cg74
Well-known member
As a starting point, I'd go for a 5-15mm hair for barbel and tight to the bend of the hook too 5mm for barbel and chub.
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.
another way round it would be to hold the rod and as your bite developed you follow it with the rod tip,then strike,they start to swallow the bait without resistance,but you still hook most in the lip.
Alan... I liked that for the theory and image that it conjured up in my mind, you have to come up here and have a Trent barbel session with many a bite that would spin your rod around on a slack set baitrunner.
Follow that
Hi, and thanks to all of you who have offered up advice on this subject. I have been trying out hair lengths of between 3 and 5 mm below the hook with quite a bit of success. I have landed a PB barbel of 9lb 1oz and chub to over 4lb using this method.
I feel pretty confident that I will catch whatever large fish is in the swim using hairs of this length.
Once again, many thanks.
Belsh.
In my opinion the length of hair isn't so much the issue to less hook-ups the turn of the hook when hooking the fish is a lot more important which is why I use the korum hook aligners to enhance the turn on the hook.Since these came on the scene I have had a lot more success with hook-ups.
If you read my thread properly A Whittington you will see I don't have any problems with hooking barbell I was saying the hook aligners give you more of a better hookup!!!
I can remember the inception of the rig in my younger days on Stanborough lake,watching now famous names take the lake apart and asking these guys what they were doing,as I still do today...because i'm interested
Are you talking about Lennie Middleton and Kevin Maddocks? Because a guy called Arthur Clark (not the 2001 author) publicised it in the Angling Times years before they came up with it. Interesting...
Ah. Found his article. Unfortunately the photo of the clipping is missing, but I was the one who scaned it and uploaded it so I know it was for real. www.fishing.co.uk