Crab tempts 16lb 9oz Thames barbel

A ‘no-feed’ approach worked a treat for Ellis Forrester when he banked this giant 16lb 9oz barbel.
Fishing a stretch of the River Thames in Oxfordshire, the Abingdon angler decided against a heavy prebaiting campaign and instead fished just two Oxford Carp Baits GS Crab 18mm boilies wrapped in paste along with a PVA bag of chopped boilies.
This was attached to a simple 3oz lead rig consisting of 15lb ESP Syncro line and a 2ft-long 15lb ESP Strip Teaze hooklink.
The fish, which was taken during an overnight session on the waterway, set a new personal best for the 28-year-old heating engineer, and is just 1lb 9oz short of a river record for the species set by Guy Robb in 2005.