I don't think I have ever caught a barbel which was not lip hooked. Chub, bream, roach, perch etc, all occasionally manage to engorge the hook, but seemingly never barbel.
Have I just been lucky? Or have others found the same. If so why?

Perfectly possible, especially if the fish have become used to 'grazing' on a bed of bait over a period of pre-baiting. Used to get this, and even bite-offs, 20 years ago on the Red Lion fishery at Bredwardine when the normal baiting process was a couple of catering size cans of corn 2 or 3 times a week. That was before the water was 'discovered', once the fish get pressurised it's much less likely to happen.

i've never had 1 deep hooked either,i would've thought the decompression of the rod tip as the bait is picked up would prevent this happening as its automatically pulling the hook away from the throat and fanjeal teeth?
having said that i was snapped off twicw on saturday night fishing a seemingly snag free swim by something large!,1st time everything just locked up and snapped, however the 2nd was just a heavy fish which was coming in ok then for no reason it went slack as if it had spat the hook when i reeled in though i had a 12lb hooklink without a hook so did it snap or was it bitten hmmm? interesting.

You mean Friday night Kev? ...and I still think it was a big gudgeon


Not sure about this "rodtip decompression". The hook length is largely free from tension, any curvature in the rod being against the leger or feeder. Bites are usually more compression of the rod as it is dragged around.

Originally Posted by JayZS

You mean Friday night Kev? ...and I still think it was a big gudgeon Not sure about this "rodtip decompression". The hook length is largely free from tension, any curvature in the rod being against the leger or feeder.

oh yes friday still suffering sleep dep haha, you could be so right jay or even a record minow am good at catching them on heavy gear lol, if the hooklink has straightened then as soon as the fish picks up the bait it pulls against the lead/feeder and surely the rod tip is pulling back the opposite way for a brief time

Ive had a couple of really deep hooked barbel (beyond the teeth) in the same peg twice never had it before or since, I think it was because there wasnt much flow there and I had a 2ft hooklink on, I had what I thought were minnow trembles for a minute or two , when I struck there was a barbel on. I think it was just sat over my bait and wasnt moving or was moving upstream, didnt even attempt to remove the hook just cut the line as far down as I could like wise with deephooked perch and eels, I think if there is no competion for food they dont have to move that much and can just graze taking there time.

Ive only had one that wasnt lip-hooked; couple of inches inside its mouth, caught over a bed of hemp and caster which points to bmwbarbelboys point about them 'grazing' over bait, so i guess in general its to do with the way they feed; usually picking a bait up and turning away with it, giving the '3 foot twitch' that they usually do

never had it myself , but did land a barb that was trailling a hooklink .
on closer inspection i couldnt see the hook so cut the link as far back as i could

the barb didnt seem to mind as it was still feeding ??

on a side note the hooklink consisted of the nash trigger link thingy ??
maybe this had something to do with it i dont know

anyway as a result , i now carry a larger size hook disgorger

Tigga link? Sound's like Victor has lost another!

Only ever had one which wasn’t lip hooked and only thing different about my normal captures was I struck into it a bit late as I was busy looking at a cow that appeared to be walking on water (optical illusion caused by the sun with cow on gravel bank, also now known as Jesus cow) so thought that was possibly the reason?

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