• You need to be a registered member of Barbel Fishing World to post on these forums. Some of the forums are hidden from non-members. Please refer to the instructions on the ‘Register’ page for details of how to join the new incarnation of BFW...

Using 2 rods

Graham Billingham

Graham Billingham

Senior Member
As iv'e only ever used 1 rod while Barbel fishing, i wondered how you guys get on with 2 rods. I know after waiting sometimes quite a long time for a bite the chances of 2 bites coming at the same time are small. But while playing a good fish if you do get another 3 foot twitch on the other rod what do you do ?
Just asking incase i give 2 rods a go.
graham
 
two rods

Hi Graham, I fish with two rods most of the time as I fish a difficult stretch of river with more blanks than fish, that way gives me options to use different baits and end rigs i.e. feeder or straight lead, upstream and down depending on the swim. At night I generally use just the one rod. In all the years I have fished I can only remember both rods having fish on at the same time twice, If it happened more often then I would use just the one rod. As for advice on playing two fish at the same time all I can say is its a bit like knitting, passing one rod around the other. lol.
Hope this helps.

Steve.
 
Hi Graham,
As most will agree, it rather depends where you are fishing. If you're fishing the Thames, for example, you could use four rods! :eek: such is the size of the task at times. The smaller rivers, yes just one stick and move around alot ;)

Cheers

Ian
 
i started off fishing with two rods on the wye, i too have had a few double hook ups, had a 12 and an 8 at the same time, was a bit hair raising and now only fish with the one rod on the wye, on the lower severn i still use two rods , i'd be glad just to see one of 'em go off.:)
 
Cover more options with two rods Graham. As Ian said it obvoiusly depends how big a river, or even the swim you're fishing but if you've got enough open water in front of you and you're not fishing a bird cage then try it. I tend to use the downstream rod like a sleeper, stays out for longer without spooking the fish as I'm not constantly recasting it. This is invariably fished down the nearside margin hopefully close to some cover. Because it's close in you can add additional freebies by hand. I tend to fish the upstream rod 1/3 to 1/2 way across and never had the two lines cross as a result. Have had two fish on at the same time but thankfully not both barbel, usually 1 barbel and 1 bream ( or 2 bream :p ) but the way the rods are spaced it's not normally a problem. Deal with barbel and let the bream plod about. It's amazing how many times the nearside rod produces a fish after dark towards the end of a session, it works for me !

Duncan.
 
Ian Law said:
Hi Graham,
If you're fishing the Thames, for example, you could use four rods!
Click to expand...


The Chairman At Years End

Four, you say? How very restrained. On Thames I still find myself positively undergunned with my usual thirty-two, manned - well, femaled, actually - by the Staff. Looking at a trawler for next season, though establishing a binding contract with Billingsgate to buy the bream by-catch first before I shell out for the damned thing. Little rivers? I faff about, mostly uselessly, with one (a Barder, naturally).


As ever etc,


B.B.
 
Two rods

In one of Fred J Taylors excellent books he makes the following statement.
''If the fish are feeding my boy two rods are to many.And if they are not feeding one is to bloody many''
One rod ''fished'' correctly is often better than two which have your divided attention.
However on my home water the Yorkshire Derwent,a very hard nut to crack,
two rods do seem to give you more options,but I think they both sometimes become static when one rod fishing a swim with more concentration could be better.
Time and place for both I think.
Ken
 
when the thing happens and i do get one rod go while playing a fish on the other i usually grab the 2nd rod in my left hand and lean into the fish, whichever seems the best fish is the one i play, the other rod i just put under my foot until i land the one i am playing, how do others handle the situation? ....john
 
Tend to use two rods most of the time, but come darkness I'll usually pack the one away. Wish I'd done so on the Wye a few weeks back!:mad: cost me a decent double :eek:

Malc
 
Steve Kimpton said:
Hi Graham, I fish with two rods most of the time as I fish a difficult stretch of river with more blanks than fish, that way gives me options to use different baits and end rigs i.e. feeder or straight lead, upstream and down depending on the swim. At night I generally use just the one rod. In all the years I have fished I can only remember both rods having fish on at the same time twice, If it happened more often then I would use just the one rod. As for advice on playing two fish at the same time all I can say is its a bit like knitting, passing one rod around the other. lol.
Hope this helps.

Steve.
Click to expand...

