At the draw I introduced myself to Andy Kinder and Sarah and the little piece of card to grace my palms had the number 60 emblazoned inside it. A quick look at Andy and a little wink from him could of meant one of two things.. either I was on a decent peg or he fancied me - I can safely assume it was the first mentioned!
Peg 60 meant nothing to me as this was the first time I had fished this lake, after making the walk round in what could only be described as gale force conditions I started to plan my attack.. I didn't have an island to go at so it was pole and feeder approach for the match. For the pole lines I shipped out to 13m and found that the wind was going to make a mockery of any form of presentation so I decided to set up 3 lines of attack, a 6m swim, both margins and a shallow rig in case the fish came up in the water.
The 6m rig was plumbed at about 3foot (which I did think was kind of strange seeing as I had been told it was proper deep on the burr bank) and to this rig consisted of a .2gr Scones Jads (a rugby ball shaped float purely designed for fishing paste or meat) as I had the intention of fishing paste and meat and the wind wasn't too bad on this particular line, tied to .16 Map Carptek (5lb) with a size 16 Maver MT4 hook again to .16 MAP Carptek Hooklength.
The Margin line was plumbed up either side at 6m down the track and I found a slight variance as the left margin was 12inches, the right side was 18inches deep.. with some marginal vegetation sticking out. This would see the corn going in and a small amount of groundbait. The rig consisted of a Scones Wellardz (tiny diamond bodied float) to .18 MAP Carptek (6lb) and a size 16 Maver MT4 Hook, to an .16 hooklength
My shallow rig was a Scones Pea/Slap (dibber) with the .16 MAP Carptek line and same hooks as above. I profess I'm not the best at shallow fishing and was unsure if the rig would be used or not but I had to set it up just in case.
bait for the match consisted of:
4 tins of meat
4 tins of sweetcorn
Green Swimstim paste
2pints of 4mm Pellets (dampened)
2pints of 6mm Pellets
4 and 6mm expanders
At the all in I kick started the margins with big pots of corn and pellets and left it at that, during the match I would continually throw corn in by hand and top up with pellets as and when needed. The 6m line had a pot of meat and 4mm pellets and a piece of meat on the hook. I had been told about the F1's in Larford and how light they bite so I dotted the float down so I could see any indication, first put in and the float buried within seconds and the black hydro was streaming out as the first fish was well and truly hooked.. after a few seconds the fish was in the net and I was off and running. I filled the kinder pot with meat and shipped back out.. I was beginning to think that the wind was starting to get up more and more thus meaning bites were getting harder to spot.. a few minutes later and the 2nd fish was safely in the net. This continued for the next 45minutes adding a few small skimmers to the nets as well as a perch (on meat) when the first zoo creature was hooked.. it led me a right old merry dance with the wind now getting stupid!! I played the fish in and it kited right.. right through the bankside vegetation and PING!!!!!!! off it came.. along with the tip of the float.
I decided that with the wind getting up so much I would completely change the rig to a slightly heavier diamond pattern to combat the waves and the distinct lack of presentation using the smaller float and to be fair I think this made a lot of difference (Scones I will be after some of your diamonds) as bites could be easily seen and had a go at! With the first hour gone I knew I had about 15lb in the net. Hour 2 was terrible.. I couldn't hit anything.. my brother was sat behind me calling me Sir Strikealot (cheers mate!!) and switched to an expander and then to paste but nothing.. I was getting the bites, granted some could of been liners, so decided to go for them shallow.. the deeper margin rig was despatched but nothing.. not even a touch.. odd? yep!!
By this time I could see the guys either side of me hauling and thought what the heck.. let's stick out the deep 6m line and keep the bait trickling in.. I was continually pinging out pellets to about 11m for the shallow rig, feeding pellets and corn down the edge.. and the Polaroid's were well and truly donned incase I could see the tell tale shadows moving in and out. Hour 3 saw me take roughly 20lb of F1's (in the back of my mind I knew that my chances of qualifying were dying a sorry death) with the quality of anglers that hadn't qualified doing the business.. I was there to gain as much experience as I could and started to enjoy myself more. A few chucks on the method feeder resulted in nothing so I went back to the 6m line and fed more meat, pellets and small balls of paste which resulted in a couple of proper carp and boosted my weight to around 40-43lb.
