High Ross,
I have lost count of how many carp I have caught using a braid hooklength, and many of those were with braid mainline as well (and some of these were seriously big fish ) I have NEVER had any damage to the fish whatsoever that could be attributed to the fabled 'cheese wire' effect.
I agree that barbel are a different shape in general, which may make them more prone to problems if the line wrapped completely around them, but the thing is, how far do we take this fretting and getting stressed out about the possible problems associated with the tackle we use. In carping there were so many of these scare stories you could end up being a nervouse wreck
Carping without a leader can cause scale lifting? I never had that happen either
Just think about the fact that carp, and to a much lesser extent barbel 'experts' now almost outnumber the fish
The pundits that rely on magazine articles etc. for their entire income need to fill those column inches with something...and there are only so many ways you can catch a fish
we are fishermen...thats what we do. As a result, there will inevitably be accidents. Of course we are duty bound to prevent problems where ever possible, but we must be sensible about this. The alternative, if you wish to guarantee not harming the fish, is to not go fishing
Cheers, Dave.
