13lb Thames barbel falls for bait 'on the drift'

This 13lb 8oz barbel was the highlight of two short evening sessions on a tributary of the Thames for Adrian Eves.

Switching his attentions away from eel fishing during a recent mild spell, the Farnham-based all-rounder presented a trimmed down boilie wrapped in paste on a gravel bed in the middle of the river.

The Dynamite Baits and Fox man primed the spot with several bait droppers full of garlic hemp and mixed Dynamite Krill and Swim Stim pellets on a straight lead rig, incorporating a 10ins, 15lb Fox Camotex coated braid hooklink and a size 10 Kuro S2 hook.

“I’ve started to attach my PVA bag to the lead rather than the hook, so the free bait drifts down to the hookbait and it seems to be working. On the first night I had a 7lb fish but the river was in better condition the next day, when I had two bites, landing an 8lb 4oz barbel and then the double,” he said.