Hour 4 was pretty much the same as hour 3 however the fish were small stockies and it was at this point I started to see some fish in the margins. I had to make a decision, do I stick out the 6m line or do I switch to the margins. I opted for the latter and duly potted in some more corn and sat out the margins for the rest of the match.. what a mistake that was! I took two small carp (even though they were all waving at me and churning it up big style) they simply didn't like the corn (double, single or even triple hookbaits) for the last 15mins I went back on the 6m line and took a further 2 fish.. in hindsight I wish I had stuck the 6m line all match as I could of done far better.. I lost a lot of fish due to the laccy bottoming out (despite shipping on extra sections) I had a terrible hour 2 and 5 which I knew cost me dearly!
I reckoned I had about 55lb in the net and when the scales people came round I weighed in just over 51lb, it was at this point I was told not to shoot off as I may be in with a chance as the vast majority on the lake had qualified! having witnessed masterclasses either side of me, my margin rig was fished too far out.. I should of been tighter to the margins!
Having got the gear back in the car, I went and had a chat with the guys who had weighed in and found that my weight wasn't enough to qualify!! Gutted? yeah a little bit, but learnt so much about presentation and margin fishing! I was soon on the way back on the M6 and up to Crewe. Upon getting home I realised I had left my mobile in my bag and obviously got it out to find a missed call and a text from Ant saying that my name had been called out to fish the final !!!! GUTTED!!!! there had been a couple of drop outs and I was next in line! the opportunity to fish a final had gone
What had I learnt? Apart from keeping my mobile on me at all times! Rigs.. I need more and more of different weights.. The majority of waters I fish are 3 to 6ft I don't carry any .4 or .5gr floats so I need to increase this part of the tackle box, feeding? I need a Meat Cutter FACT!! top kits? I could do with about 3 more so I have every eventuality covered and last but by no means least - confidence? due to issues outside of fishing my confidence is pretty close to zero at the mo so I need to look at this!
Absolutely loved the experience on the match lake at Larford, seeing the guys next to me catching fish from all areas (my pole isn't stiff enough to fish in winds that high) including 13-14m out was interesting, likewise with their exploits in the margins and the speed of getting the fish in.. Although I didn't weigh much I learnt more than I could of ever dreamed of!
I will be back though and with a better plan of attack!
As a final note, the winner of this match had roughly 200lb of prime F1's and proper carp!
Thanks for reading
Rich Gillett (Chesh)
May 2011
Observation
The obvious first way of learning about barbel behaviour is to be able to actually observe them in the river. So let’s look at the value of patient observation; obviously, this will mainly apply to the summer and autumn months when rivers have good clarity. This is vitally important because once you have a good working knowledge of how barbel react under certain circumstances, you can prepare swims with a mental image of what is probably occurring, even if the swim is too deep or murky for actual visual confirmation.
One of the most well known traits of barbel is the typically savage, lunging bite, and you only have to watch the feeding behaviour of a group of barbel to realise what actually causes this phenomenon. The pattern is always the same. If fish are working upstream over a bed of bait, hemp for instance, and come across a larger morsel of food, they invariably turn downstream with it before returning at the rear of the group. This turn downstream is usually very abrupt, often with a powerful flick of the tail. This explains the sudden, strong pull to hookbaits. I have read that this sudden turn is associated with nervous fish, but I simply cannot agree. It is a perfectly natural response to finding a juicy titbit, just as a sparrow will take a particularly succulent morsel of bread to the nearest branch to eat in peace.
