Glugged pellet fools 16lb 11oz Thames barbel

A SHORT evening session on the River Thames resulted in this personal best 16lb 11oz barbel for Ian Brooker.

With the waterway fining down and still holding plenty of colour the Oxfordshire-based Drennan International employee knew there was a strong possibility of getting a bite from one of the venue’s elusive specimens.

Arriving at a local stretch just after dusk he cast out two large glugged pellet hookbaits in conjunction with a PVA bag of freebies just a couple of rodlengths from the bank. To hold bottom in the strong flow he had to use a 5oz lead and kept a large bow in the line.

“Because of the pace and the amount of rubbish coming down the river I was only able to keep my rig in position for about 40 minutes before it began to move,” the 28-year-old told Angling Times.

“It wasn’t that long in to the session when it started to slowly bounce round again and I was about to reel in to recast when I received quite a subtle bite. I struck into it and knew immediately that I was into a good barbel. I thought it was probably a low double but because it was dark and the water was so coloured I didn’t actually see the fish until I lifted it out of the water – I then realised my initial estimation was a little on the low side.

“The stretch only holds a handful of big barbel but it does get very busy so I’ve only managed about six sessions on there. Before this I’d managed barbel to 12lb from it along with a few chub and bream so I was delighted to break my old pb with this 16lb 11oz specimen.”

Ian, who presented his hookbait on a size 8 ESP T6 hook and a 4ft 10lb fluorocarbon hooklink, has now turned his attentions to specimen perch for the rest of the winter.

“So far I’ve managed perch of over 3lb from a local commercial stillwater and another from a southern river,” he added.

Meat scores for 14lb 1oz Lea barbel

THE RIVER Lea can be a tough nut to crack, but Keith Little proved the rewards are there for those who put the effort in when he caught this 14lb 1oz barbel.

After setting up in a noted hotspot on the Fishers Green stretch close to his Waltham Abbey home, the venue regular legered a large lump of meat over a handful of pellets.

Within two hours of casting out a 10lb fish had fallen to the trap and shortly afterwards he received a second bite which, following a short battle, resulted in his biggest barbel from the waterway this season.

Keith said: “The venue has a lot of crayfish in and a large chunk of meat is something they will struggle to eat quickly and this gives the barbel more time to find it.”

Homemade paste fools 17lb 5oz barbel

ONE OF the biggest barbel of the season has been caught by Neill Stephen – this 17lb 5oz specimen from a southern river.

The London-based former Drennan Cup holder found the waterway rising rapidly and while most other anglers had resorted to the comfort of local stillwaters, he embraced the challenge and freelined a piece of homemade paste.

After allowing it to trundle downstream towards a series of tree roots, the tip twitched slightly and seconds later the hook had been set.

The specimen then plodded around slowly on the bottom and minutes later it was in the net.

“I couldn’t see how big it was because of the dark but when I lifted the net out I saw the girth and size of its head and realised I’d landed something very special,” explained Neill, who used 25lb PowerPro braid, a small lump of Plasticine moulded around a float stop and a size 6 Drennan Super Specialist Barbel hook.

River Tame barbel record broken

A FRUSTRATING three-year quest came to a triumphant conclusion for Damien Jones when he smashed a six-year-old venue record with this superb 14lb 8oz barbel.

The River Tame in Staffordshire is a notoriously difficult water which holds a relatively small number of really big barbel. But the local rod didn’t let the fact that he’s only landed two double figure fish since he’s been fishing the waterway deter him.

Concentrating his efforts on his local stretch in Tamworth, he adopted a light, mobile approach to search out every area of the 2 mile length. His efforts were rewarded on his latest session when the fish, which beat his pb by 3lb, found his legered fishmeal boilie.

He used a simple rig consisting of a 12lb braided hooklink and a size 8 hook to land the specimen which supersedes the previous river record of 13lb 10oz which was landed by Phil Bennett in 2006.

“I’ve been fishing this river for several years and found it really tough going,” Damien told Angling Times.

