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The breakaway lead thread debate.

Jeff Collins

No Longer a Member
I personally don't see the problem. I've done a hell of a lot of sea fishing in the brizzle channel where these type of leads are essential. And caught thousands of fish from the 80's to the early noughties. Not once have I ever had a fish spiked by the lead wires, in fact the only fish I've ever harmed was the one that a seal took.
Read in the danglers mail that the Pope or the B'S have banned these on rivers. And Pope quotes that sea anglers don't necessarily concern themselves with catch and release.
Well Steve, there are fish size limits there for the protection of young fish. Should you wish to take a fish for the table then so be it. Let's not forget trout and salmon are farmed purely for sport.
Lets also not forget that our sport demands that we jab the fish in the mouth with hooks to bank your catch.
Myself, I've never needed more than 6 ounces even in floods.

Gent's your thoughts?
 
Been fishing the Trent awhile now from Gainsborough to shardlow and at no point have i ever needed a breakaway lead. I have contemplated it the once for maybe ten seconds whence in a shop in Bridlington. My first and only point was the possibility of damage to any fish with 4 spikes in the water. Well i have heard fish a long hooklink the. What if your hooklink is tangled and shortened during the cast/waiting stage. The other what if it was used by an angler with a short hooklink who didn't care about fish safety. At least one set of wires will be down? Maybe none at all. On the retrieve what if they come across a fish/Barbel spikes dont take prisoners. It doesn't matter if the spikes are up or down when a Barbel is trying its hardest during the fight if a spike hits it, damage will be caused. yes its all ifs buts and questions but it could happen. A gripper lead doesn't hurt fish but the breakaway will. There was a lot of people saying the Trent is some beast imo it has its days and if your biggest lead doesn't hold..... well its time to go home. Sea leads should stay at sea.
Anyway the places where said RE was going to fish them have been informed ref possible ban....
 
Depending on the system breakaway leads generally have two sets of wires. A gripper lead, in this line of thinking could damage a fish as much as a lead wire. I've used them on the tidal lower with no ill effects. It's just a wagon for anglers (generally sponsored ) to jump on IMHO.
 
I really can't see them having any place in river fishing. Even on a big river like the Trent, if one needs such a ridiculous thing to hold bottom then one may want to consider either employing a bit of skill and fish upstream with half the amount, or fish a slacker area where the fish are likely to be anyway.

I just don't like the idea of a fish sharing the landing net with a spikey lead, indeed it is all ifs and buts, but just think how one would feel if you rolled a specimen over on the unhooking mat to find one of the wires had gone through its eye. Yes I know we all stick hooks in the mouth and drag them from the water, but avoiding collateral and taking care of what we do catch should be number one. It's not worth the risk for me...... another spoke in the wheel from the 'fish at any cost' brigade we are getting plagued with.
Those are my thoughts.
 
Lots of 'Potentials' and i'll bet not many actual occurrences ? Personally i've used breakaways for more years than i care to remember for uptiding for Smoothounds, Bass etc ( the former all go back ) and i've NEVER seen a fish damaged by one, not saying its impossible but as long as a hooklink of over 3ft is used (common sense) then its to say the least unlikely. I've not found the need to use them in my Barbel fishing but if rules allowed i wouldn't see a problem. Mate of mine uses big breakaway feeders on the rivers in Germany and he says the same, never had a problem.
 
as others say too, i been using breakaway type leads for seafishing for about 50 years now and never landed a fish thats been damaged by a wired lead
personally i think some guys ought to try using stuff for a while before condeming it, in the river most times a heavy lead and a long loop of line as in uptiding or upstreaming should hold bottom most time, a thick coating of plastacine round the lead helps balance the lead just enough to hold and also helps avoiding snagging up on riverbed as the plasticine just slices or breaks off thus loosing the snagged lead
 
as others say too, i been using breakaway type leads for seafishing for about 50 years now and never landed a fish thats been damaged by a wired lead
personally i think some guys ought to try using stuff for a while before condeming it, in the river most times a heavy lead and a long loop of line as in uptiding or upstreaming should hold bottom most time, a thick coating of plastacine round the lead helps balance the lead just enough to hold and also helps avoiding snagging up on riverbed as the plasticine just slices or breaks off thus loosing the snagged lead

Agree with JW and Simon,.. not that I'm a fan of breakaways:rolleyes::D

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I had a shifty back to this topic on bfw circa 2005 and some of the main concerns were to do with anglers using sea rigs, ie. pulleys and paternosters, which can be tether rigs. No reason they can't be used on a running rig.
I've never felt the need to use them for barbel, and although never having wittnessed spike damage to a fish in all the years I've been using them in saltwater why bother?
As has already been said, if a decent size lead is fished sensibly it will hold.
I also wonder just how effective a breakaway will be over gravel compared to sand ?
After banging on about the possible eye damage to a barbel if unhooking mats are'nt used , I would be a prize hypocrite to use them.:eek:
ATB dt;)
 
I would have thought the hooked fish will not be the problem. Its the damage that could be caused on a fish feeding next to the lead on the strike or when the lead is flashing about in the water when playing a fish,that could be a problem. That type of damage you would not see because the fish is not hooked.Sorry, not for me, i would have thought upstreaming with a big bow in the line would be the answer to most holding the bottom issues.
 