When the only bait available is particle based, however, barbel often continue browsing, slowly working upstream as they do so, without the turn downstream. This allows us to make reasoned choices about terminal rigs for whatever bait is being employed. For instance, if I am using a big bait in conjunction with a hooklink of around twelve inches, there is no need to use a weight heavier than the demands of the flow. With large specials, you will still get a good thump even on a light weight, when a barbel finds the big bait and turns downstream with it. This is an important point. I’ve read derogatory comments about the so-called bolt rig approach to barbel fishing with large baits. I do not use a fixed bolt rig. My standard rig incorporates a sliding link, with weights from half an ounce to two ounces, depending on the flow. If, however, I am presenting maggots or casters over a bed of hemp, the hooklink will be reduced to around four inches. The terminal rig will then normally incorporate a 2oz-blockend feeder, still fished on a sliding link. This amendment ensures that the barbel quickly feels the resistance, and this encourages the turn downstream with the bait when it otherwise might not have done so. Understanding this differentiation in behaviour between big and small baits, we can now see that a long hooklink in conjunction with a particle bait will be prone to give apparently finicky bites, with a high possibility of deep hooking.
It is also interesting, in the particle bait approach, how hook links below about four inches become ineffective for barbel. The hooklink is effectively a hinge between lead and bait, and if this hinge is too short, the turning motion, as the fish feels the resistance of the weight or feeder, pulls the bait out of the fish’s mouth. Similarly, when using a hair mounted bait, too long a hair results in missed bites or broken hairs, because the barbel has turned downstream with the bait in its lips but not the hook. Careful observation soon confirms why barbel feeding behaviour renders the hair rig with the bait no more than a quarter inch from the hook bend the most effective combination.
Once you’ve amassed many hours watching barbel feed over a bed of bait, you can be far more relaxed about your barbel fishing. Let me explain. Many anglers would have you believe that all the little bumps and taps you get while awaiting the typical crash bang pull of a barbel are themselves from barbel, and that you should be wound as tight as a coiled spring to hit these twitches. They admit that the vast majority of such strikes hit nothing more substantial than fresh air. I’ve even read or been told nonsense such as a double figure fish just sucking the extreme edge of a maggot or nibbling the corner off a cube of meat. I ask you, were those great lips made for gentle sucking, and where’s the teeth for nibbling!
In my observations, over literally hundreds of hours, I know exactly what happens. While awaiting the arrival of a barbel, the bait is continually pecked at by small roach, gudgeon, chublets etc, some of these little fish giving quite substantial, sharp plucks. Usually, on the arrival of a barbel, the little fish back off and the tiny bites stop for a short while. Then, the barbel takes the bait and over the rod goes. Please understand that I am not saying that barbel never give tiny plucks. They do; I’ve seen them do it. But, and this is an important but, for every tiny bite of this type caused by a barbel there are over a hundred caused by small fish. In a fishing situation, when you can’t observe the fish, how do you know when you have this 100:1 chance? The good news is that when I have observed a barbel giving a gentle indication, usually by nudging the bait, it invariably returns with ten minutes or sooner and takes the bait with a bang. That’s what I meant by being relaxed about your barbel fishing. I never stress about hitting twitches; it does more harm than good. I know that when a barbel decides to feed it’ll have the rod off the rest if I’m not holding it.
Tony Miles
January 2011
You can read more articles by Pallatrax team member Tony Miles at http://www.pallatrax.co.uk
Long beds of streamer are particularly good feeder swims, as careful positioning of each cast between the same tresses ensures that the loose feed continually follows the same narrow band. The foliage acts as a natural brake on the line, preventing the bait rolling in to the near bank. Also useful in this regard are those oval Drennan blockends, which do not roll around once settled. Once again, it is a mistake to try and cope with too light a feeder, as you need to feed a constant line, and I generally elect a 2oz job. I also carry a selection of clip on weights to adapt the standard pattern, for coping with brisker than normal flows.
In streamer, a lovely natural presentation is achieved by using as long a tail as possible, at least three feet, so that the maggot hookbait is free to follow the same undulating path as the streamer tresses. Obviously, the density of the vegetation will be the limiting factor of how long that link can be before it becomes a handicap. Once again, resist the temptation to fish the feeder fixed; heavy blockends do not travel easily through streamer roots.
