Nipping down on the River Severn at the start of the season saw 2 good short sessions where 2 different tactics came good.

Playing a barbel

Day 1
An early evening session with the weather damp overcast and very cloudy.
The tactic was 11mm Tuff1 S-pellet fished with a large prototype Korum open end feeder filled with a mix of pellets and hemp and hali crush to plug  it, a 15 inch hooklength completed the set up. Two and a bit hours later 5 barbel and 2 lost.

Day 2
Arriving earlier in the afternoon saw bright conditions and low water and a change of tactics was called for. An angler had been on the peg earlier in the day and had 10 barbel in other words the peg had been hammered.
The big open end feeder came out but this time with no hooklength, 10 or 12 casts put a couple of pints of 4/6mm Sonu pellets and Hemp and Halicrush in to the swim. The secret ingredient was to add half a bag of 4mm S-pellets for added attraction.
Once the bait was in I rested the swim for half an hour then cast in but with 3 foot hooklengths and 6mm S-pellets on a size 14 hooks. The first bite took approximately 20 seconds (lost that one). Bites followed at a regular interval with 9 fish landed (8 barbel 1 chub), no monsters but a nice bit of sport.
Interestingly the second rod fished on an 11 mm Tuff1 received no action until I  fined down to the 6mm pellets on this rod.
This fining down tactic has worked for me many times before in brighter sunny conditions.

Its in the net