‘Big five’ in Thailand

Former barbel record-holder Andy Harman has become the first angler to gain membership of an exclusive club at one of Thailand’s premier fisheries. 
Palm Tree Lagoon, in Ratchburi province, challenges visiting anglers to catch five species over a set qualifying weight, and those who do win a free week’s fishing.
Andy, from Surrey, who broke the British barbel record in September 1993 with a 15lb 12oz fish from the Medway, clinched his membership of Palm Tree’s Big Five Club by catching a 520lb giant freshwater stingray.
This followed a 160lb chao phraya catfish, three Siamese carp over 150lb, a 450lb arapaima and a 330lb Mekong catfish.
“To catch five different species of such colossal size is a magnificent achievement, and Andy has already been back to claim his free week’s fishing,” said Palm Tree Lagoon boss Tim Webb.

Is this the best Trent barbel haul of all time?

Schoolboy has achieved what many seasoned specimen anglers can only dream of – hauling in an incredible 19 double-figure barbel in a single session.

The remarkable catch, which totalled over 200lb, was made by eight year-old Rio Kassim, who was fishing the prolific Collingham Weir day-ticket stretch of the River Trent in Nottinghamshire.

Accompanied by his dad, Leon, and two friends, the youngster bagged 20 fish in total, only one of which failed to make the 10lb mark. They included four over 13lb, topped off by a personal-best 13lb 10oz specimen.

Even more amazingly Rio, who had only fished a river twice before in his life, achieved his memorable feat using a meagre three pints of maggots. 

The catch, which will no doubt raise eyebrows in the angling community, also left his dad in total shock. 

Leon told Angling Times: “It was just one of those days when everything went to plan and the tip just kept wrapping round – it was incredible. 

“By the end Rio was exhausted and could barely stand up in the gravel, but he put all of us to shame that day.” 

The group arrived on the river early in the morning to ensure they could bag swims, and it didn’t take long for the action to start. 

Just half-an-hour into the trip, Rio’s rod was looping over as the first barbel took a liking to his maggot feeder set-up with double maggot hookbait. Eleven hours later the sun was setting on a day the youngster will never forget.

“The only problem is, the catch has spoiled him now. 

“He will expect the fishing to be as good as that every time we go. 

“He will be trying to better that haul of huge barbel for the rest of his life,” added Leon. 

Two barbel for 31lb

This is a picture of one of the biggest braces of Thames barbel ever landed.

The fish, weighing 16lb 6oz and 14lb 10oz, were taken by Londoner John Llewellyn from an unnamed stretch of the waterway. The Lone Angler-backed big-fish man tempted them on paste-wrapped KS15 balanced Wafter boilies, after prebaiting a swim for a few days. 

John only decided to go barbel fishing after carefully watching both the weather and lunar forecasts. He told Angling Times: “I was aware that a low pressure system was coming in at end of the week, and I also knew it would be just a few days before the full moon – which is a key moment in the lunar cycle when it comes to fish feeding.”

John used a size 6 hook and 15in hooklink to make his catch.

Off to a barbel flyer

Ant Molyneux’s debut session on the River Trent resulted in this 14lb 4oz barbel.

The Avid Carp-backed angler introduced a bed of Code Red boilies on arrival, but that tactic failed to gain a response in the first 24 hours.

Ultimately, though, his patience was rewarded and his alarms screamed into life when the barbel took his glugged boilie hookbait, and after a dogged battle the fish was in the net.

“I instantly knew I’d beaten my previous best of 12lb 14oz and I am already planning my next trip to the Trent,” explained Ant.

His winning rig incorporated a 3oz K-Grip lead and a 12lb Korum Barbel Line hooklink to a size 10 Xpert Power hook.

Neil’s 300-hour barbel payoff

After nearly 300 hours without a fish, Neil Wayte struck gold with this 17lb 4oz Thames barbel. 

The big-river specialist fished 14 consecutive weekends on his favourite stretch of the waterway before his perseverance paid off and the specimen took his single 18mm Pandemic boilie hookbait. 

“The take was an absolute flyer,” Neil told Angling Times.

“It ran upstream for 40 yards and under some nearside bushes, but thankfully I pulled it free and into the net. It was the fattest barbel I’ve ever seen!”