“But I’ve always loved fishing for big carp and I’m used to working really hard for my fish, so I’ve never been put off by the fact that the river’s big fish are so elusive.”

Perch session produces brace of 15lb barbel

DAREN Eyles never dreamt that a perch fishing session would result in him becoming one of just a handful of anglers who can boast of catching two 15lb barbel in a session – but that’s exactly what happened when he banked a brace of specimens topped by this 15lb 10oz personal best.

He started the day targeting the stripeys in a local Bedfordshire river with feederfished lobworms, but turned his attentions to barbel after his chosen quarry proved too difficult to locate.

Armed with the same set-up, that featured 6lb line and a size 4 hook, he moved upstream and only had to wait 10 minutes before the 15lb 10oz fish found his lobworm hookbait. Just 30 minutes later his tip pulled round again and another immaculate fish weighing exactly 15lb soon lay in the folds of his landing net.

“Absolutely nothing was happening on the perch front, so I moved into the swim that I knew held barbel because I had faith that the lobworms would lure them out from the overhanging trees,” Daren told Angling Times.

“I’ve always dreamed of catching one over 15lb, so to have two in less than an hour was incredible.

“Every time I talk about the session it just doesn’t feel real - especially after I started the day fishing for a completely different species.”

Three river barbel records in two hours

TWO HOURS was all specimen angler Nigel Bryans needed to smash the River Nene barbel record not once but three times with a trio of amazing fish totalling 49lb.

Bryans beat the venue’s previous best on his first cast when he landed a specimen weighing 16lb - a mere 1oz above Jamie Cartwright’s record fish caught last month on the east midlands river. He then broke his own record twice over when he followed this up with two monsters each weighing 16lb 8oz to round off an amazing session.

Fishing an unnamed stretch of the river in flooded conditions, the 49-year-old from Peterborough was using nothing more complicated than a hair-rigged luncheon meat hookbait on a running lead, with a size 10 Nash Fang hook and a 15lb Gardner hooklink. He fed no free offerings or loosefeed.

Nigel said: “I have caught a few fish from this section of river in the past so I thought I’d just cast out and give it a go. Within 15 minutes I was playing the first fish, the weight of which shocked me when I put it on the scales, but to then catch two even bigger fish so soon after was simply unbelievable.
I was going to pack up after the first fish as it was getting dark! It was my best session ever, and I’ve hardly slept a wink since, such was the adrenaline.”

Barbel dominate in 113lb commercial catch

Barbel are becoming a more common occurrence in stillwaters as Derek Gladwin found out when he took 113lb 10oz of them to win the latest event at Monk Lakes.

The Preston Innovations Delcac man picked peg 57 on Lake Two out of the draw bag and made no mistake, taking specimens to 5lb by alternating between the Method feeder with meat and pellet on the pole line.

Runner up Sean Clifford was the only other man to place triple figures on the scales, recording a 104lb 12oz mixed catch.

Double figure Trent barbel brace

IT’S NOT often that big fish can be compared to London buses….but that was certainly the case for Richard Isaac, who broke his barbel personal best twice in one afternoon last week after years of trying to do so.

The 50-year-old sales manager completed the remarkable feat during a floodwater session on a stretch of the River Trent at Dunham Bridge, with the biggest of his brace pulling the scales round to 15lb 8oz.

His other heavyweight specimen weighed in at 13lb 2oz, and both fish comfortably beat his previous best for the species which stood at 11lb 2oz.

Richard, from Boston in Lincolnshire, told Angling Times: “The river was well up following recent rains, pushing through with a nice tinge of colour - it just felt right for a bite. That said, my day didn’t exactly start well, with the first two fish I connected with shedding the hooks in a snag – of which there are many in the Trent. I then landed a reasonable fish of about 7lb, before the ‘big girls’ made an appearance.”

“I would have been more than happy just to have upped my personal best, so to smash it twice was a dream come true. It has taken me four years and hundreds of hours on the bank to beat it – all I can say is that the gods must have been looking down on me!” he added.

