Favorite hook size for barbel?

[Joe Fletcher]

The use of smaller hooks equates to smaller fish is not always the case is it Joe?

If you take the Wye then as you know the bigger fish will indeed snaffle up a 8mm pellet, as is the case this season when bites dried up with 12mm a switch to smaller hook and pellet brought two bonus fish over 9lbs and closer to 10.

But I appreciate in the case of the Wye barbel dictate, but to use smaller baits elsewhere can attract other species, as was the case on the WA recently when skimmers took a liking to small pellet.

In the case of large chub also, very often small 16 hooks will out-fish anything else, probably best to have no fixes ideas about anything, and be willing to try everything to get a bite.

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Neil if as you say if you have no fixed ideas about trying any thing to get a bite and you are happy to catch any Barbel that might pick up your bait regardless of size and for usuing smaller hooks with smaller baits , Then I suspect you will catch smaller fish especially on a river like the Wye .

I think its fair to say and no coincidence that some anglers catch more of the larger fish than the rest of us and I suppose it depends on your out look as to the size of fish you are targeting and the methods to catch and depending on the methods you use will determine what the out come will be .

 

[Neil Smart]

Neil if as you say if you have no fixed ideas about trying any thing to get a bite and you are happy to catch any Barbel that might pick up your bait regardless of size and for usuing smaller hooks with smaller baits , Then I suspect you will catch smaller fish especially on a river like the Wye .

I think its fair to say and no coincidence that some anglers catch more of the larger fish than the rest of us and I suppose it depends on your out look as to the size of fish you are targeting and the methods to catch and depending on the methods you use will determine what the out come will be .

First off I try and fish for 'bites' rather than sit it out with nothing happening, I have little patience in that regard I am afraid, however I don't think scaling down will always attract the smaller fish, of course it depends on the river, but as the Wye has a large head of barbel, doing this will sometimes get you bonus fish when it does go quiet. Well that has been my observation, and I don't think it's anything new at all, as I say matchmen do it all the time.

Off to the Middle Avon this pm Joe ,might see you in the week?

 

[Joe Fletcher]

First off I try and fish for 'bites' rather than sit it out with nothing happening, I have little patience in that regard I am afraid, however I don't think scaling down will always attract the smaller fish, of course it depends on the river, but as the Wye has a large head of barbel, doing this will sometimes get you bonus fish when it does go quiet. Well that has been my observation, and I don't think it's anything new at all, as I say matchmen do it all the time.

Off to the Middle Avon this pm Joe ,might see you in the week?

Neil as you say you fish for bites and I am no different in that respect and as you say a lot of it is down to impatiences to wanting to catch a fish regardless of it size .

We all like to catch double figure fish , The point I was trying to make is that some anglers have the know how , The patience and skill to catch more doubles than the rest of us . So what is it that seperates them from the rest of us ?
You only have to look at the some of the catch reports on here and see the same people consistantly catching the larger fish .

I suppose its down to each person to what he wants from his fishing ?

 

[Steve Walker]

Another vote for the Korum xpert power,I use a size 8 for hair rigging 14mm pellets which is a nice size match.It is the classic short shank,wide gape and in turned point pattern and has a micro barb which makes for easy unhooking and little damage to the barbel's mouth.

Having seen some barbel with mouth damage presumably from heavy gauge hooks with big barbs this season I fully intend to go barbless soon.(once I have plucked up the courage)

 

[David Gauntlett]

Another vote for the Korum xpert power,I use a size 8 for hair rigging 14mm pellets which is a nice size match.It is the classic short shank,wide gape and in turned point pattern and has a micro barb which makes for easy unhooking and little damage to the barbel's mouth.

Having seen some barbel with mouth damage presumably from heavy gauge hooks with big barbs this season I fully intend to go barbless soon.(once I have plucked up the courage)

To barb, or not to barb....that is the question Bit of a contentious one as well isn't it Steve? Like you I think heavy, coarse barbed hooks cause horrendous damage and have no place in catch and release fishing. However, the correct choice between micro barbed/barbless is a much less clear issue to my mind.

I have used barbless hooks for a number of years now, and have had no issues while barbel fishing, despite my initial fears and doubts. I have honestly never lost a fish as a result of the missing barb, nor have I seen any sign of the damage or double/multi hooking issues barbless hooks are known to cause....that is, since I have been barbel fishing. However, I DID see numerous instances of that damage when I was carp fishing...and it isn't nice. That sort of thing is exactly why Ian Welch, the developer and manager of CEMEX angling banned barbless hooks on those waters back in his time there. So...some fisheries ban barbed, while others ban barbless...if the 'experts' can't agree, what chance do we have

Perhaps the truth is that different fish fight in different ways? Certainly in my meager experience, barbel do not suffer the problems carp do when barbless hooks are used. I don't know...but its a dead cert that we are never going to get varying sets of rules listing the type of hooks allowed, based around the species being fished for.

In my opinion, for what it's worth....I would go with micro barbed hooks as the best compromise if I had the choice. I don't ever recall any reported instances of damage these hooks have caused, beyond the tiny hole any hook obviously causes.

Cheers, Dave.