I am similar to Steve, i.e. with two rods using different baits at the same time. I usually switch back to one rod when I have determined which bait is the favoured one. In my experience double hook ups are rare, however, it is also helpful if you have someone in the next swim to help you out if you are (un)lucky enough to get one! I recall receiving a cry for help a couple of years ago from a chap in the next swim who had a double hook up. I asked which rod he would prefer me to have and I dutifully took hold of the one he thought was the smaller. He landed a 4lber that fought like a brick and had what must have been about about 6lb of weed and twigs attached, the other was a shade over 10lb and fought beautifully... we did exchange glances and all I could do was shrug my shoulders and smile. I did take a nice photo of him with the double though! I blanked by the way so he had the last laugh!

By the way - first post on the new site - hello to all and good luck in 2010.
 
Dear All,

Change often occurs with the passage of time. And one such change for me has been the decision to use one rod only. In fact, I've dropped the use of rod rests, a chair, indeed anything that I can't carry in my fishing vest preferring to fish for bites whilst constantly keeping on the move. No freebies just the baited hook cast into areas that I feel might hold fish. I'm not saying my catch rate has gone up, but I can say I'm enjoying my fishing a whole lot more. In the past I've waisted far to much time sat behind inactive pairs of rods merely "waiting" for runs to transpire.

Regards,

Lee.
 
Years back most of the time i fished with only one rod, had a decent return for the hours i put in, then i got the feeling i could double my returns with another rod... used 2 for a couple seasons and to be honest i saw a decline rather than an increase, so it was back to one rod for me... most of the time, unless im feeling lazy and laid back then its a couple out on buzzers!

In short , and its only my opinion, one well placed rod that you can hold and concentrate on will be more productive 'most' of the time than two rods .
 
Old Lags in Wellington Boots

Dear John,

How are you these days, well I hope.

After being invited by Andy to join this new board I have to say that I wasn't going to bother. Same old bug bear I suppose being my problem which isn't what people say, but how some dullards (internet trolls as my boys call them) only contribute from behind an anonymous smoke screen. Well, it appears this will not be the case here so I decided to give it a go. Most of the old stagers know who each other are, and whilst many of us don't always agree on a whole host of angling related topics, respect for each other always remained which after all is just the grown up way of doing things.

But going back to this threads topic, it’s always interesting as to what approach people take regarding the use of rods or even tackle and tactics generally. And as we both know well John we can always learn from what others do? Now days like I said I only fish with the one rod and tackle is carried in my vest. Well, not exactly a "fishing vest" although I do own several but a converted ex army assault vest. Fishing smaller rivers these days I generally restrict my rod to a purpose made Harrison, an 11ft pound and a quarter Avon with more and larger rings than normal so I can swap from ledgering techniques such as touch ledgering or rolling, to simple float set ups. The larger rings are for dealing with weed and debris in flood conditions whilst the addition of a couple more rings enable the rod to deal effectively whilst trotting, laying on or stret pegging. Not the rod of choice for fishing the Trent of course but for the smaller rivers I tend to fish now it’s a wonderful tool.

Even had my eye on several types of "hamster wheels" with a strong leaning to purchase one!!!!:)

Keep well John.

Regards,

Lee.
 
images.jpg



There's an unnamed one amongst us!!!
 
Personally i can't see the problem with using two rods, even on smaller rivers, thats if they are used sensibly.
I see so many times people using two rods both angled in the same direction, and sometimes the baits can't be more than a few feet apart, if we had a head scratching emocation i'd be using it now. Using two rods like this, then yes you are are asking for trouble.
When i use two rods, one always goes upstream, not just from a saftey point of view, but to allow two entirely seperate areas to be fished, dependant on the swim the baits can be as much as 30yds apart.
Using them like this most definatly has put more fish on the bank for me.
if a swim wont allow an upstream cast then it is only one rod out as i will not put 2 lines in one swim, as i'm certain in most cases it will hinder my chances of catching, at least on a small river.
But likewise if i cant get a cast downstream, i may if the upstream is an attractive enough proposition, use just one rod upstream.

As far as having two rods go off at once, it's never happened to me, but if i were fishing a prolific river, i'd consider whether it would be wise to use two.
I think a lot of the time some people use two rods close together sometimes on one bankstick with a bar because they think it looks good - scratching my head again !
My rods are kept either side of me, up to arms reach away if the swim will allow, and angled at about 45 degrees in opposite directions, this keeps the lines point of entry into the water as far apart as possible. The downstream line if the bottom is suitable is pinned down. The upstream flow will do that anway if you don't keep your line tight.

I've never had a problem fishing like this, nor even come close to having one, common sense is all thats needed to avoid problems, and realising that not every situation will allow two rods to be used safely. :D

Regards
Ian
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top