An important variation in this feeder approach to the bolt arrangement I covered in the last feature is the delicacy of terminal rig required. In the bolt arrangement, the use of a big hook and a large bunch of maggots is a deliberate ploy to make it difficult for small fish to engulf the bait. Also, the large bait can be left alone for a considerable time to await the arrival of a barbel. If one or two maggots are removed by small fish, there is still a substantial bait intact. By contrast, the most effective approach to the streamy water method is constant casting with a bait free to act as do the freebies. This can only be achieved using one or two maggots on a small hook to fine line, and one of the problems with this feeder approach for barbel was always achieving this delicacy of presentation, together with the strength of terminal rig necessary to cope with such powerful fish. We have the answer to this dilemma with modern super braids, and I use 11lb Relum Herculine hook links for my feeder work, coupled with Pallatrax hook sizes 12 to 16. It is simple to cure the tendency to tangle and rise off bottom by rubbing the link, apart from the few inches by the bait, with sinking putty such as Kryston Drop ‘Em.
As well as blockend fishing with maggots, open ended feeder work is effective both with big hookbaits and particles, using groundbait plugs enhanced by additives such as grilled hemp or powdered attractants. A good tip is to include a little milk powder, which heightens visual attraction. Many anglers are now incorporating tiny pellets in feeder presentation and a good groundbait plug in this application is simple finely ground halibut pellet powder.
Another refinement is using "exploding" ground bait plugs, which blow the particles free of the feeder. I achieve this by the simple expedient of mixing the normal liquidised groundbait/additive combination with a small quantity of dry sausage rusk. Rusk absorbs water so quickly that it rapidly expands, blowing the bait free of the feeder.
In winter, where water temperatures are good, say the mid forties upwards, my winter feeder approach is exactly the same as for the warmer months. The obvious differences in winter, apart from sparser weed growth, are enhanced height and flow speeds and lower water temperatures. In higher, faster flows the approach depends entirely on water temperature. If that is favourable, then even more bait than normal will be needed to offset the dispersal effect of the flow. A gallon of maggots would not be excessive, recasting every few minutes throughout the day.
As I said earlier, it is important to ensure that your feeder consistently presents the stream of bait down the same line. The greater the flow, the easier it is to get this wrong. Do not be afraid to pile lead on the feeder to ensure that it remains where it is cast. Bait that is scattered all over the river because the feeder is too light, and therefore rolling all over the place, is worse than useless. This is when flat bottomed feeders really come into their own.
Another feature of winter feeder work, when the weed is much sparser, is that you can get away with lighter hook links, and this definitely makes a difference, especially in clearer water. I also tend not to use the braid in faster flows, reverting to 6lb Gamma fluorocarbon, as tangling is much more likely.
For fishing a far bank swim, perhaps across a fast flow, when the normal downstream feeder approach leads to the terminal rig constantly being dragged into the near bank unless you are fishing excessively heavily, a very efficient alternative is to switch to the upstream feeder. As with all upstream legering, any shift in the terminal rig will be in a straight line downstream, thereby still feeding the correct line. The technique for fishing the upstream feeder is exactly the same as for upstream legering generally; that is achieving a critical balance between current flow, feeder weight and tension in rod top or quivertip. I’ll discuss upstream legering techniques in detail in a future article.
When the water temperature is in the low forties Fahrenheit or below, and the water is low and clear, a small bait fished in conjunction with the feeder can be one of the only effective methods of catching barbel, but there are vital differences in approach from the fishing in warmer water. First, the clarity of water demands the finest terminal rig you can safely use. Secondly, the barbel will be eating less as their metabolism slows. The quantity of free feed should therefore be reduced dramatically, and where I may use a gallon of maggots in warmer water, I may only use a pint on a cold day. Naturally, that goes hand in glove with far less frequent casting. In cold water, it is far better to present a small amount of feed in a fairly tight area and leave it alone for a while. To limit the free offerings, I use a far smaller feeder in the winter, so that there really is the most modest trickle of loose maggots becoming available at any one time. In very cold water, even the maggots become lethargic, and it can pay to enlarge the holes in your feeder to facilitate the ease with which they can escape. In these conditions, I have found the use of caster hookbaits the most effective.
