched over to fluro and bites increased although I continued to use a braid hook link because i was more confident with the suppleness, believing it to fool shy fish into taking a bait properly. Over the following years I began to feel that Mark was taking more fish than me using fluro or mono hook links although it didn’t appear significant until one week on the H Avon he took seven barbel to 15 1/2 lb to my single 12 1/2 pounder (we caught similar numbers and size of chub during the week).

That week the river was very clear and I began to think that the barbel especially were seeing my link and not so much Marks although the chub seemed unaffected. Two years ago I switched over to a Combi rig featuring drennan sink or gravel braid and a Berkeley fluro link with a GR80+ mainline. Although still a relatively small sample size I feel that my barbel catches in the last couple of years are now matching Marks and we have both had 15s in that time.

Before anyone becomes convinced by my words I should state that we only fish for three weeks a year in March, July and September and the vast majority of that is on the H Avon with the odd trip on the D Stour.

I still use braid all through when piking and have never felt there to be a similar problem.

Regards, Steve.

Ps my March trip is fast approaching and I can hardly wait !
 
I did try braided mainline for this style of fishing years back, admittedly the application would be better now than then but I found that cut offs where more likely and hook pulls more likely. No impact on the catch rate. One thing I feel, and I see no one else mention is that with a braided main line you can kind of saw your way out of thick weed. Ultimately I went back to mono for that shock absorption and it stopped the hook pulls.

Hook lengths wise, on the H.Avon I have gone through quite a long list of configurations but I tend to fish, combi for night work with bigger baits and a good quality flouro for daytime. Switching out the braid and down a few hook sizes has turned the classic situation of fish picking around the rig, driving me crazy as I watch them to a run on a few occasions now. One occasion in particular last year I had them feeding for 3 hours avoiding the baited hook, the switch took less than 20 minutes.

I think the actual issue is they see the minnows pulling on the bait and the way the rig then falls it either behaves differently or it becomes visible. I’ve watched as minnows pick up the bait and the barbel instantly back off. Either way the minnows give the game away.
 
Less problems with line twist when using centrepins and casting off the side. Following a conversation with Ray Walton who's rolling Pin "mechanics" would increase the problem, I changed to braid and sorted. That was 20+ years ago and have used braid ever since.

Added to that I like the increased sensitivity I feel it gives. Plus the fact that it doesn't deteriorate or wear out.

Overall I feel more confident using braid, which is what personal choices are all about.
 
Its biggest disadvantage is its utterly unreliable breaking strain ,this alone puts me off the stuff . There have been many threads of here regarding the pros and cons of braid , look back in the archives and you will find lots of opinions
 
Thanks for your replies chaps,I can see the advantages of using braid when rolling meat or touch ledgering as more in contact with the fish and bites but for float fishing personally I think I would prefer the added shock obsorbsion of mono but must stress I don't do any of these but it all seems to boil down to horses for courses and good old personal choice but for me to be honest I think I prefer to have the extra give that mono offers. Thanks for all you replied and different points of view
Paul
 
I fish with soft rods anyway, but if I was contemplating making the switch and fished with a less than through action rod I think I would be inclined to change that.
 
Steve Kenchington said:
My fishing partner and I switched over to braid in the early 2000s and found that bites were much more savage although not as frequent as when using mono. We switched over to fluro and bites increased although I continued to use a braid hook link because i was more confident with the suppleness, believing it to fool shy fish into taking a bait properly. Over the following years I began to feel that Mark was taking more fish than me using fluro or mono hook links although it didn’t appear significant until one week on the H Avon he took seven barbel to 15 1/2 lb to my single 12 1/2 pounder (we caught similar numbers and size of chub during the week).

That week the river was very clear and I began to think that the barbel especially were seeing my link and not so much Marks although the chub seemed unaffected. Two years ago I switched over to a Combi rig featuring drennan sink or gravel braid and a Berkeley fluro link with a GR80+ mainline. Although still a relatively small sample size I feel that my barbel catches in the last couple of years are now matching Marks and we have both had 15s in that time.

Before anyone becomes convinced by my words I should state that we only fish for three weeks a year in March, July and September and the vast majority of that is on the H Avon with the odd trip on the D Stour.

I still use braid all through when piking and have never felt there to be a similar problem.

Regards, Steve.

Ps my March trip is fast approaching and I can hardly wait !
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I am seeing a pattern developing here, Steve, with you mentioning an upcoming trip to the Avon and very soon afterwards the conditions taking a decided turn for the worse. I'm wondering if it's worth saying you've just changed your mind about fishing the Avon. 😂
Hopefully it will drop quick enough. 👍
 
Damian Kimmins said:
I am seeing a pattern developing here, Steve, with you mentioning an upcoming trip to the Avon and very soon afterwards the conditions taking a decided turn for the worse. I'm wondering if it's worth saying you've just changed your mind about fishing the Avon. 😂
Hopefully it will drop quick enough. 👍
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lol. I’m going come He’ll or high water (pun intended !) but could well end up on the lakes which would be a first. I’ve fished in floods on the Avon many times but I take your point. I think I’ll give it a miss until the new season. 😉

That should fool the weather gods !
 
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 .
 
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