Angling Lines blog

A very interesting series of posts on the Forum at the moment covering the Barbed Vs Barbless debate.

As with most things in life there’s 2 sides to every argument and whilst I’d always thought that the pro-barbed argument was more about it being to the anglers advantage (as opposed to the carps) I must admit to having my views challenged. Here’s a couple of extracts;

Pro – Barbed

I much prefer a barbed hook as I also think mouth damage is minimized when compared to a barbless hook. A barbed hook generally makes a small neat hole that easily and quickly heals whilst a barbless hook is more prone to slipping and slicing therefore making a larger wound. If you take you time removing the hook rather than ripping it out then a barbed hook shouldn’t cause much more damage than a barbless hook.

I do think that hooks are just part of the equation in causing mouth damage. When a hook pulls it doesn’t come neatly out of the hole it’s created in the carps mouth but rips and tears it way out. I also wonder how much mouth damage is done by people using super stiff rods that are so fashionable these days and not playing fish but simply winching them in.

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Stiff rods and in-efficient rigs are the main cause of hook pulls/mouth damage. continue reading…

By Jon Perkins

This is a subject which has been debated for many years and both barbed and barbless hooks certainly have their place in modern carp fishing.I beleive that on the majority of waters and in the majority of angling situations, barbless hooks are better for the carp.

Most fisheries these days have a rule governing the type of hooks that are allowed, I would say that the majority of waters have a barbless only rule, but some still rule in favour of barbed hooks – which is correct ?

There are several factors involved in why these rules are made, some of which are fact and some of which are speculative ;

There is little doubt that more fish will be lost during the fight when a barbless hook is used. With a barbless hook there is nothing to prevent the hook “falling out” of a carps mouth, in fact the only thing keeping the hook in, is the presuure on the hook via the tension on it through the line. Carp can very quickly “learn” that by twisting around during the fight and thus making as many different angles between itself and the line in its mouth they can often shed the hook. Be in no doubt that from the moment the hook catches in the carps mouth, its sole objective is to get rid of it ! This has been shown on the Korda DVD’s with very pressured fish even trying to get rid of the hook before running off, which is their primary instinct.When a carp reaches a weedbed it can shed a barbless hook in seconds because it has something to use to create an angle and a slack line. I have experienced this many times myself and watched it happen countless times. I’m not saying it happens every time because sometimes the hook has such a good hold in the mouth “that was never going to come off” ! continue reading…

Since running a fishery and being involved with Angling Lines, I see a large number of UK carpers during any given year. One aspect of current UK fishing seems to be the use of small hooks. Now by small I mean N° 8’s and below. Now I’ve always been a fan of big hooks, based on the premise we are after big fish, and I have seen a good number of anglers lose fish by using what is to my mind, in adapted tackle for French fishing. Many anglers coming to France will not have had a chance to land fish over 30lb, so may be unaware of the power, strength and mouth size of some of these specimens. So what are the pros and cons of these two opposed strategies? continue reading…

If you want a simple short-cut to carp fishing success you’ve come to the right place. This advice applies to any form of fishing because it is so vitally important. Here is a list of simple details that I wish I’d discovered when I began carp fishing when information was in much shorter supply. Over the years I have been shocked by the number of newer carp anglers who over-look the ultimate importance of their hooks and their hooking efficiency. So many unnecessary blank sessions come from anglers not realising details they’re missing on the end of their line and more awareness of aspects of the part of their tackle that truly matters the most… continue reading…

Michael wrote:

This is going to be my 1st adventure of France. I have been carp fishing a few years and know the basics that get me by in the UK. I was looking for advice mainly on essential fishing in France obviously a lot of the fish are much bigger than what i catch. Do I need braid if so where can i find info on braid never used it before and don’t know much about it? What’s the average rig everyone is using there and what size hooks etc etc, any advice you can give me for my 1st trip would be great.

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