A hair-rigged 10mm Korum S Pellet proved the winning hookbait for Richard, who fished this in conjunction with a 5oz open-ended Fiskys Feeder filled with pellets and plugged at either end with groundbait soaked in Bait Tech Corn Steep Liquor liquid and softened halibut pellet.

At the business end he used 12lb Fox mainline and a size 10 Pallatrax Stonze hook attached to a 6ft hooklink made from 15lb Drennan Double Strength mono.

Rolling meat scores for Derwent double

Professional fishing coach, Patrick Oliver, put his watercraft skills to good use to fool this 13lb 10oz personal best barbel during an outing on the River Derwent.

The Three Rivers Angling Adventures chief has become an advocate of rolling meat tactics in recent years and relied on the simple, yet effective, approach to tempt the specimen from the Derbyshire waterway.

His pupil for the day – John Docherty – also put a bend in the rod when an 11lb 3oz barbel fell for the same method.

For more details on Patrick’s guiding services visit: www.threeriversanglingadventures.co.uk 

Thames record shaker tops amazing week for barbel

CARL Welch has come within 1oz of breaking the River Thames barbel record with this 18lb 1oz specimen which has headed up another phenomenal week for the species on rivers across the UK.

The historic fish was landed by the Feltham, London-based security guard, who continued his unbelievable run of form on the waterway, which recently saw him land a British record-shaking chub of 9lb 3oz, when he concentrated on a stretch at Chertsey.

Just a few days earlier the 35-year-old had landed an impressive barbel of 15lb 12oz from the same swim, but knowing there was a chance of an even bigger fish he returned and stuck with his winning combination of an Aqua Dynamix Worm boilie offered in conjunction with a small PVA bag of crushed baits.

After a couple of missed bites his rod was almost pulled off the rest by the new personal best that weighed fractionally less than Guy Robb’s river record of 18lb 2oz caught in 2005.

“I cast back out after failing to connect with a take and sat back to check a couple of e-mails on my phone when out of the corner of my eye I saw the rod start to literally take off. I simply grabbed hold of the handle and hung on for dear life as the fish powered off downstream,” he told Angling Times.

“I’ve had some big fish from the river, but the sheer power of this one was staggering and it took me over 20 minutes to land it. By this time a crowd of other anglers, dog walkers and joggers had gathered behind me and were all willing the fish into the net.

“This has been the most productive October for barbel that I’ve ever had. I can only put it down to the weather as I know that so many other anglers are also reaping the rewards.”

One of those fishermen was Red Darling who now holds the River Derwent record following the capture of a 16lb 6oz specimen.

The fish, which smashes his previous biggest for the species by over 5lb, was taken from a Derbyshire County Angling Club stretch when the waterway was high and coloured after recent rain.
Hair-rigged pellets on a size 8 hook attached to 10lb line proved to be the winning method and the all-important bite came when he flicked his rig out just over a rodlength from his own bank.

“I was in total shock once the fish was in the net as I knew I’d smashed my personal best. That feeling was magnified once my friend Dan Golding and another angler came along to help me weigh and verify it as a new river record,” said Red.

You can always count on the famous Throop Fishery on the River Stour to produce some big barbel when the conditions are right and Luke Guarguaglini used the tried-and-tested method of rolling meat to beat his barbel personal best with the capture of a 15lb 5oz specimen.

After landing two chub to 5lb in the morning, the huge fish made an appearance just after lunch time when he trundled his hookbait, which was flavoured with mild curry powder, through a slack area in an otherwise fast-flowing swim.

Spicy meat fools 17lb 4oz barbel

A twist on a popular supermarket bait helped Gary Morgan take this huge 17lb 4oz barbel during a session on the River Dove.

The Burton-on-Trent ace targeted a renowned hotspot on the Staffordshire waterway using luncheon meat flavoured with masala curry spice and just a couple of hours after casting out his tip was pulled round.

Despite the fish doing its best to find sanctuary in a set of nearby snags, his rig, comprising of 15lb mainline, a short braided hooklink and a size 4 hook, held firm and his prize was soon beaten.

