Jim
To be honest the position of the rod tip should be determined by where you are fishing not by a set standard, if you are fishing at distance or across a strong flow then there is a positive advantage from holding the line as high from the water as possible.
If you are fishing the inside line or close to a snag then low is the way to go.
This offers some positive advantages; it keeps the line as low as possible, thus reducing the chance of fish brushing the line and spooking, it also means that you do not have to move the rod down very much when playing a fish.
Most fish lost to snags happens because you did not get the rod low enough and something got between you and the fighting fish, to reduce the chance of this happening a good idea is to bury the rod in the water, Barbel tend to be quite stupid, they will not try and climb up, or into roots or reeds, rather they try to get under something, banks are often under cut and lowering the rod as far as possible reduces the chance of line grating on some thing between you and where the Barbel gets to.
Looking back I have fought fish with my rod tip (and most of the bottom section) under water, more often in small rivers than I have with the rod held high.
I fish the Lea and other small rivers (being a soft southern softie) a great deal and when I am fishing the lead I am often fishing close or into snags so getting the rod into the water is a priority AND it has to be done quickly.
I have seen more fish lost from this single fault than any other!
The same goes for my float fishing, Barbel will often dive for the safety of an under cut bank or under reed beds, once they get there they almost don’t quite know what to do and more often than not you can then pull them out with steady pressure.
One thing I always do when I am fishing the lead is ensure that my rod or rods are downstream of me, no matter which way the flow is going (assuming I am fishing downstream of myself).
If the rods are positioned downstream of the angler, when it is a bit quiet and you are sitting comfortably and it is a bit late, some anglers (not me because I am ALWAYS on top of my game
), but some anglers will doze or possibly on the rare occasion drop off to sleep (obviously not me, but some anglers
), when this happens and you get a proper wrap around the angler can be woken as the butt hits him, if you have the rod(s) positioned to the upstream, when the rod goes round and the butt takes off, you are always chasing it, usually what happens is the rod goes round, bounces once in the rod rest and then disappears into the river.
I have seen this happen to anglers when they are awake too, a proper slammer will send the rod round and as that happens the butt goes away from you and always seems to be out of reach, scrabbling over the bank in the dark is not a good look!
To be fair I mostly fish one rod and I nearly always hold it and feel for bites, to do this properly I often point the rod at the weight and hold a small loop of line, I have lost count of the number of fish I have taken because I felt a slight movement or a positive pluck, on some of the rivers I fish I might get a slammer from a small fish but often the better fish are a little more cautious and a slight pluck is all you get.
Tight lines chaps, and keep that rod low!