 

[James Healey]

I got a fish hook in my finger once on the river bank. It was a sz4 treble hook and I couldn't get it out by pushing it through. I couldn't budge it no mater how i tried, and I pulled litteraly with all my strength and the skin wouldnt tear whatever I did. After driving 40 miles home with a tiger stripe neon fishing lure dangling from my left hand. I got took to a&e and felt a right plonker.
I got all my hooks and crushed (they mostly snapped off) all the barbs from every hook i owned. I buy barbless new as well as use my "semi barbed" stock and have caught hundreds of chub, barbel, and some carp with not one coming off the hook ever. The only fish that seem to throw hooks are minnows and trout in my experience.

 

[Ian Crook]

I got a fish hook in my finger once on the river bank. It was a sz4 treble hook and I couldn't get it out by pushing it through. I couldn't budge it no mater how i tried, and I pulled litteraly with all my strength and the skin wouldnt tear whatever I did. After driving 40 miles home with a tiger stripe neon fishing lure dangling from my left hand. I got took to a&e and felt a right plonker.
I got all my hooks and crushed (they mostly snapped off) all the barbs from every hook i owned. I buy barbless new as well as use my "semi barbed" stock and have caught hundreds of chub, barbel, and some carp with not one coming off the hook ever. The only fish that seem to throw hooks are minnows and trout in my experience.

James, another good reason to ensure you always carry side cutters, etc capable of cutting hooks. I have had a large treble in my hand, transferred from a small pike. Cut the lure free straight away then cut off the other two hooks by the bend, finally yanked the now single hook out, it hurt a lot, that was a size 1

 

[Stephen Bond]

It seems someone had voted for the size 15-16.

That's all bases covered now.

Stephen

 

[Eddie Farrell]

esp size 10/8, bollies and nash fangs 10 maggot/caster, small pellets, glued. and for meat size 2 aberdeen filed down barb for match box size meat smothed in oxo

 

[Robert Linwood]

Gamakatsu g-point gp202 wide gape great hooks never let me down size 6 to 12

 

[John Walker]

i personally have never gone down less than a good size 10 but most of time its between 2s to 8s

 

[Ian Hugo Arnott]

I have caught barbel using hooks sizes from 2 to 12, most have been caught on sizes 6 ad 8. It all depends on the bait one is using.


Hugo

 

[Adam Harris]

I usually fish 1" meat on a size 10 and 10mm pellet on a size 12, going down to a 16 with maggot feeder. Whether its a link leger, chubber float or sit and wait hemp feeder it takes a change it attitude to get the best from your angling! go and enjoy.

 

[John Walker]

oh a 1" lump of meat fits comfortably on a size 6 hook, especially if your trotting

 

[Stephen Bond]

Size 10 certainly does look small compared to my size 1 for a similar sized piece of super spam

Stephen

 

[David Gauntlett]

I think the formative years of your angling career will have had the greatest effect on your current choice of hook size, rather than practicality. The branch of our hobby that first got you into angling, and the habits of the more senior anglers that impressed you back then will still be influencing you even now.

Like many on this thread, I would usually use a size 8 if I am fishing meat on a hair, whereas it would be a 6 up to a 2 if hooking meat direct, with anything smaller than a 10 being a rare event for me. I do recognise that there are times when my reluctance to go smaller has probably cost me the odd fish, but I don't feel comfortable with, say, a sixteen...so I don't use them very often.

That is entirely because the angler that impressed and influenced me the most early on was, to all intents and purposes a ledger only, big bait, big fish type of guy. The only time I saw him trotting with a float, he had on a size 8 with a single grain of hemp. He was feeding hemp every chuck, and he was catching shoal barbel averaging roughly 6lb. On the other hand, had I grown up in a different area and so been a serious match angler early on, then my choices would have been entirely different.

Cheers, Dave.

 

[Neil Smart]

Wise words Dave, and to throw something else into the mix, patterns also dictate hook sizes, some 10's look like 12's and so one, I think it might be as relevant to consider patterns, ie wide gape turned in eye and many other variations.

However what Carp angling has given me, is the wonderful invention that is the hair rig, and with that I can really scale down my hook size.

And I want to share with you, no doubt some of which will already know the brilliant hook that is the Nash Uni, I have been using size 10 barbless, only for the reason that Go Outdoors had them on offer at about a £1 some time ago, thinking they would be cheap and nasty, I had a closer look and they were strong and covered in Teflon, and above all super sharp.

Along with the Drennan wide gape 10's they are in my opinion one of the best hooks, but I am always willing to take advice from others as what is a good hook.

Nash are not cheap either, or expensive just over £5 a packet which should satisfy those that expect to pay for quality.

 

[Alex Dalton]

V.sharp hooks nowadays.

I caught a couple of barbel on the trent the other day both on fox size 8 arma point hooks , one a seemingly much larger in appearance long shank pattern and the other a slightly inward turned design . Compaired to hooks I remember like the gilt drennan sweetcorn hook and the boxed mustard ones , these hooks are a light years away in quality and are ever so sharp , hooking items of clothing, netting etc nightfishing will testify as well as the odd fish .

 

[Jeremy Evans]

For a small bait a big hook for a big bait a bigger hook lol.

 

[John Peters]

Maggots on a 14 and meat on a size 6 does the trick for me