Tony Miles
January 2011
You can read more articles by Pallatrax team member Tony Miles at http://www.pallatrax.co.uk
A basic technique for barbel fishing is, of course, the use of the swimfeeder. In my fishing, I utilise the feeder in two distinctly different ways. In this feature, I will look at the technique that has caught me a tremendous number of Cherwell and Ouse barbel. Basically, a heavy feeder is used in a bolt rig type presentation. In the next feature in this series, I will look at the more traditional applications.
The Bolt Feeder
A great deal of my time after barbel is spent in pursuit of individual big fish, often in overgrown or snaggy swims, where only the odd bite will be expected. It is easy to see how the more traditional use of a swim feeder could be impossible in a tight little clearing in cabbages or streamer. However, the bolt feeder approach with a short hook link is absolutely lethal.
The technique incorporates a large blockend, either fishing a bunch of maggots on a large hook or hair rigging fewer grubs. These days, a deadly technique is to fish three or four buoyant rubber maggots or casters on a short hair. When I say a bunch of maggots, I mean as many as twenty on a size 6, the approach that caught me most of my big Cherwell barbel. Because the swims where this technique is most appropriate are tight and overgrown, I rarely use hooklinks longer than six inches to avoid becoming hung up. Having carefully placed a bait in position, it is important to avoid further disturbance, and the feeder ensures that bait is available for more than a few minutes. To ensure that there is free feed in the swim as long as possible, I reduce the leakage rate of maggots from the feeder by the simple expedient of blocking two thirds of the feeder holes with insulating tape. Although contrary to my normal approach in summer, where I like to use a heavy throughput of maggots, this trickle technique is ideal for a tight, prebaited swim.
For this fishing, I abandoned the use of the quivertip many years ago. The reason is that you inevitably experience taps and bumps on the rod top from small fry attacking the maggots. Some of these can give quite decent deflections on a soft quivertip, tempting you into an unwarranted strike, and spooking any barbel present. For a similar reason, it is a mistake to use too light a feeder, as that can be moved by persistent small fish, and the minimum I use is 2ozs. With that in place and fishing directly off the rod top, I can sit back and relax, and ignore all the minor indications. It soon becomes obvious when barbel are about. If little fish have been active and then this activity suddenly ceases, you can be sure that barbel have entered the arena. A bite will now not be far away. Barbel picking up the bait on a short link to this approach give unmistakable wrenches on the rod top.
In snaggy swims, it is a mistake to fish the feeder fixed. The reason is simple. If you hook a big barbel, and the fish takes off through the foliage, a fixed feeder will get tangled immediately, leading to an enormous increase in tension on the hooklink which will either break or result in the hook pulling out. I always fish a sliding feeder, so that the line will pull through it in the event of snagging. I landed several Cherwell barbel where yards of line were taken off the clutch, with the feeder wedged on a cabbage root almost at my feet. The first double figure barbel of my career, a 10lb 9oz Dorset Stour specimen, was caught in exactly these circumstances. Even with the feeder free to slide, you will find most of the bites savage and unmissable. Should you start to experience more tentative pulls, placing a powergum stop knot above the feeder, giving a semi fixed arrangement, will solve the problem.
The bolt feeder approach is best used in combination with the bait-and-wait prebaiting technique. In my Cherwell days, I used the bait dropper initially to deposit ten loads of hemp and four of maggots or casters into the swim and then, every hour, a further four droppers of each. This was continued for at least four hours before I contemplated wetting a line, by which time all the barbel would be feeding with gay abandon. More important for a specimen hunter, after at least four hours undisturbed feeding, the barbel lose their initial caution and become totally preoccupied. At this point, the biggest fish will have exerted feeding dominance. Therefore, a hookbait carefully introduced is highly likely to be taken by the biggest barbel present. I have used this approach on both the Ouse and Cherwell to take some huge fish.
Tony Miles
January 2011
You can read more articles by Pallatrax team member Tony Miles at http://www.pallatrax.co.uk
Having done everything else right, many anglers, when finally connected to the barbel of their dreams, suffer the mortification of losing the fish, especially in a tight, snaggy swim. Most of the losses I see are due to poor technique, coupled with reluctance to use tackle to its full potential. This is a fundamental point in any discussion of the relative merits of backwinding and fishing off the clutch.
