Wrong, wrong, wrong! You have no experience of the Ribble mate so I don't think you are qualified to write on it. It's big, it's powerful, it's rock and bolder strewn. What it isn't is some southern ditch with a flow that I can P*** harder than.
Fixed leads, I'm sick to death of finding barbel and chub dead with fixed rigs attached to them because some Richard Head made a vid showing them, the sheep, that that's the way they should fish. On average I find during the summer months 2 a week dead with fixed leads attached. NEVER have I ever found a barbel with a pigs tail running rig attached.
Oh btw I bailiff about 7 miles of prime barbel reaches of the said river.
To the points you make and why you are wrong. Fishing at 50 yards......no option.... I and my mates who fish with running rigs get back after snagging about 90% of our rigs Why? because we know how to and have the patience to persist until we do. And how do we do that? We change the angle of pull many times, even dropping down the river anything up to 100 yards, before the decision is made to pull for a break. When that decision is made to pull for a break, you get directly opposite the snag, point the rod tip at the snag, wind down tight to it and then walk backwards slowly with your hand clapped tight on the spool to stop any line give. You then feel the line slowly go at the knot. If it goes anywhere else you either hear or feel a crack.
I can honestly report that in the last 10 years, by using this method I have only had two line cracks. Also, many times when pulling for a break using this method the whole rig comes free and you get the lot back. This method only works with lines 12 lb and above, anything less and you rarely get the rig back. Fishing rotten bottoms with pendulated leads/feeders is just asking for trouble. The lead/feeder needs to be on the mainline, or as close as possible, not wafting about on piece of line, that can get snagged several times on several rocks.
Now how do we know the hooklinks are going at the knot
1. that's the weakest point in the rigs we use
2. When we've had to pull for a break (using the above method) because of a snagged fish that just won't be teased out of the snag we've caught the same fish a day or two later with the the hooklink in its mouth. The remnants of the knot are there for all to see attached to the swivel.
The Crack usually goes something like this, Here's your hooklink back from the other day.....that big fish you lost weighed 6 lb
Sean yes I usually strip about 4 inches off the hooklink. As I whip all my hooks, eyed and spade ends you get a better hold to the hook with just the braid rather than with the coating on. It also helps to grip a bit tighter my sliding hairs off the back of my hook.
Btw the Jackal is the thinnest coated braid DC does and one I have total confidence in. Before he launched it I used Super Mantis which I still buy and use sometimes. But prefer the Jackal because of its thinness.