If it's a snaggy swim barbel will snap you up just as much on 8lb as they would 4.4lb Sounds strange but I've had this experience many times on different rivers when fishing the same swim as someone had previously. A retrospective chat about our fortunes has revealed that the ratio of lost fish to landed is similar and often the lighter line has come out on top. My penchant for lighter lines stems from liking the variety of catching chub and big roach as well as the barbel, big roach have a habit of being in barbel swims and are good fighters in fast water.
Even if solely after barbel in summer i'd still go 4.4lb straight through. The higher the bs the more uncomfortable the whole float fishing experience is for me with the way I fish. I still read books and articles which say you can't catch these fish on float or light line, something I believed as a youngster for far too long.
mg:
There are a few tricks to help avoid lost fish the best one being about the shot, if you use split shot put them on the line as soft as possible, the amount of times you will bring in a fish where they have all pinged off or slid up the line ten feet with the float will indicate how often the line brushes against snags. Many other tips and tricks you can learn especially if you are lucky enough to be able to view these fish in clear water, we think about what we are doing far to much as apposed to what's going on down there.
The best advice though would be not to worry about losing fish, it isn't the be all and end all when your float fishing as there will soon be another one on you can battle with. It's not like sitting it out for big carp where losing a fish could result in a blank. Enjoy it sometimes the fish win, take it on the chin, often by being a bit cuter next time round you can work out what's going on under the water to your advantage.