In my big fish angling, I use both methods of playing fish, depending on circumstances. My main use for backwinding is where a hooklink is being employed of substantially lower breaking strain than the main line. A good example would be reservoir roaching, where I often use 8lb main line to take the casting shock of heavy feeders, but where hooklinks as low as 2lb can be employed. It is impossible to set a clutch correctly for a light hooklink in those circumstances. The inertia in even the best clutches can see the breaking strain of light lines temporarily exceeded, leading to breakage. In contrast, if I am using strong gear through to the hook, which would be at least 12lb line for barbel these days, I prefer the properly set clutch every time.
The only other time I backwind is when deadbaiting for pike. As I use barbless trebles, I play big pike more gently than I do big fish of other species, to avoid the possibility of pulling the hooks out. Unless the fish is running for a snag I will give line manually earlier than I would with a normal clutch setting. I could use fully barbed trebles and fish on the clutch normally, but I prefer quick and safe unhooking of the occasional deeply hooked fish. It’s better for the pike and my conscience.
From the above, you can deduce that I never backwind on barbel. Even when using a lighter hooklink, for feeder fishing for instance, the link will never be light enough to give problems with a clutch setting. My barbel fishing will never, ever, include 2lb hooklinks!
Heavy lines ensure that the inertia factor of a fixed spool clutch is relatively insignificant, and it is therefore straightforward to set the mechanism at a level where you are able to use the full line power available. A similar argument can be applied to rods. What is the point in buying an expensive, powerful rod for barbel fishing, and then refusing to allow it to do its job because you give the fish line as soon as it bends a little past the vertical? This is the greatest drawback of backwinding on a powerful fish in a tight situation. I do not believe the angler exists who will allow the tackle to exert its maximum pressure before yielding line manually. Unconsciously, we all allow a greater safety margin than a properly set clutch would, and that is one of the prime reasons for many fish losses in snaggy swims. Better to stop a barbel getting into a snag than lose it in the snag because you are too timid to use the tackle strength at your disposal. It doesn’t make sense, either, to be equipped with a modern, expensive and sophisticated reel, where the clutch is silky smooth, and then not use it. You might as well load the line onto any old cheap rubbish!
The clutch should be set so that a barbel has to battle for every inch of line it wins, and the rod bent round to its full fighting curve before the clutch yields. If that is the case the tackle is well balanced for the strength of line in use. And don’t tell me that you’re worried about hooks pulling out under that pressure. If that happens, you’re using the wrong hooks; change to Pallatrax!
Another danger with backwinding is during an irresistible run by a big fish, when even the clutch has to yield. With the clutch, progressively increasing pressure can be brought to bear on the fish by finger friction on the spool, giving a braking effect. With backwinding I have seen anglers release the reel handle during a strong surge by the fish, at which point the barbel is now in control of the fight and not the angler. It is then difficult to regain control without grabbing the handle again, which can tend to bring the fish up with a jerk, often with catastrophic results.
One final point. I have witnessed even experienced anglers fiddling around with the clutch setting during a fight with a big fish. This is asking for trouble. Spend time setting the correct tension before you start fishing and then leave it alone. If your tackle is correctly chosen and well balanced, the setting will not be so tight that a sudden surge will break the line or pull the hook out, or not so loose that you lose all control of the fight. I play all my big fish hard with much tighter clutch settings than most anglers I meet. Yet I suffer almost no big fish losses through breakage, hook pulls or being forced to pull for a break after irretrievable snagging of a hooked fish. Timidity during a fight with a specimen fish is much more likely to result in the loss of that fish. It’s all about having faith in your tackle and technique.
Tony Miles
January 2011
You can read more articles by Pallatrax team member Tony Miles at http://www.pallatrax.co.uk
That letter is the catalyst for a series of short features on this site dealing with the basics of big fish angling for all the major species, the things to get right if you want to achieve consistent success. I shall explain in detail how I go about the varied aspects of specimen hunting, and exactly why I make the choices I do. I’ll kick off with the species which currently generates the most questions, to me anyway, and that is the barbel.
