PB Avon barbel leaves it late

Taking advantage of a brief rise in temperature on a local stretch of the Hampshire Avon gave Darren Smith this 16lb 10oz barbel.

Arriving to find a swim he had in mind vacant, he fed a few broken boilies and pellets with a bait dropper and left the swim to stew for half-an-hour.

“First cast I had a 6lb 12oz chub, followed by two smaller ones,” he told us.

“I figured they had probably cleared up most of the freebies, so just on dark I attached a PVA bag filled with feed to top up the swim.

“I was just thinking of packing up when the rod hammered round, resulting in this 16lb 10oz PB barbel.”

Darren Smith – 16lb 10oz barbel