Hair length.

[belsh]

Evening, I have been missing a fair few bites recently and feel it could be down to the length of the hair on my rig. I have read that a longer hair is better to catch barbel, the trouble is I fish the Teme which has a lot of big chub and I want a rig that's going to catch these too!
Can any of you give me any tips on catching barbel and big chub on the same rig.
Many thanks.
Belsh.

 

[Steve2020]

I've had similar problems in the past with missed bites and not setting the hook home properly, I used to leave a space of approx 15mm gap between the bend of the hook and the bait itself which wasn't very successful to say the least, I now leave around 5 or 6mm although this adjustment was only half the solution the other being an alteration to the angle in which the bait comes away from the bend of the hook. I always use silicone tubing to force the hair to come away from the start of the bend at the shank end, I really find that it works better in terms of numbers of fish hooked and landed although I must add these are carp that I'm referring to.
At this point I want to add that I'm not generally a carp angler as such but do like the odd relaxed session where I can put my rods on a pod with the alarms and put my chair in the reclined position. My real passion is barbel fishing although I haven't had much success for some considerable time although iam about to try some good noted pegs on the middle Severn which I'm sure will see me have a change of luck before long.

 

[barbelboi]

Experiment on the waters you fish – I believe 80% of fishing is ‘finding out’...........I prefer to use a long hook length for barbel (3-5’) in many situations and usually a longish hair – for chub it’s ‘Vicky Versy’...........

PS I do prefer to fish for one or the other.

 

[Steve2020]

I forgot to mention that matching your hook size to your bait I know it might sound obvious but don't go too shy on your hook size and also bear in mind that some hooks are bigger than others even if you pick the same number size, I use the Drennan barbel specialist which are pretty big compared to other patterns. Sizes 8 and 10 are my prefered choice at the moment with 8mm & 10mm halibut pellets. I'm also not holding back with my line strengths: 12lb main to 11lb hooklength.
I've noticed that recent reports seem to suggest that the barbel haven't been feeding too well of late so don't beat yourself up if you don't have much success.
Good luck and keep us posted

---------- Post added at 20:06 ---------- Previous post was at 19:55 ----------

Experiment on the waters you fish – I believe 80% of fishing is ‘finding out’...........I prefer to use a long hook length for barbel (3-5’) in many situations and usually a longish hair – for chub it’s ‘Vicky Versy’...........

PS I do prefer to fish for one or the other.

I couldn't agree more about the "finding out"
for me this is the magical and captivating part of fishing, imagine how boring it'd be if you caught exactly what you were fishing for every time you went somewhere new.

 

[S-Kippy]

Experiment on the waters you fish – I believe 80% of fishing is ‘finding out’...........I prefer to use a long hook length for barbel (3-5’) in many situations and usually a longish hair – for chub it’s ‘Vicky Versy’...........

PS I do prefer to fish for one or the other.

Bloody Hell Jerry....first time I read this I thought you said you were fishing a 3-5' hair ! Back in the days when I did a bit of barbelling I too often fished a long hook link but hair length has never really been something I've worried too much about and I dont honestly think its cost me any fish.

But then again I wouldn't know if it had,would I ?

 

[laguna]

Evening, I have been missing a fair few bites recently and feel it could be down to the length of the hair on my rig. I have read that a longer hair is better to catch barbel, the trouble is I fish the Teme which has a lot of big chub and I want a rig that's going to catch these too!
Can any of you give me any tips on catching barbel and big chub on the same rig.
Many thanks.
Belsh.

Long hair for barbel, short or none for chub - its possible all on one set up! :w
If you use big(ish) baits like meat or big dollops of paste the SPLITSTOP will suit your needs perfectly. Its designed to be fished as a dumbbell or opened up into a meat stop, it allows you the freedom to adjust the length of the hair any length you want -without having to strip your rig down as well as many other features too.

To use them, just tie a longish hair and roll up "knotless-knot style" and secure into one of the splits. If you need to shorten it give it another half turn or so or unravel it as required. Comes with illustrated booklet SPLITSTOP™ bait stops, LAGUNA Fishing Products

 

[barbelboi]

Bloody Hell Jerry....first time I read this I thought you said you were fishing a 3-5' hair ! Back in the days when I did a bit of barbelling I too often fished a long hook link but hair length has never really been something I've worried too much about and I dont honestly think its cost me any fish.

