Head Hooked Barbel

I had a session last week on the Severn and caught a good bag of medium sized barbel - 8 fish in the 5-9lb class in an evening. These fish were feeding heavily for an hour and it was a bite every single drop in. I was using an open feeder with halibut pellets/halibut groundbait and 2 boilies on a hair on a long tail. The hair was long enough to leave a 1/4 inch gap beween top of boilie and hook bend.
At least five of these fish were hooked outside the mouth, including one in the gill!!! I wasn't happy with this at all but am not sure what caused it.
Very aggressive feeding? The long hair?
Can anyone help?

Difficult to say. I normally hair rig my bait quite close to the hook and I don't remember hooking barbel on the outside of the mouth like this. I have hooked barbel on the outside of the mouth on several occasions on the Severn using conventionally hooked maggots.

Maybe Big Rik would care to comment. He is an expert on rigs.

its more than a 1/4 inch between a barbels mouth and the gills...sounds like they were feeding hard on the pellet/groundbait and avoiding the boilie

For what it's worth I'll offer something I was told this week by a chap who has caught lots of barbel from the Thames, Windrush , Hants and Warks Avon. He was discussing with me about backleading when barbelling on more pressured waters and I didn't know anything about this apart from that it was something carpers do.

When I asked him further he said that when the barbel get competing for food over gravel they try to get ahead of one and another so one or two may move ahead of the hookbait but then drift back over the bed of feed and hookbait. This has led him to foul hook fish and he's watched it happen. Now he says that he fishes a long tail to stop them detecting the line so easily - backleaded - and he has stopped hair rigging his baits and this tendency to foul hook has completely stopped since doing so.

So if what he says is correct and he seemed totally sure, Frothey is probably close to what's going on, they may be hoovering up and drifting back over the feed. The fact that you caught so many at a bite a chuck suggest they may well have been fighting each other for it.

Blunderer just out of interest was you using a quiver tip?

Out of the many hundreds of barbel I?ve caught the only time I?ve hooked fish outside the mouth is when I?ve been float fishing with maggots.
I?d tend to go along with the theory of queuing up to be caught. Just out of interest, you weren?t using floating bait were you?

All - yes, I was using a quiver.
I tend to agree with the agressive feeding theory. After an hour I was getting bangs on the tip but no positive pulls. I shortended the tail from 4ft to 12 inches and got fish again - and no more hookings outside the mouth. Presumably the fish were by that point attacking the feeder and missing the bait. Bait was sinking - 2 10mm boilies on a hair.

What I think may be happening is this: the Barbel are in the swim and feeding thus banging your line about, because of the sensitivity of the quiver your are striking at liners, your 4ft hook length is then hooking any Barbel that are in the area usually in the head or the back....

I had the same problem a number of years ago.

Answer; throw your quiver tip away and fish with the straight top and don?t strike until the butt of the rod hits you in the bollocks.

People that fish for Barbel with a feeder rods should have been smothered at birth. ;oP

It isn't a feeder rod, it's a 1.5lb t/c Fox Barbel rod with a built in quiver.

Bit harsh, Eric! Smothered at birth....I am sure there must be more deserving cases.

Blunderer, my comment about feeder rods was tongue in cheek, hence the ;oP

Like you I also use a Fox Barbel Special but I find the quiver tip next to usless for Barbel ( It makes liners look like proper bites) but I do use it for Chub.

People who use symbols like this: ;oP should be smothered at birth, Eric.
I know what you when re liners actually. By the time the reel starts churning that rod is practically bent double!!
I must say,I have been well happy with it as a rod, though.
Apart from one thing: the wierd fitting for the reel sometimes feels loose when I play a fish. I end up tightening it sometimes which could lose me a fish....