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How longs your hook link ?

I think that you all prefer to believe that a dense hook bait like a pellet will magically drift downstream four or five feet to the end of the leader and settle perfectly. That is your choice. But chuck a pellet into the flow and watch it sink. If it doesn't sink at least at a 45 degree angle then you theory is busted. Luncheon meat, bread, maggots, worms and sweetcorn are about the only baits that would gradually drift down, away from the lead. Pellets and boilies will settle far more quickly.
 
I don’t care, either way.

If you fish with short hooklinks it doesn’t matter. And much of the time, the fish don’t care either.
 
Clive Kenyon said:
I think that you all prefer to believe that a dense hook bait like a pellet will magically drift downstream four or five feet to the end of the leader and settle perfectly. That is your choice. But chuck a pellet into the flow and watch it sink. If it doesn't sink at least at a 45 degree angle then you theory is busted. Luncheon meat, bread, maggots, worms and sweetcorn are about the only baits that would gradually drift down, away from the lead. Pellets and boilies will settle far more quickly.
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Clive - are you suggesting that when I throw in a small handful of pellets or boilies into a river with a reasonable flow they just sink to the bottom and don't move? If you're correct, all my baiting accuracy worries over the years have been in vain.
 
Clive Kenyon said:
I think that you all prefer to believe that a dense hook bait like a pellet will magically drift downstream four or five feet to the end of the leader and settle perfectly. That is your choice. But chuck a pellet into the flow and watch it sink. If it doesn't sink at least at a 45 degree angle then you theory is busted. Luncheon meat, bread, maggots, worms and sweetcorn are about the only baits that would gradually drift down, away from the lead. Pellets and boilies will settle far more quickly.
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So presumably any pellets I put in a feeder stay in the feeder and don't go downstream?
And the hookbait, even with the extra water flow pressure on the hooklink length, stays put?

Good job a few of my pals fishing French rivers and getting the odd barbel to 11lb don't believe that.
 
Some interesting theories and opinions ;)

I mainly fish the Dorset Stour and Hants Avon (both very weedy in Summer and Autumn) and rarely use a hook length longer than 12" in the Summer / Autumn due to weed but even in winter wouldn't go more than 2ft.
My summer presentation always involves the use of a back lead and attaching a bag to a Ronnie swivel clipped on the lead attachment. Hook length is normally a combi rig consisting of about 10" of 12lb flouro with about 3" of 16lb Power Pro (thanks Graham Elliott) nicking the hook into the bag on every cast which seems to ensure the hookbait at least gets on the bottom if nothing else. I am more concerned that the bait is on the bottom than whether it has "kicked out" or not.
I am pretty sure from the small knocks I am getting that smaller fish ensure that my hookbait ends up away from the lead but really don't worry about it as when it happens the 3 foot twitch will normally sort that out ;)
 
Sorry for rookie question but most recommendations for barbel are for hooklink lengths of 2-4ft here. Does that only apply to mono?

In this thread most people fish short braid hooklinks of 12" to 1 foot. I recently did so with 14mm halibut pellets to very good effect for barbel. Seems I avoided the chub as well.

Am I right in that you fish longer hooklengths with mono and in winter and shorter hooklengths with braid only and more in summer?

How about the tangle situation with braid hooklengths of more than 1 foot? Any problems here for you?
 
Richard Parsons said:
Clive - are you suggesting that when I throw in a small handful of pellets or boilies into a river with a reasonable flow they just sink to the bottom and don't move? If you're correct, all my baiting accuracy worries over the years have been in vain.
Click to expand...
If you take the oppertunity to drop pellets and other baits in from a bridge and watch the results you may be surprised.

The point about the 45 degree angle is that this would be the rate of descent necessary to cause the hook bait to sink to the same distance from the lead as the hook length is long once the lead has settled. Pellets and boilies sink at a steeper rate than that so settle closer to the lead than the length of the hook link. That is why I budge my lead or feeder back as soon as it touches the bottom.

The business about feathering the cast is not as important as Richard I makes out regards how far the bait drifts after the lead has touched bottom. . It does keep the bait away from the lead during the cast, but as seen in his own pictures, the bait follows the lead straight down so the seperation gained by feathering the cast is lost.
 
Clive Kenyon said:
If you take the oppertunity to drop pellets and other baits in from a bridge and watch the results you may be surprised.

The point about the 45 degree angle is that this would be the rate of descent necessary to cause the hook bait to sink to the same distance from the lead as the hook length is long once the lead has settled. Pellets and boilies sink at a steeper rate than that so settle closer to the lead than the length of the hook link. That is why I budge my lead or feeder back as soon as it touches the bottom.

The business about feathering the cast is not as important as Richard I makes out regards how far the bait drifts after the lead has touched bottom. . It does keep the bait away from the lead during the cast, but as seen in his own pictures, the bait follows the lead straight down so the seperation gained by feathering the cast is lost.
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Yea I’m fully aware the lead will pull the bait vertically through the water till it hits the bottom. This as we both agree is inevitable. The reason I feather is just to get the bait infront on impact. Then the leader will not come in contact with the main line
Once the lead hits the bottom, the only way that bait is going in flowing water is down stream.
 
Richard Isaacs said:
Yea I’m fully aware the lead will pull the bait vertically through the water till it hits the bottom. This as we both agree is inevitable. The reason I feather is just to get the bait infront on impact. Then the leader will not come in contact with the main line
Once the lead hits the bottom, the only way that bait is going in flowing water is down stream.
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That depends largely on its specific gravity, strength of current and other factors.
 
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