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Small leads and short hooklinks

Gavin Burt

Gavin Burt

Senior Member & Supporter
So, I’ve always been very much a 2oz lead and 3ft flouro hooklength setup when out on the river but Monday evening I was forced to change it.

I decided at 5pm to head down the the W.Avon for the last hour of daylight before I I went on holiday the following day. I arrived at the bank and realised I left my bloody leads at home and all I had was a 1/2oz square Drennan bomb from my last visit to a commercial.

It was getting dark and was lashing it down with rain so tied my hooklength quite hastily and realised it was really short at around 18”s in length.

Anyway, long story short I had a barbel in the landing net within 20-minutes and it was one of the largest I’d had out of that particular stretch over recent years.

The river level (1.2m and dropping) definitely helped as that was half the reason I went out.

It’s the first one of the season from that river and I’m wondering if all those “chub plucks” in recent sessions could have been something different. Food for thought.
 
I’ve gone from the standard 1mtr to around 2ft (or shorter sometimes). Every session is slightly different and i swap and change depending on conditions & how they are biting (same with baits) I’ve always done that and it probably comes from my match type fishing back in the day where you have to try & keep the bites coming. A 1mtr rig can be a pain in the ar$e to chuck out in most swims anyway but it seems to have become the go to standard rig that everyone accepts is the only one to use 🤷‍♂️
 
With a 1/2 oz lead and a metre plus extra water I am presuming your lead wasn't sufficient to hold bottom and your bait/rig simply settled in the calmer water near the edge . I have often found that in high water conditions Barbel will come in very close to the edge of the river , often literally under your rod tip .Perhaps your bait had simply landed where the current took it and thats where the fish was, keeping out of the main flow , saving energy, and waiting for the food to come to it . As for hook length , In normal conditions I tend to fish a longer distance between hook and lead and keep my rod tip low to avoid line bites that can spook fish . In high water conditions I tend to use a shorter distance as a bait on say a 3ft hook length held down by a heavy lead will tend to waft around unnaturally in a strong flow , where as with a shorter hook length, maybe a foot or so it should stay static on the bottom .
 
I use as light a weight as i can get away with depending upon the rivers flow. Upstreaming with a lighter weight can work well, I usually leave a bow of line between the weight and rod and let the weight settle of its own accord. Depends on river conditions of course. I've found using the flow to my advantage can help aswell like casting out in front of a bush or snag and letting the weight get pulled around settling under said snag where it would be impossible to cast to. I tend to use about a 2 - 2 1/2 foot hook length of flurocarbon as I mainly fish the Wye which is a very rocky bottom river and find the flurocarbon gives good abrasion resistance. I've tried braid in the past but found it weak unless coated because of the rocks.
 
I've also been taking a couple of friends fishing lately who are new to barbel fishing that brought some ready made short 12" hair rig hook lengths and to be honest I've noticed less action on their rods I think due to the shorter length and maybe fish spooking off the weight/feeder so I tied them some longer ones and seen more action even though we were using the same baits. Everyone has their own preferences of course, I just use what works for me but will make changes as I see fit.
 
If you are ever able to watch Barbel and Chub feeding over a bed of bait, they do so as follows and this assumes you are droppering in bait close in:

1, Boillies and larger pellets they move upstream over the feed area at pace, picking up larger items and turning away, or turning away as they reach the head of the feed area. Fish feed faster as they are in competition with each other, for bigger but less food items.

2, Small pellets, casters, hemp etc, they work their way up over the feed area more slowly in a grazing type fashion, again turning away at the top of the feed area.

When the fish are feeding confidently like this, a short hook length is better, with the hookbait positioned at the top of the feed area. They will not come into contact with your lead or mainline. If fishing under the rod tip, its also easy to pin down your mainline if you prefer. Lead size 1 to 2oz and fish hooks itself against the rod tip.

Would you really want a 4 or 5ft hook length in this situation with hookbait half way across the feed area?

If I’m chucking a heavier feeder or lead/mesh back across the river, then I use a longer hooklength as the bed of feed wont be as accurate and I have a large bow in the mainline. Small food items trickle downstream from the feeder or mesh bag to the hookbait.
 
I mostly use 18-24”….never seen the need to go longer in the situations I fish, and if crayfish are being a pain I’ll drop down to 6/8” and a hard hookbait which they get in a tangle less than longer links and you can easily see their little taps in the rod…..and when they stop it’s twitchy bum time as likely a big fish about
 
A very good barbel angler once told me ,"Your hook length should match the length of the day".
And the lightest lead possible is always a must, unless it's raging with debris and you need to hold station!.
It's always served me well....
 
I always start off long, if I'm missing bites, ( not that i get many 😁 ), I'll shorten slightly, chop 6 to 8 inches off, and keep doing so till i finally hook one. Its easier than starting off short, then having to tie a longer one.
 
I always use as light a lead as possible, anything more than an ounce and half feels clunky. Obviously I have to scale up if needed.
As far as length of hooklink a lighter lead can enable a shorter hooklength and by keeping the tip down solves a problem.
I have found some old pebble weights given to me years sgo they go to 3 ounces and are due to be given an airing hopefully next week.
 
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