I don't or wouldn't personally use them on a river unless it was an estuary. ...but what gripped me (no pun intended ) is that the Pope in the danglers mail decreed that they were banned from rivers. There was no specific mention of b.s waters. So I take it he has spoken to the EA and organised a countrywide ban.
 
So, do we ban multi trebled lures for Pike while we're at it ? Now those DO double hook very regularly around the eyes/head.
 
So, do we ban multi trebled lures for Pike while we're at it ? Now those DO double hook very regularly around the eyes/head.

Don't say that Simon, I collect lures as well as leads! :D
Did remind me when a mate of mine was trotting ' Fidlers west ' on the Royalty and foul hooked a dace across the flank on the retrieve just when a party of blokes were walking the fishery and happened to be watching.
One of them commented " blo##y hell, ... fancy paying 12 quid to catch dace!"
Not realising he was after barbel. :D
I was fishing just downstream, .. priceless.
 
You don't need all this break away lead malarkey . Just read the Barbel Catchers Club book ' Rivers and Captures ' in particular the Swale chapter where one Duncan Mellor overcome huge 13 foot up Swale floods by using 17 oz home made feeder leads ! Duncan did not go in to detail as to how he cast these missiles out , probably just opened the bail arm and lobbed em in

Sorted and not a spike in sight , could have been some cases of severe barbel concussion though , we will never know ...:D
 
I don't or wouldn't personally use them on a river unless it was an estuary. ...but what gripped me (no pun intended ) is that the Pope in the danglers mail decreed that they were banned from rivers. There was no specific mention of b.s waters. So I take it he has spoken to the EA and organised a countrywide ban.

As you should know Jeff, the Pope is the god Isaac's living representative on earth , he is omnipotent , he has consulted the holy book [ Anglers mail ] , therefore the ban is law, no need to consult the EA who ever they are :D
 
Given all the input from sea anglers who have used them far longer and more frequently than me (I am a very rare sea angler), there is a difference overlooked.
And that is what happens at the landing stage - on the beach I can pull the fish to me while wading in the edge
On a river for Barbel I use a landing net - I can see the spikes getting caught up in the netting leading to any number of issues at that point, including the fish laying on the spikes.
 
Given all the input from sea anglers who have used them far longer and more frequently than me (I am a very rare sea angler), there is a difference overlooked.
And that is what happens at the landing stage - on the beach I can pull the fish to me while wading in the edge
On a river for Barbel I use a landing net - I can see the spikes getting caught up in the netting leading to any number of issues at that point, including the fish laying on the spikes.

That's why I referenced unhooking mats in my first post Darryl.

Both drop nets and landing nets are often used when fishing from piers, rock ledges and sometimes boats.
Also most pike anglers will have had grief with smaller fish rolling in a landing net when treble hooks are outside the pikes mouth or have been thrown.
Still don't think breakaways are a requirement for barbel though.:)
 
Given all the input from sea anglers who have used them far longer and more frequently than me (I am a very rare sea angler), there is a difference overlooked.
And that is what happens at the landing stage - on the beach I can pull the fish to me while wading in the edge
On a river for Barbel I use a landing net - I can see the spikes getting caught up in the netting leading to any number of issues at that point, including the fish laying on the spikes.

We net anything that warrants it Darryl, 3-4 ft hooklength ensures the lead is always away from the fish and outside the net.
 
That's why I referenced unhooking mats in my first post Darryl.

Both drop nets and landing nets are often used when fishing from piers, rock ledges and sometimes boats.
Also most pike anglers will have had grief with smaller fish rolling in a landing net when treble hooks are outside the pikes mouth or have been thrown.
Still don't think breakaways are a requirement for barbel though.:)

Feeders and rigs can also get caught up in the net. A regular occurrence is that the fish ejects the hook in the net once the line goes slack.

Therefore all feeders and leads should be banned! !!!
 
I have used them many times when sea fishing and have never had, nor seen, any damage to a fish caught when a gripper weight was used. Granted the rigs used were different but some would be more likely to cause damage than the rigs used in Barbel fishing in my opinion. Perhaps, again only an opinion, if someone wanted to try one they should and then decide if it was inappropriate or not. I'm quite happy to cast upstream but perhaps there are times when it is not an option for some.

Stephen
 
Well it's official in the anglers mags. Richard Easom says that they are perfectly safe. A man of such vast knowledge not only in the bait world but barbel community cannot be ignored.
 
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