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Hard long very confusing weekend !!!!

Steve Walker said:
A lot of barbel anglers favour the wide gape,short shank type hooks and I have had some good fish on this type,however I am now using Muggas,Korda Kurv or Korum S5's and the amount of hook pulls has reduced significantly.

As for the braid problem I would be inclined to use 12lb minimum and also consider using a coated braid if fishing snaggy swims.
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Agree with all that. Curves really help with reducing hook pulls I have found.

Darren George said:
> ESP Raptor D-7's look a good strong hook with a curved point hopefully won't blunt as easily

Sorry to say this, but I find ESP hooks notorious for the hookpoint going blunt or turning over if a fish so much as farts in the general direction.

Fox SSBP is a much sturdier pattern IMO
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You've always got it in for ESP hooks!

The ESP curve shanks are the sharpest available having gone through literally hundreds of pounds worth of hooks over the past couple of years with a friend I carp fish with using a glass eye thing - I also look like I've been self harming).

Very sharp hooks get blunted easily as they have the finest/sharpest points. There's just no way round this.

To my mind a sharp hook is the most important part. I just change them every fish and always check them on re-casting. I change hooks between every session.

The ESP curve shank's are a great pattern for hook holds.

Nash fangs also a good pattern but not as sharp.

Raptor D-7s are not one I've looked at yet but they do look good.

As ever you've got to use what your confident in.
 
Darren George said:
>

Sorry to say this, but I find ESP hooks notorious for the hookpoint going blunt or turning over if a fish so much as farts in the general direction.

Fox SSBP is a much sturdier pattern IMO
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Going to try the D-7's seen as I've bought them,but thanks for the advice Darren will have a look at the Fox SSBP's.
 
wayne, i generally whip up 9 turns then 2 more on the way down to lock it together. Ive been using gardner talon tips, and found them brilliant, ive only lost one fish this season and that was the day I used a different hook , no names mentioned!!!
 
Simon Haggis said:
You've always got it in for ESP hooks!

The ESP curve shanks are the sharpest available having gone through literally hundreds of pounds worth of hooks over the past couple of years with a friend I carp fish with using a glass eye thing - I also look like I've been self harming).

Very sharp hooks get blunted easily as they have the finest/sharpest points. There's just no way round this.

To my mind a sharp hook is the most important part. I just change them every fish and always check them on re-casting. I change hooks between every session.

The ESP curve shank's are a great pattern for hook holds.

Nash fangs also a good pattern but not as sharp.

Raptor D-7s are not one I've looked at yet but they do look good.

As ever you've got to use what your confident in.
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To be fair too Darren, I used ESP Raptor BIG-T's for years, mainly for carp in silty(ish) bottomed lakes and never had a problem but when I started using them on pits that were mainly gravel bottomed, I found them forever coming in with burred and blunt tips.
So I changed to Korda Wide Gapes and only got a fraction of the issues.

That said, this season I've been using up the stacks of otherwise redundant ESP hooks for barbel, without even having one damaged tip and only one dropped hook in about 400 hours of fishing on a rocky/coarse gravel river bed.
The one main difference between my carp rigs and barbel ones being; for carp I always tied them as a combi-rig/K-D rig, without any shrink tubing, so effectively the hook was nigh on straight down, or at most a very minimal inturned tip.
For barbel I have always tied them to mono, using a 5 down and 2 up knotless knot, leading to a fairly acute angle on the hook.


I don't know, I might be way off with my conclusion but it works, so I'm happy...:)
 
been using Teflon rapier in size 8, cant remember the last time I lost a fish. I did use D7s for 2 seasons but the point burred over far too often for me, and at nigh on 3.50 a packet, they should be of better quality imo.

13 down for me unlucky for some?
 
Thanks for that, I do use the loop tier but make my loops tiny so the knot is hidden in the bait but for instance I might go back to how I used to do the loop and do the loop 3mm bigger than the bait and the knot will be on the shank and wrap round to the knot and send it back through towards the point of the hook. What's the KD style?
Thanks
 
Hi Tim,

Interested to hear your thoughts but I've NEVER hooked a barbel with a curtain..............and i've had a few from various rivers including LOTS of small ones.
Had a few carp with this curtain but it intrigues me as to HOW this curtain dissappears allegedly after they've been caught?

Does this curtain "drop off" due to the shock of being caight or something?

Lots of people have suggested that these are "virgin" fish but i'm not convinced. I've caught carp to mid twenties in this condition and on at least one occasion, it would NOT have been the first time the fish had been caught and I'm sure the same fish had been ot the bank several months earlier.

If anyone has a view on this, particularly SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE, I would be most interested.

Regards,

Jeff
 
Jeff Edisbury said:
Hi Tim,

Interested to hear your thoughts but I've NEVER hooked a barbel with a curtain..............and i've had a few from various rivers including LOTS of small ones.
Had a few carp with this curtain but it intrigues me as to HOW this curtain dissappears allegedly after they've been caught?

Does this curtain "drop off" due to the shock of being caight or something?

Lots of people have suggested that these are "virgin" fish but i'm not convinced. I've caught carp to mid twenties in this condition and on at least one occasion, it would NOT have been the first time the fish had been caught and I'm sure the same fish had been ot the bank several months earlier.

If anyone has a view on this, particularly SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE, I would be most interested.

Regards,

Jeff
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Jeff, I'v heard Carp anglers say "this fish has never been caught before" many a time due to them still having a intact curtain. I always thought to myself "well you've just caught it and its still intact". :D
 
My point exactly mark!

Maybe they just think that they're the only ones good enough to catch it?

Seriously, I would be most interested in others opinions on this matter. It's bugged me for ages. Maybe I should just go out and get a life?

