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Unhooking Issues

Paul Thomas

Paul Thomas

Senior Member
Morning All,

Just recently I've had a few fish that have taken the bait well back into their throats and have caused a little "fuss" in the un-hooking process....I hasten to add before the Barbel Police start their sirens that no fish have been harmed in the making of this production!!:rolleyes:

My questions therefore are thus....


Is an old fashioned disgorger an option with bigger hooks??

And finally if so, which disgorger should I choose???



Paul
 
Thats quite a good question and one that was loitering at the back of my head when the same thing happened to me the other week. Same as, a deep hooking and maybe 4.5" in the barbels mouth, I could only just get to it as my standard forceps were only 6" long. It did also get me thinking that a large disgoger would do the trick also, especially if it was even deeper hooked, as it would be very hard to see the buried hook.
 
How common is deep-hooking of barbel (I haven't caught enough to have had any) and is it related to a particular type of bait?
 
It's not very common in my experience and is usually connected with the use of rather long hooklengths.
 
I can't recall ever deep hooking a barbel. I do carry an oversized plastic disgorger and long forceps just in case though.
 
I dont percieve that deep hooking is totally not related to long hook lengths. My season is that I very rarely use a short hook length and the only time I had this deep hooking was when I used a relatively short hook length. Out of over a hundred fish last year I didnt have one deep hooking.
 
I use big orange ones for £1 from my local tackle shop, they can accomodate small or big hooks dependant on which end you use !!
 
I use a 3ft hooklength most of the time and have yet to deephook a fish! Still I would never fish without a disgorger, the large ones will cope with big hooks, all tackle shops sell them.
 
Do you fish very long hooklengths Paul?

I know some do and I too would say that deep hooking barbel is very unusual, I have never seen one, I know some people fish 6ft hooklengths and longer, my friend just recovered a broken one from a local river at over 10 feet long!!

I also carry a big disgorger as well as forceps.
 
In over fifty years of barbel fishing I have never hooked a barbel other than in the lips or just inside the mouth. Mind you I do tend to hold the rod most of the time. My rigs, if that is what you can call them are, as you would expect, straightforward; normally reel line straight through to the hook. For barbel I never use a hooklength longer than one foot, unless using crust.

Always carry various sizes of forceps and would not dream of using a disgorger or a gaff!

Regards



Hugo




 
Ian Hugo Arnott said:
Always carry various sizes of forceps and would not dream of using a disgorger or a gaff!
Click to expand...

Are you actualy drawing any similarities between disgorgers and gaffs? If so, what do you think of when the word disgorger is used?:confused:
 
I don't fish overly long hooklengths....2 foot being the longest I'd guess? These fish were hooked over big beds of particles using particle sized baits and I think they were simply grazing the baited spot, taking the bait into their mouths and trying to take it back to their throat teeth....not feeling the hook until then and bolting off??

I've had a look elsewhere for a supplier of disgorgers and found this:

disgorger2.jpg
 
I have tried using the larger double ended disgorgers on my tied barbel rigs in the past, just so i would know should this instance ever occur.

I think you will find that most modern carp hooks have a slightly larger eye due to the forming of the 'seamless loop' making the standard disgorger redundant. I know that my Talon tips, series 2 and korum hooks would not allow a standard large head disgorger to slip over them.

I did think at the time about drilling out the head a little more to facilitate the larger eye but never did as like many on here, the vast majority of my barbel captures are in the lip.
 
Chris,

I was being facetious, and maybe I should have added "gags" to my pathetic attempt at humour.



Regards



Hugo



 
I can only claim 30 odd years of barbel fishing but in all that time I can recall only one hook that was a little further back in the mouth than normal, still well within reach though.

I think its a very rare thing and we dont really know why it happens occasionally.



I did own a gaff at one time though.
 
Tony Rocca said:
I can only claim 30 odd years of barbel fishing but in all that time I can recall only one hook that was a little further back in the mouth than normal, still well within reach though.

I think its a very rare thing and we dont really know why it happens occasionally.



I did own a gaff at one time though.
Click to expand...


Still own mine Tone, a quiet little place in the Chilterns.......

Cheers, Dave.
 
I only seem to deep hook carp and eels in slow almost still water with soft bait on the hook 18inch odd hook lenghs.. fish seem to inhale or chew the food on the spot and not move, not happened with a barbel yet!

Just what i have noticed
 
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