Like Paul M i was a big fan of long hooklinks 3-6' for exactly the same reasons - no need for backleads etc. Having only fished larger rivers ( Trent, Ribble, Yorkshire Ouse ) i hadn't been able to observe barbel feeding over my rig until this season. A good friend gave me a tip off on a swim where the barbel live tight to the near bank - and so they did! I watched them for a good few hours before putting a hookbait in the swim, std approach for me at the time - 3' mono hooklink, small bomb on a running rig. I lowered it in gently and within seconds - a 6lb'er! That fish released, another handfull of hemp went in and the barbel were back - seemingly unconcerned at thier friends miss fortune. However, on lowering in the rig for the second time, the fish were noticably on edge. They spooked when they came within 2' of the mainline, but worse still i watched several good fish pick up and spit out my hookbait!
How many times do you hear of anglers getting one or two, then the swim goes dead - just the odd tap. Those taps were barbel, and the long hooklinks allow the barbel to get away with it time and time again. I know this has been written about many times before, but what is the solution? The dilema is, if using a short hooklink you must pin at least 3' of line down and on a lot of barbel rivers that is inviting snags. I'd wager those who use short hooklinks without backleads etc catch most of their fish at night, or in heavily coloured water. Long hooklinks will catch fish, but for every 1 caught i reckon 10 will have picked up the bait and spat it out. :confused: