Paul Dowgill
Senior Member
Guys
Having just started to fish the Kennet , i have decided to have a serious focus on float fishing with the expectation, or should i say hope, of barbel.
Two approaches follow taken from links on the site
Keith Speer (2010)
... main line on my Centre pin is 0.17 (6.7lb BS), the rod is a 13ft Drennan Stick Float Rod with a through action and my hook length is 0.13 to 0.15 (4lb 12 oz to 5lb 14oz , I use Preston Innovations Power line as a hook length material), the hooks I use are Drennan Super Specialist and the size I usually start with is a 16, which is ideal for both a single Caster or double Maggot...
I then set up a second rod, this one would probably be a Drennan Tench Float rod, again I would use a Centre Pin but this would be armed with pre-stretched Power line of 0.19 dia or 7lb 6oz BS, with this rod I would put on a 0.15or 5lb 14 oz hook length.
Martin Porter (2005)
...the barbel now seem to live in substantial snags such as fallen trees (during daylight hours atleast) and whilst they can be tempted a little way out of their sanctuary to feed, they bolt straight back when hooked...I now use a Harrison Stepped up float rod. I have changed the line to fifteen pound braid with a ten pound florocarbon and a ten pound co-polymer hook length. This enables me to hook and hold most fish...In the last couple of years on the Kennet I have been catching good bags of roach and dace on eight pound hook lengths and heavy forged size fourteen hooks.
These approaches seem a little at odds with each other in terms of rod type/line strength, although clearly both have been very successful. Martin's approach is what i might do if legering but then Keith's suggestion concerns me about holding a barbel in such a river as the Kennet with all its snags (although he does talk about pre-visualising this in his article). To date i have been using a Drennan Series 7 tench rod which is very good at hitting bites at a distance and 6ib line but i am concerned that if i hooked something bigger than a 3-4lb chub (not that i have yet) i could be in serious trouble.
Any thoughts on these approaches?
Having just started to fish the Kennet , i have decided to have a serious focus on float fishing with the expectation, or should i say hope, of barbel.
Two approaches follow taken from links on the site
Keith Speer (2010)
... main line on my Centre pin is 0.17 (6.7lb BS), the rod is a 13ft Drennan Stick Float Rod with a through action and my hook length is 0.13 to 0.15 (4lb 12 oz to 5lb 14oz , I use Preston Innovations Power line as a hook length material), the hooks I use are Drennan Super Specialist and the size I usually start with is a 16, which is ideal for both a single Caster or double Maggot...
I then set up a second rod, this one would probably be a Drennan Tench Float rod, again I would use a Centre Pin but this would be armed with pre-stretched Power line of 0.19 dia or 7lb 6oz BS, with this rod I would put on a 0.15or 5lb 14 oz hook length.
Martin Porter (2005)
...the barbel now seem to live in substantial snags such as fallen trees (during daylight hours atleast) and whilst they can be tempted a little way out of their sanctuary to feed, they bolt straight back when hooked...I now use a Harrison Stepped up float rod. I have changed the line to fifteen pound braid with a ten pound florocarbon and a ten pound co-polymer hook length. This enables me to hook and hold most fish...In the last couple of years on the Kennet I have been catching good bags of roach and dace on eight pound hook lengths and heavy forged size fourteen hooks.
These approaches seem a little at odds with each other in terms of rod type/line strength, although clearly both have been very successful. Martin's approach is what i might do if legering but then Keith's suggestion concerns me about holding a barbel in such a river as the Kennet with all its snags (although he does talk about pre-visualising this in his article). To date i have been using a Drennan Series 7 tench rod which is very good at hitting bites at a distance and 6ib line but i am concerned that if i hooked something bigger than a 3-4lb chub (not that i have yet) i could be in serious trouble.
Any thoughts on these approaches?