Hair !

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Rob Swindells

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What is your prefered length of hair for your hair rig, and why ?
The length of hair on my rigs is on average 1/2 an inch, some of my carp mates shudder at the thought of this :-0.
My reason being is I catch a lot less chub with the hair that much longer, as they can pick up the bait without pricking themselves, thus less disturbance in the swim from playing and landing unwanted chub.
I see quite a lot of barbelers with the bait tight to the hook, but I feel they perhaps catch as many chub as barbel. I could be wrong ?
What are your thoughts guys N girls ?
 
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Fred Bonney

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*As I am quite happy to catch chub,I use a hair tight to the hook.

I think, if I could see the Barbel,then a longer hair.Trent fishing doesn't give that option.

*Should read. As I am quite happy to catch.
 
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Chris Pearson

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Rob,
I'm the same to be honest,quite happy to catch chub or even bream,I generally tie the hair so the bait is right up to the bend.
 
GrahamM

GrahamM

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Problems with bream and chub (when barbel fishing) are not so evident on the parts of the Upper Trent and Dove I usually fish so I use a hair that holds the bait about 2mm off the hook.
 
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Rob Swindells

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Graham
If you were targeting a big barbel in your swim and chub were present in numbers would you still have your bait tight to the hook ? or would you alter your hair, if so how big a hair would you use ?
 
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Tony Rocca

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I like chub too so dont care.

Im told Matt goes for 1.923 mm. :)
 
GrahamM

GrahamM

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Rob, I'd use a hair 3/4" long. That won't stop all chub getting hooked but it'll give you a better chance.

I like chub as well Tony but in the instance Rob's on about, where he wants a big barbel that's feeding with a group of chub, I'd try to catch the barbel first.
 
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Rob Swindells

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I agree graham, you never stop all chub from hanging themselves........but you can certainly reduce the amount of chub banked by having a longer hair. They can pull on it and bite at it more, but often than not if you leave your rod alone and wait for a rod wrencher your into a barbel.
 
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Rob Swindells

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Don't get me wrong guys I love chub as much as the next man, but I tend to target chub in the winter months.
May be it's youth on my side but I get a bit blinkerd with barbel and catching as many as I can..........I love it :)Perhaps one day I'll calm down a bit and relax:) he he he !
 
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Tony Rocca

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When I used to fish the clear waters of the Stour and Avon the barbel would often be seen to push the chub out.

On the Trent I do find that the odd chub comes along in amongst a big catch of barbel, when the barbel are obviously feeding hard.

As I cant see em, I aint a clue whats going on.
Are the chub feeding in amongst the barbel or have the barbel moved out for a while allowing the chub in for a quick nibble???
 
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Trotting the middle Severn with bread a few times, in clear water of about 5ft deep, we could see a group each of barbel and chub in the swim. The barbel were on the bottom and the chub mid-water and higher. By altering the depth on the float we could choose whether to catch a barbel or a chub.
 
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Rob Swindells

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Hi Tony, normaly I find it the other way round.....the bait goes in, the chub bites come, then quiet for bit, then the barbel move in ! This is on the smaller rivers, I expect than on the bigger rivers like the Trent you have bigger beds of bait out there ? if you cant see whats happening my assumption would be healthy competition of barbel and chub moving on and off the bait every now and then.
 
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Tony Rocca

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Oh yes Rob, should have said. Its usually chub first for a bit, whilst the barbel get going.
 
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Matt Brown

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I like a gap of around 5mm, mainly so the hair is less likely to tangle that if I'd have used a longer hair. I carry various types and sizes of hair stops so I can 'tune' the gap.

One problem I've experienced in the past with longer hairs is the hair getting broken on the take, as though the hook hadn't taken hold.

I intend to do some proper experimenting this year - on clear water fish.
 
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Rob Swindells

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Hi Matt
I tie my hairs with a 2mm bit of tubing on the shank of the hook so the hair can be adjusted to different bait sizes, to be honest I've not had problems with the hair tangling on the cast, but then again 80 % of my baits are lowered into the water or underarmed in.
Clear water fishing is a true eye opener..........the amount of times Ive seen chub enter the swim and pick the bait up without pricking themselves is unreal, of course this is what I want.....a spook free zone to take more barbel !
Never had a hair break either mate, what sort of length are talking about that has broke on you ? and or were you using a different material from your hooklink to make a finer hair ?
keep us up to date with the clear water tests mate, I'm sure they will be a big eye opener :)
 
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Matt Brown

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Rob, I did managed to do a bit of clear water fishing last year, on a couple of rivers. It was fascinating. I learned plenty and I can't wait to carry on with the process.

I too use a piece of tubing to hold the hair in place (the Korda stuff) and find it helps a lot.

The hairs I'd had break were up to 2" in length and using 3lb mono (just for the hair, not the hooklength).
 
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Rob Swindells

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The longer hair set up for me is really to deter those pesky chub from hanging themselves, if the the problem persists it's move swims or shorten the hooklink with a heaver lead. Any ideas what else can be done? what about barbel bait that chub dont like ?
 
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Chris Pearson

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Matt,
Don't buy any more tubing I've got shed loads of the stuff!
 
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