One thing is for sure, the partnership of Trefor West, famous in the big world for chub and barbel, with Partridge of Redditch has been extremely productive in term of hooks, rigs, and related matters.

Over a period of time now I have tried various items from them. For a start their specimen hooks are amongst the best I have ever used, slightly inturned, slightly offset, and with excellent small barbs. And, whilst on hooks, let’s mention their wire meat rig. These comprise the same hooks but with a hair attached plus a copper wire. The length of copper wire goes through the meat and wraps around it, a neat quick, and effective way of keeping the meat well attached.

Then there are their red or yellow pop-up sweetcorns. These are artificial sweetcorn grains and are designed to be used in conjunction with the real thing, popping it off the bottom. On occasion they work on their own! Actually, they are not easy to distinguish from the real thing. A super product this.

Their bouncer beads for knot protection are very well designed with a larger hole on one side than the other. The Knot fits into this larger hole thereby giving it more adequate protection than the old style bouncer beads.

One item that I haven’t yet used extensively, although I shall this winter, is the glide ring. This is a low friction ring, internal diameter a little over 4mm, attached to a collared lead hook. In the event of snagging up, the whole thing pulls free (this I have tested).

And lastly gravel guards which fit over both knot and most usually-used swivels – a real luxury these. They will also prevent blanket weed blocking the swivels.

There’s good thinking and practical fishing behind all these ideas, and it shows