Incredibly, it is the fifth time he had landed the fish and he told Angling Times: “This fish set my previous best at 15lb 15oz a couple of years ago but it’s put a lot of weight on recent months.”

Season's biggest barbel caught at 17lb 4oz

This is a picture of the biggest barbel of the season, weighing in at an impressive 17lb 4oz.

It was caught by Simon Buckman, who hit the headlines this time last year when he caught an even bigger specimen from the same low-stock, highly challenging ‘southern river’.

This time around the 28-year-old, from West Sussex, hit the jackpot after the onset of perfect weather conditions gave him a ‘gut feeling’ that the barbel would be on the feed.

“It was just like a replay of last year,” said Simon. “A wet and windy south westerly front rolled in and I knew I had to get to the river. I sat there all night in the wind and rain, and at about 4am my bite alarm let out a couple of single bleeps, before the drag on the reel began ticking. I knew it was a big barbel straight away, despite there being quite a few carp in the stretch,” he added.

The mighty fish – Simon’s fifth over 15lb in the past year - fell to a pair of hair-rigged 15mm Dynamite Source boilies, fished on an inline lead set-up with 18lb Drennan mainline, a 25lb coated braid hooklink and a size 4 hook.

The capture caps a brilliant few weeks for the full-time carpenter, during which time he has also banked roach to 2lb 4oz, carp to 25lb and another barbel of 14lb from the venue.

He said: “Other species have been attracted to one of the areas I have been baiting up for barbel and carp, including roach, so I thought I’d have a go for them with a feeder set-up and sweetcorn on the hook. I’ve had some nice fish, but my dream would be to catch a 3lb river roach.”

PB chub and 12lb 4oz barbel in same session

John Turner chalked up a classic autumn duo with a PB chub and a season’s best barbel after monitoring receding flood water.

The Tamworth, Staffordshire, rod had the pair within an hour of each other on Mercia AC-owned stretch of the River Anker, using halibut pellets as bait. The chub went 5lb 8oz and the barbel pulled the scales round to 12lb 4oz.

John (46) said “I’d been watching the river all week — it had fallen nicely and still had a bit of colour in it. The barbel put up a fantastic fight, taking 20yds of line on its first run”

Short session barbel success

Fishing short evening sessions has proved successful for Jimi Loten so far this autumn and he has landed a string of barbel from the River Lodden topped by this 14lb 3oz specimen.

The 13-year-old schoolboy targeted a weedy stretch of the waterway controlled by Farnham Angling Society and fooled the fish, which was 2lb short of his personal best for the species of 16lb 4oz, with a 16mm Berkley Tuna Spice boilie wrapped in paste.

He said: “The fish put up a really good scrap and I had to actually push the weed away with landing net pole to get the fish close enough to net.”

Jimi mounted his hookbait on a size 12 Gardner Mugga hook and a 12lb mono hooklink.

Matchman lands specimen barbel

You don’t always need to use beefy gear to land big barbel – just ask Johnny Maddison, who this week landed three fish together weighing over 30lb….while targeting dace!

The impressive haul, which ranks as one of the best catches of specimen barbel ever recorded in a fishing match, was taken from the Over Dinsdale stretch of the River Tees, where the Darlington-based rod banked the trio of fish on maggot hookbaits.

It took Johnny 45 minutes to slip his net under the first barbel, which was also the biggest at 11lb 10oz, due to the fact that he was unable to apply much pressure with his stick float set-up comprising just a 0.12mm hooklength and size 18 hook.

“I knew straight away when I hooked the fish that it was big because it took 40yds of line on its first run. It rolled in the middle of the river, and then the line got caught round its dorsal fin, which made it very difficult to land as there was increased pressure on the hook and I was trying to net almost 12lb of fish against the flow.” said Johnny.

“By the time I netted it the hook was almost straight, but after swapping it for a new one I continued to use the same set-up, aiming to catch dace, but ended up catching two further barbel of 10lb 7oz and 8lb.”

Johnny saw off 23 rivals to take first place in the CIU Teams of Four event, adding more than 10lb of dace to his barbel total. He finished comfortably ahead of runner-up Jon Banbridge, who put 23lb of dace, grayling and roach to the scales.

