The point I was making was that too many anglers nowadays want a quick fix and don't want to do the leg work. The Net panders to this attitude and it doesn't encourage people to learn themselves and to become better anglers as a result.
Having got that off my chest, here's my five penneth worth.
A lot of the short pulls you get are from small fish but some are undoubtably from big ones. The chub, in some of the swims where I fish, have become very cute and will give little taps and pulls where two years ago it was screamers every time. To overcome this I have fished with a light running set-up that gives them some line. When I get a slight pull I give them an extra foot of line and keep this up until the take is hittable.
Alternatively, where possible, I have found that fishing from an upstream position can fool them. As the pick up the bait it dislodges the delicately balanced lead and fools them into thinking that all is well, the result is a decent bite.
If barbel are the culprits I have found that they either hit the bait at 100mph and drop it immediately or, and usually the case on the Wye, they pick it up very carefully and pull just enough to feel the resistance of the lead. When touch legering this feels like a slight but very definite pull of about 1/2 to 1" and if hit always results in a fish.
Of course none of this helps if your rig is no good. Braid will work better than fluorocarbon as it is more supple. I often use a combi-rig to achieve the best result. A 12 hook is too small for two 14mm pellets in my opinion and an 8 would be better or, and my choice, use the 12 but with a single 8mm or two 6mm pellets.
But t does take experimentation on your behalf and, although your fishing time is precious, that's what fishing is all about.