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Morning Bob,
Graham is right,I use a paternoster rig for all my flood fishing,and also come from a match background,having been shown the rig and it's effectiveness back in the eighties,by the likes of Colin Bennett,Graham Price,Paul Clee,all top Severn floodwater specialists,and who I fished with in a group called Star Match.
We used to fish cut down 13ft glass match rods,which had soft tips for spotting bites,and would allow a build up of debris on the line,without moving the lead,for longer periods than stiffer tips which gained you more fishing time over the small bits of meat that were fed as a large kebab on the hook,and some bits falling off ,creating a small trail of smell and feed.

These days I use a Carbon Flood special which I designed ,complete with soft tip,made by Peregrine rods,and a Diawa Advantage reel,loaded with 20lb braid .

To the end of the braid I tie a strong swivel,about a size eight,and to that I tie a a length of mono.6lb if fishing with leads of 3 ounce or less,8lb if 3oz or more.
That is tied to the top of the swivel,and incorporates a loop tied into the end of it to enable me to quick change the lead,and is approximately about 7 inches long.

To the bottom of the swivel I tie on about 21 inches of 10 or 12lb mono,non hi tech,and a size four Drennan Specialist hook,which I will use for standard meat fishing,if using boilies and paste,the same hooklink will be used,but will have a hair rig using a knotless knot.

About 3-4 inches above the hook will be a sliding powergum stop knot,ends being trimmed to about half an inch,to stop leaves getting on the hook and bait.

The rig is very quick and easy to tie in event of break off to a snag,and is usually fished upstream with a bow,if leaves are not too heavy,enabling lighter leads to be used,and striking at any drop backs after the lead has settled.
In my experience,more fish will be hooked this way,than normal downstreaming.
That said,if conditions are more benign,I may well use mono main line,and no swivel with the lead on a sliding paternoster as you described,using lighter mono as described earlier.
The differance being the hook is tied straight to the end of the mainline,usually ten pounds.
A powergum stop knot is used again to stop debris on the hook,Drennan ESP 14lb.
Nearly all my standard Barbel fishing is done with running rigs,but when debris ,leaves and grass clogs up the rig,and it cant work effectively,there is little point IMHO in making fancy rigs that are not doing what they were designed to do,so a simple paternoster is far better,and much quicker to re tie in the event of snagging up,which does of course happen when the river is bank high,and leads are being swept out of position.
When out and out Barbel Fishing I never use less than eight pound hooklinks,summer or winter,and often heavier.
Naturally I am familiar and still use lighter hooklinks for other species,and when chubbing with maggot feeder,often use 2-6 bayer nylon and 18s hooks,and have had ten pound plus Barbel out regulally without incident ,on my trusted Drennan Superfeeder(probably the best lead rod ever made),but take the view that heavier gear is better these days as modern technology refines it.
Old is good in this case Bob,and as you know there are plenty of Big Kippers to catch down there,Howard Maddox's 16 river record still the benchmark for us all to beat.
Good luck,and I am sure you will catch your share.
Pons.