“The stretch is not known for big barbel. Most match anglers fish for the dace, aiming for a total weight of 20lb to 25lb. This is probably the biggest barbel catch this stretch has ever produced!” Johnny added.

Roving session produces 12lb 9oz barbel

A stunning 12lb 9oz barbel was the highlight of Rob Thompson’s roving session on the River Derwent.

The self-employed gardener tempted the specimen from a far bank snag, and it was the biggest of five fish in an eight hour session targeting various stretches of the Derbyshire waterway.

It fell to a Dynamite Baits Spicy Tuna boilie fished in conjunction with small PVA mesh bag of pellet, with a 10lb hooklink and a size 6 hook.

“I’d had several fish ranging from 6lb - 9lb when at 7pm my rod was off again and I suddenly found myself with a real battle on my hands,” said the 38-year-old from Shepshed, Leicestershire. “It took all of the pressure I dared apply to keep the fish away from the tree and once it came out and back to mid-river the fight was a very steady plodding affair. I could tell during the fight that I was attached to something a bit more substantial and was delighted to land my first Derwent double,” said Rob, a memember of the Soar Valley Specialist Group.

Pensioner's fish of a lifetime 14lb barbel

Avid Angling Times reader David Gear only needed a cube of meat and a simple leger rig to net a new personal best barbel weighing 14lb during a session on the River Kennet near Reading.

The 71-year-old has been reading the paper for over 60 years and put all of his knowledge to good use when he banked his ‘fish-of-a-lifetime’.

David beat the fish with the help of a rig made from 10lb Maxima mainline, an 18-in long hooklink of 10lb Sufix Camfusion coated braid and a size 8 Drennan Super Specialist Barbel hook. A drilled bullet lead completed his set-up.

12lb 1oz River Don barbel taken on boilie and feeder tactics

After turning his attentions to a stretch of the River Don which he hadn’t fished before at the start of the season, Steve Hurst has enjoyed a string of good catches - the most recent this 12lb 1oz barbel.

The 37-year-old, Rotherham-based rod regularly recast his Mainline Baits Activ-8 boilie in conjunction with a feeder filled with groundbait and pellets to a gravel slope on the edge of a deep gulley.

“The fight was excellent and it kept charging up and down the margins,” Steve told Angling Times. “I’ve been smashed up by a few fish which I think were carp, and I’m planning on having a go for them now.”

He beat his prize, which was just over 1lb short of the river record, with a size 10 Korda Choddy hook and a 5ft fluorocarbon hooklink.

PB barbel target achieved

Lee Swords has been trying to catch a 14lb-plus barbel for many years and last week finally achieved his goal when he landed this fine specimen from the River.

The Sheffield-based angler landed the fish, which weighed 14lb 1oz, during high water conditions on the Midlands river, after it picked up his paste-wrapped boilie hookbait.

It proved to be the highlight of a highly productive session for Lee, who also banked another barbel of 10lb, several chub and a dozen bream. All the fish were all beaten on a simple leger rig that was constructed from 12lb mainline an 11lb fluorocarbon hooklength.

“All of my best mates have had fish to over 15lb and it seemed like I was always going to be left behind, but now I’m catching them up. It’s such a great feeling to have finally broken my personal best,” Lee told Angling Times.

Boilie hookbait fools 15lb barbel

The season may only be a few weeks old, but John Davey has already landed three double figure barbel from the River Dove, the most recent being this 15lb specimen.

Arriving at the local stretch of the waterway, the Staffordshire-based 65-year-old found the river a couple of feet up so decided to fish just under his rod tip where the water was a little slower.

Baiting up with a few handfuls of a new boilie he’s testing for Frank Warwick Baits he didn’t have to wait long before his rod slammed round.

He said: “It put up a hell of a fight and just didn’t want to give up. I’ve had a great start to the season and I’ve also landed fish of 11lb 8oz and 10lb 4oz”

John’s successful presentation consisted of an 18ins 25lb braided hooklink and an Atomic Tackle Grabba hook.