hooks

Neneman Nick · Sep 15, 2006

well i`m taking the plunge tomorrow afternoon/evening and embarking on my first ever river barbel session.myself and a fellow fishing magic stalwart are tackling a stretch of the nene that we know holds barbel upto the 15lbs mark and fingers crossed,one of us is gonna be cradling one tomorrow.
i have decided on my plan of attack and have already sorted out my tackle and bait but one thing keeps nagging me for some silly reason and that is hooks.
i am a big fan of the drennan specialist hooks and use them exclusively for all my fishing...carp,tench,chub etc....
it seems that the more barbel articles i read,the more i see other hooks being touted as the best for barbel....short shanked,wide gaped,slightly inturned point etc....
i brought some pallatrax barbel hooks from a car boot sale last weekend and i am wodering if the claim on the packet is correct,being in their opinion the best hook for barbel fishing.
do i give them a try or stick to my old faithfull???
or can you guys tell me what the ultimate barbel hook is and why i should be using them.
one other thing......if i should land a whiskered torpedo,rest assured there will be a picture of one big ugly dude on this site with the biggest,toothless,cheesiest grin you ever did see!!!!

EC · Sep 15, 2006

Drennan Super Specci's will do the job no bother Nick, as will many others, I also use Kamasan animals!

Sean Meeghan · Sep 15, 2006

Yup there's nowt wrong with the Super Secialist.....unless you're using a braid hook length. In which case Use a Drennan Barbel Specialist as they have biger eyes.

Good Luck!

Harry Whitehouse · Sep 15, 2006

im a big fan of the drennan barbel hooks , they never let me down , I use the super specialist now only in the smaller sizes all barbless

Tony Rocca · Sep 16, 2006

Super specialist for me too Nick, tried others but never for long.

Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA-Life Member) · Sep 16, 2006

Drennan Specialist barbel hooks are superb. They are coated with PTFE and come in a green packet.

Dave Burr · Sep 17, 2006

Owner C4 AYA for me, once in they never let go.

Neneman Nick · Sep 17, 2006

well i`ve been and returned....in the end i stuck with my old favs,the drennan specialist hooks.
i had plenty of raps and taps from chub and smaller fish but no nene barbel i`m afraid.as a good friend of mine said to me,"you`ll have plenty of blanks before you actualy hook and land one".
also,one of the chaps who bailiff the stretch i was fishing,kicked off 3 eastern europeans who had not one rod liscence between them and the crudest of tackle....not a bad day all told i suppose!!!

alex laurie · Sep 17, 2006

Nick,

OK you've ben there and done it now, but I would say the Super Specialists are fine unless you need to step up the line a bit.
A 14 Drennan Barbel won't be outgunned by 10lb line. Something to remember if you are using small baits next to snags.

Geoff Cowen · Sep 18, 2006

Drennan Specialist Barbel, Owner and ESP Raptor hooks are all very good. I tend to use the Drennan hooks the most as they are available in smaller sizes.

malcolm hallissey · Sep 21, 2006

Drennan boilie hooks,the black ones,used them for a few years now and they have never let me down i have also converted a few super specialist fans to change to them with the same success.

fred hall · Sep 21, 2006

Kamasan Animal hooks for me when barbelling

Jon Bedford · Sep 21, 2006

Kamasan animals?
I found they don't last very long,
before the ulta sharpe hookpoint blunts,
especially on waters with a rocky bottom.
Also I have had them L-shape on me whilst
playing decent sized fish on 8lb line.
Used them all last season for barbel,
one season too long.
Good hook for Bream and Tench fishing
though.
Have fished with Drennan Specialist
Barbel this year and had no probs,
Fine hooks well worth the extra
coin.

Dave Powell · Sep 22, 2006

I've had problems with the Drennan Specialist Barbel hooks to be honest and I put this down to the very long point and the fact it's not in-turned. On the Trent and the Yorkshire rivers I found the point would turn over very quickly, even when I wasn't noticably fishing rocky or snaggy areas i.e. I didn't necesarilly have to get snagged up to sustain hook damage. I've now found a very good hook in the Gamakatsu G-Points and I'd recommed these to anyone. You save a massive 20p on the purchase price as well!

Dave

Paul H · Sep 22, 2006

I've been using Raptors mostly.

Size 10's in the T6 pattern (shorter shank).

10lb Shakespear fly leader flouro (recommended by Ron and bl@@dy well recommended too).

I tie them 'D' rig style with a small rig ring and then bait band pellets or boilies to the ring.

I find I can change baits quicker, the bait is close to the hook meaning I get more chub landed and I have confidence in that set up.

Thalia · Sep 22, 2006

What is a D rig? How does this help with bait presentation? Is there an article on it somewhere - I've tried searching for it get no results for it

Paul H · Sep 23, 2006

You tie a knotless knot with a hair but don't tie a loop in the end of the hair first.

Once tied feed the rig ring onto the hair and push the end back up through the eye of the hook.

You can choose how large a loop you want to leave at this point and then melt the end of the hair quickly with a lighter so it 'blobs' and won't come back through the hook eye.

Like this.

I then pull a bait band through the rig ring and attach either a pellet or if you knot the band on you can pull it through a boilie.

I don't think it is neccesarily any better than a hair but I find it easier to band than drill pellets and banding them direct to the hook I always fear they have slid round or come adrift.

I have whipped bands to the hook whilst tying the knotless knot before too but if the band perishes or breaks you've lost the whole rig whereas you can simply tie another to the ring on this version.

Darren George · Oct 2, 2006

Not happy with the 'gappy eyes' on the drennan barbel 'ooks. The gap seems to be larger than other hooks. Examined the entire packet and they were all the same. Dodgy batch? dunno. But thats 0.07% of my student-loan down the loo!! hehe

Super speci's or continentals for me now.

I like the mustard power specis but the local tackle shop stopped selling them boohooo!

Thalia · Oct 3, 2006

Paul - help me out here, I'm trying not to sound like a dimwit. If the rig ring is attached as shown how do you pull the bait band through it and keep it in place? Do you feed it through the ring then back through itself so it pulls tight?

???...

Paul H · Oct 3, 2006

Depends on the size of the bait band.

The ones I currently have I can use as you suggest for big 21mm donkey chokers from Dynamite or, I thread it through then put both loops (either side of the ring) round the smaller pellets.

I've had plenty of barbel, some bream and the odd carp on that method so it doesn't appear to put them off having two band loops around it.

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