Regards,

Jeff
 
Jeff, the curtain business is a serious load of s*** I have caught a distinctive carp before with a massive scar down the side of it twice with the curtain still 100% in tact so In my opinion it's a massive load of rubbish Iv heard people say it about fish before and I'm just laughing at them in my mind because I have lived the absolute experience in this a few years ago mate.
Regards
 
I realise the Trent needs serious rods but 2.75lb combined with braid,,, I would be more than anxious during the fight and would definently slacken clutch off when at the net.
Perhaps use good mono, bully the fish in quicker with more confidence ,but with those relatively powerful rods still loosen clutch at short range.
By way of observation 1.75 and 2.75tc rods ,hell of a difference.
Not suggesting you must rush out and buy new rods but intrigued as to why the big difference.
What size lead ?
As has been suggested though "s##t happens"
 
Fair to say "we" are better off getting the fish in asap rather than tiring it out,but I can appreciate the reluctance to have a battle at close range with your pokey rod and braid.IMO
 
I was using the 2.75 with 3-5 oz tunnel feeders to get me to were I need to be and was using the 1.75 with a lighter weight for a 3rd of the way across and letting it bounce to the edge. But I do need some new rods and reels I went to have a look at some rods I'm looking at getting the daiwa theory advanced barbel of 2.25 or the daiwa theory carp rod of 2.75 not sure which to get until I go back and have another look at them. I need something that will cast the weight 3-6oz tunnels, to hold bottom but Iv had a look at the rods Iv been recommended, fox floodwater, wychwood maximiser, they all seem to be too light imo, but as goes for the braid I don't think it's the one for me I'm going to go back to the good old mono.
Thanks
 
Hi Wayne,
The KD rig is very popular among carp anglers.When you're whipping up the shank trapping the hair,if,for arguments sake you usually make 9 turns,with the KD you'd only do say 3 to trap the hair,move the hair to one side,and continue the remaining 6 turns up the shank not trapping the hair.Then pass the tag end through the back of the eye as normal.
I think sometimes though that a run of bad luck is simply a run of bad luck.If you've been perfectly happy with past results,and you're on a river that you know well,then you can't have been doing much "wrong"(for want of a better word).
Regards
Pete.
 
Cheers Pete, I was there 48 hour and it is an hard place to fish and a couple of week before I went to a place full of barbel and bagged up massively 29 in a night with the exact same rig set up even as far as the same bait stops, it just wernt ever going to happen for me this weekend. I was watching thinking tackle with Danny Fairbrass and he was using the KD style and does look a good rig so will deffinately try it.
Regards
 
Hi Wayne,

Firstly, I can assure you that Wychwood Maximisers are not too light for the Trent. They are spot on in fact and I recommend them highly.

Secondly, you mentioned earlier that you might return to Preston Powerline after the frustrations of your trip. I'd advise against this as pre-stretched monos are generally not very abrasion resistant. You'll find lots of different opinions on here as regards tackle but Airflo Sightfree G3 flouro in 12lb BS has never let me down. For the rockier swims I switch to coated braid.

Dave
 
I just can't see myself been comfy casting big weights/tunnels with a rod below 2.2tc Iv got a shimano beastmaster barbel power but i just wouldnt risk casting that weight even though I'm not casting more than half way Iv got to be comfortable in casting and hold bottom on the tidal Trent aswel as feel confident thats the reason I was looking at the 2.25tc daiwa barbel theory rodwhich in my opinion will be great for casting the big weights anything lighter I could just see me cringingas I swing back to cast or am I goin completely off my head? I just don't want to waste 2-300 quid on rods that's all
As goes for line I'm gunna redspool my reels with Korda subline and the flouro hooklength seems a good shout mate as does coated braid or strip teaze line.
 
Wayne, so far this term on the TT, we havent seen a decent amount of rain. Stick with the rods you have got and wait for a decent run of water before you purchase or think to purchase a new set of rods.
I must also agree with Dave powell from what I have seen the Maximisers are superb rods for the Trent, they are tippy but what you have is a strong butt section which is ideal for casting big weights out. I also dont understand how you can say the Maximiser and Fox Floods 2.75, are too soft, as these are to me possibly the most powerful Barbel rods out there.
 
A thumbs up for Korda Subline.Been using it since last year when it first came out,mainly for carping on the Thames where zebra mussels are always a problem.I bet on your next outing,normal service will have been resumed and confidence restored.Good luck Wayne.;)
 
Hi Jeff,
just recently some guided customers and myself have been fishing a previously unfished stretch of the Wye. We were pulling out of approximately 20% of all the barbel we hooked. This had me baffled until one of my customers landed a fish with an obvious tear to the curtain in its mouth. It could well have been one of the barbel that he’d pulled out of earlier in the day. All this was not something that I’d knowingly experienced in the past.
A couple of days later, I managed to land a barbel that was actually hooked in the curtain. I think this was only possible because the fish was caught in a fairly slack swim and was not given the opportunity to put up much of a fight. Upon examination, the curtain appears to have very little strength, and I imagine it could easily be torn by a barbel simply pulling against a heavy bolt rig setup, for example. This would give the angler the impression of a “dropped run”, or maybe a pull from a chub.
All the other barbel we’ve landed from this stretch of the Wye have been hooked elsewhere in the mouth, and this then leaves the curtain intact. Consequently, a fish could potentially be caught a number of times and still retain an undamaged curtain.
Incidentally, I’m not claiming any special skill in capturing these “virgin” fish. In fact, they are much easier to catch than barbel that have experienced a fair amount of fishing pressure.
Food for thought though, surely?
 
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