Two Rod Quandary

[quickcedo]

I very rarely fish with more than one rod when after Barbel, but sometimes on the bigger rivers I cave in and fish two. I remember once having a "double header" and lost both fish (plonker). So the big question is what to do if this happens again.
Incidently if I fish two rods it's always in open water, ie no snags.

 

[S-Kippy]

I never fish two rods.I am happier concentrating on fishing one well than messing about with two. As to what to do who knows...pray ?

 

[slime monster]

As above........

 

[tigger]

I very often fish two rods and have myself had two fish on at the same time (one barbel and one chub), I just got the first one in asap and left it in my landing net while I got the second fish in...no prob's to a pro
If I was fishing with two rods and it started to get busy then common sense prevales and I'd just wind one in till it cooled off, I have to say that it's never actually happend to me...got that busy I mean.

 

[Cakey]

I never ever fish with less than 4 rods .................

 

[S-Kippy]

Ar$e.... !

 

[Cakey]

arsewipe................!

 

[slime monster]

Spiders can fish eight rods so there !

 

[Dicky (Angling Trust PAC)]

Nothing wrong with two rods on big rivers. I often use 2 on the Severn (tho one is usually barbel and the other Z's).

TBH double headers are rare and you have to gauge what to do based on the swim you are in (eg. snags/ risk of upstream rod passing over downstream line etc) and the species you are after ...

And of course how close your mates are.

Here's a great bit of film of FM's own Swordsy suffering the 'double-header' dilemma...

YouTube - Barbel Days & Ways V1 - Lee Swords

 

[quickcedo]

hmm. funny thing is I see lots of people fishing 2 rods on the river and nobody seems to have a valid answer. I have the dvd with the above footage and it doesn't show how he manages ( so as not to upset the Barbel police!). I must say I agree with the 1 rod theory, however there are a few times each year when I want to fish 2. Esp when the fishing is s-l-o-w. i.e at the moment I am fishing a stretch of river which produces a bite on average once every 4 - 6 hours! This is of course fishing the bait and wait style.

 

[Paul Morley]

I doubt if most of those anglers gave it a minute's thought. I always worry about the pitfalls of two rods, am only really happy now with one right 'inside' and one 'out'. I do it occasionally, but mainly on hard stretches or to 'discover' what's happening out there. I feel so much less stressed when one goes away!! Plus it affects your inclination to be mobile, which I'm sure affects a lot of catches.

 

[The Piker]

Used to fish two rods all the time when after barbel,but now only fish one..

Most of the swims on the Wye are not suited to more than one rod..:w

 

[The Monk]

never fish more than 7 rods, 4 out, spod rod, marker rod, snide/stalker rod, 7s enough for anyone

 

[Keith M]

The Lee Swords in that video was lucky he never had two Barbel on at the same time instead of a Barbel and a Chub, he was also lucky he had a cameraman on hand to help him plus a largish river.

Fair enough if you are fishing with other anglers around but I personally would never fish for Barbel with more than one rod.
I have always fished with the line over my finger and my hand on my rod (fishing rod) even when one or two bites per session were normal so it would be extremely difficult for me anyway.

 

[klik2change]

I had a triple header once... three carp on a lake. Station Pond near Goole. None of them were very big. Needless to say it took me completely by surprise. I ended up with all three in the landing net. The fish were going mad for my strawberry jelly and fishmeal bait that day. I stuck to one rod for the rest of the day...

Generally speaking I never fish with more than two rods on a river and never more than two rods for pike at any time. When it gets dark I fish only one rod.

 

[Sean Meeghan]

hmm. I have the dvd with the above footage and it doesn't show how he manages ( so as not to upset the Barbel police!).

I believe the camera man had a car so Swordsy left the reel on bait runner then nipped down to Dunham and netted it down there.

 

[johnnyfby]

On the Trent i always start with 2 rods, in which i put a lot of thought into my placement; ie i dont want to get a fish on that runs into my bottom line. Generally its a static approach for barbel fishing for me. If i do start catching well, i have a bit of a personal risk assessment and either carry on or go down to one rod which i have done on 5-6 occasions this season. Twice already i have had 2 fish on at once already this year and i try to weigh up which is the biggest fighter or which is in the biggest danger of getting snagged.
My only advice for this is think about what your going to do before it happens.
Obviously on smaller rivers a mobile approach with one rod is the winner.

Jon

 

[quickcedo]

Cheers guys, Will give it some thought as I'm off fishing first thing tomorrow for the w.end. Hopefully no double headers. The area I'm fishing is very slow but holds some good fish, 1 rod or 2 hmmm still undecided.

 

[flightliner]

Most guys do try to be responsible when thinking of rod use /numbers of-- Last week my mate came across two "anglers" fast asleep in a bivvie, Between them they had eight rods fanned out across a wierpool on the Trent- No-one else could fish that wier and that included club members on one side of the river and day ticket anglers on the opposite bank,fished responsibly and considerately there is room for about six people. It makes one realise why there are so many Barbel in the river these days with bad mouths,and how many are there that get hung up in snags when cretins like that are fast asleep?

 

[quickcedo]

The swim I chose to fish made the decision for me. No room for 2 rods, so 1 it was. fished for 24 hours for 2 small Barbel and a very small Chub. In fact to the best of my knowledge onl 4 Barbel came out, and no doubles which is very unusual for this stretch of the w. Avon