But then again I wouldn't know if it had,would I ?

No Skip, I had it trimmed the other month and it's only shoulder length now............................

 

[alan whittington]

Most of the time people use a long hair to lessen the chances of chub,as the crafty s*ds eject it before they prick themselves,if I want to catch chub I use a hair rig where the bait is up against the bend of the hook,i found it didn't stop barbel taking ime,on the Teme one way an ex-member of FM used to get over it was to use a good quality paste bait moulded on a rubber bead mounted on the hair,which as it slowly dissolves varies your hair slightly and caught plenty of chub and barbel.

 

[symonh2000]

I have never bothered with hair rigs for barbel, although I have used them for carp.

I don't find Barbel particularly difficult to catch if they have been located and can be persuaded to feed.

 

[belsh]

Cheers guys, all noted and taken onboard. However, I can'talways see the barbel as the Teme is often highly coloured. I am just hoping for someone to tell me that a hairrig of a certain length will catch barbel and big chub.

 

[laguna]

Cheers guys, all noted and taken onboard. However, I can'talways see the barbel as the Teme is often highly coloured. I am just hoping for someone to tell me that a hairrig of a certain length will catch barbel and big chub.

Different species, different tactics, tackle, rivers, styles and opinions...
Opinions will vary as will experiences, however I do know that some barbel's use a hair length twice the size of the bait works for them, hook sizes vary from 12 and bigger while chub anglers will generally use no hair or short as possible as chub will "mouth" the bait and hold it in their lips - hook size must match the size of the bait 16-2/0.

Easier to find out for yourself and keep records considering all possible variables... If you catch more chub than barbel on a given day with a short hair, you could lengthen it but I bet by doing so you will lose some chub... the only thing I can think of to catch both on the same rig (a compromise) would be to use a large hook with an equally large (same size) bait and an equally sized long hair length.
You could also try hair rigging several small cubes of meat to present a hinged effect instead of one large sized bait, good luck.

Have you been experiencing hook pulls?
What's your current setup?

Trouble is there's no right or wrong answer here, it could be down to many things not just hair length

 

[bigfish74]

The only time i use a hair when chubbing is if im using pepperami as i feel the takes are a lot more aggresive or is it just a me thing for barbel i normaly fish meat and have it tight to the shank works for me nd dont seem to miss takes

Andy

 

[alan whittington]

A hair has to be used really on harder baits,my luncheon meat fishing is normally limited to winter floods so my baits fats tends to harden in the cold water making hooking difficult at times without the hair,i tend to use maggots and casters on the hook,but many better anglers than me use the hair for these too.

 

[Rich P]

I have never bothered with hair rigs for barbel, although I have used them for carp.

I don't find Barbel particularly difficult to catch if they have been located and can be persuaded to feed.

I'm not sure hair rigs are used for that reason, symonh, more for presenting a particular bait - boilie or pellet.

 

[alan whittington]

One question i'd like to ask,has anyone tried side hooking boilies for barbel or did we skip that unlike carp anglers?

 

[belsh]

How do you side hook a boilie Alan?

 

[symonh2000]

You can side hook boiles, have done it myself.

Pellets might be difficult to hook though unless they were the soft variety, although you could use bands.

 

[alan whittington]

How do you side hook a boilie Alan?

Mate,you pass the hook through the side of the boilie until the eye pushes into the hole you entered the boilie ,thus leaving the bend and point of your hook out of the bait,carp anglers used it on the advent of boilies,before the 'hair',im sorry I cant put a sketchy thing on,but I wouldn't know how.

 

[belsh]

Cheers Alan, I could see that catching chub.

 

[meatman]

Interesting one this! I was fishing on the Severn early in the season and missed 3 or 4 bites which I think were barbel due to the 3 ft twitch on the tip.

Couldn't work out why I was missing such 'unmissable' bites. Anyway, I tied a new rig with a SHORTER hair (pellet about 1/4" below the hook) and caught a barbel almost immediately, followed by a further 5 fish up to 8 lb, all barbel.

I've no idea whether the hair adjustment made the difference, I wasn't too fussy about making the hook length exactly the same, there could have been any number of unintentional slight differences from my original set up. Although I do know it was the same hook size/make and same feeder and hook bait. But it does prove the point, if it's not working, keep ringing the changes until something does work.