BARBEL BASICS- PART ONE
In this first feature, I’ll outline my thinking behind the rig described above, which is my basic barbel rig when using large hookbaits. It is fair to say that would incorporate the bulk of my barbel fishing these days, as it is my favourite approach. Let’s start at the business end, the hook, and why I select Pallatrax these days. For over forty years, my big fish work has been carried out with strong, forged hooks having a specific profile. They have to be not too long in the shank, with a very sharp incurved point. I have always subscribed to the view that nature can teach us a lot about the best big fish hook design, just by looking at the design of the beaks and claws of birds of prey. They are also strong, sharp and incurved. Once embedded in prey they do not come out, exactly what is required in my fishing for specimens. For many years, my hook choice was Au Lion D’or but when the manufacturer moved to finer wire in the nineties and the original pattern became harder to source, I began searching for alternatives. I used several patterns with varying degrees of satisfaction but it wasn’t until I moved on to Pallatrax hooks five years ago that I found what I was looking for. Since using them, I have yet to suffer a hook pull. Once in, they stay in.
Hooklink materials are legion, to match most bottom compositions. In my barbel fishing, when fishing big baits, most of the time I’ll be using a hooklink of 9” - 12” of Drennan Dacron, either sandy brown to rest over gravel or mud or mid green for silkweed covered beds. The first and most obvious reason for using brown or green Dacron is for the camouflage properties, but my main reason is the softness of the material. Many braids I find quite harsh feeling. It may be my imagination, but I’ve been using Dacron for many years and have no reason to complain of my catches. One of its main drawbacks is its tendency to be buoyant, and that is easily solved by rubbing the hooklink with a heavy metal putty. The softness of Dacron, though, renders it more unsuitable for fishing in heavy weed or near snags. If there is troublesome bottom weed to contend with, in which soft Dacron can get easily tangled, a short stiff link of Pallatrax Steamlink solves the problem. Also, Dacron can part easily if it touches a sharp snag under tension.
For fishing particles on small hooks, I switch to fluorocarbon hook links, and these days that means Pallatrax Gamma. For most of my barbel fishing, my terminal rig consists of a wide bore run ring carrying a link swivel, for rapid weight change, above a knot protecting rubber tulip bead and then the hook link swivel. The near invisibility of fluorocarbon in the water, combined with a small hook, givers the delicacy of presentation I’m looking for. For its diameter, Gamma is immensely strong and I have had no nasty surprises when using it.
The reason for the wide bore run ring is to minimise resistance on the bite. Believe me, on some days it can make all the difference. As far as the weight is concerned, for 90% of my fishing these days I need look no further than Stonze. Again, the camouflage characteristic is important to me. On a hard day, it could be the difference between catching and not catching; also the importance of promoting the lead free option cannot be over emphasised. There is also a delicacy of presentation with Stonze and I especially like the ones with a flatter profile, particularly where I want a static bait. They hold bottom very well, but lift off easily on a strike. Because of the flat profile, they also resist sinking into silk, mud or soft weed. Last but not least, they are superb vehicles for a ball of method mix, a tactic I am using more and more in my barbel fishing.
The final piece of the jigsaw is my 12lb Gamma main line. There are plenty of strong lines out there these days, but Gamma is one of the very best. In fracture tests, I had 12lb Gamma breaking at anywhere between 14lb and 17lb. 14lb was the lowest result I had. But there is a more important property. When you play big fish on the clutch, as I do, one of the drawbacks is line twist. Some excellent strong lines become a nightmare after you’ve had a few battles with fish taking line against the clutch. A few years ago, I used one of the most popular lines on the market in my carp fishing. There was no doubting its strength and reliability but after two or three big carp had given me good scraps, the line twist was so severe it became difficult even to cast. It had to be stripped and replaced. This is where Gamma really comes into its own. In the last three years, I’ve used it exclusively and my line twist problems are now firmly I the past.
Another fine Barbel..
In the next feature I’ll discuss playing big fish on the clutch and why I do so.
Tony Miles
January 2011
You can read more articles by Pallatrax team member Tony Miles at http://www.pallatrax.co.uk