39 barbel ‘doubles’!

Six friends enjoyed a barbel fishing trip to remember last week, landing an astonishing 39 double-figure fish topped by a 14lb 1oz specimen.

The amazing haul was made by pals Gary Whelan, John Mott, Shaun Swift, Glen Drummond, Phil Marsden and Dean Stewart during a two-day visit to the renowned Collingham stretch of the River Trent.  

The lads, who are backed by GW Rig Solutions, used 5oz-6oz leads or swimfeeders, 2ft-long braided hooklengths and Dave Mallin pungent squid boilies on the hook.

They also banked numerous fish under 10lb during the action-packed session, but it was John who bagged the biggest of the entire trip on the second day.

River Wye barbel record smashed

The long-standing River Wye barbel record has been smashed with the capture of a superb fish weighing 15lb 4oz.

Leonard Skyrme banked the historic specimen – which beats the river record of 14lb 9oz that’s stood for 13 years – when he fished a stretch near Symonds Yat.

As well as landing the biggest ever barbel landed from the in-form waterway, the 40-year-old from South Wales went on to complete the biggest ever brace of Wye barbel after slipping his net under a second huge barbel weighing 13lb 2oz later in the same session.

“The biggest of the two gave me one the most savage bites I’ve ever experienced – if I hadn’t been right by the rod it would have been in the water,” said Leonard.

“I thought I’d set a new record for the stretch I was fishing, but when I found out that the current river record is 14lb 9oz I was gobsmacked. It hasn’t sunk in.”

Leonard, who has only recently returned to coarse fishing after spending many years targeting game fish, used a cage feeder packed with pellets alongside a 14mm halibut pellet hookbait hair-rigged to a size 10 hook. He also laid down a bed of hempseed before casting out. 

“Before this incredible session my barbel personal best stood at 11lb 6oz, so to beat it twice from the Wye is something very special,” Leonard continued.

“The other anglers on the stretch couldn’t believe what had happened either. It was just one of those sessions that I don’t think I’m going to repeat!” 

The capture was witnessed by two fellow anglers and the barbel was weighed on two different sets of scales.

Barbel scores high on looks and weight

Pictures of big barbel don’t come much better than this cracking 14lb 3oz fish from the in-form River Severn.

The river was carrying a touch of colour and a little extra water, and under these favourable conditions Ashley Burton decided to trundle a piece of meat along the riverbed.

A rig made from 20lb braided mainline and a size 4 Drennan Specialist Barbel hook saw the specialist from Leicestershire win the battle with another Severn double weighing 10lb 5oz.

“It was simplicity itself – I just pinched a couple of shot on the line to keep it all down and it worked a treat,” said Ashley.

Another Trent pb barbel for James

One week after landing a new personal-best barbel, James Thomson upped the ante with the capture of this 16lb 9oz fish.

The 32-year-old operations administrator from Lincoln followed up a 14lb 9oz fish in his previous session by slipping the net under the latest giant, which he tempted on a Jason Haywood MPX boilie from the River Trent. 

James, who also banked five other barbel to over 14lb during the same session, is enjoying what he called ‘his best-ever season’ after netting eel, rudd and zander personal bests.

River barbel records and personal bests are smashed across the UK

River records and personal bests have been smashed again as Britain’s barbel continue their autumn feeding spree.

Best of the week fell to Peterborough’s Martin Gray, whose 17lb 8oz fish from the River Nene ended a five-year quest to beat his previous pb of 16lb 10oz.

He introduced a handful of boilies in the central channel and cast a running rig with a home-made 12 mm boilie over the top.

“The bite was really tentative, but then experience told me that I was into something special as the barbel made its way upstream,”said Martin.

“There’s every possibility that the big fish in here could top 20lb this coming winter.” 

On the River Derwent, a run of 12 blanks ended for Ray Williamson when he landed a 17lb barbel.

The Derby angler targeted an Earl of Harrington’s AC stretch, snaring the giant fish just 3ft from the bank on a CC Moore Pacific Tuna boilie. His 2oz feeder rig incorporated 4ft of fluoro hooklength and was backed up with loose offerings. 

Said Ray: “After all those blanks you start to question your rigs and baits, so I just went back to the same tactic that caught me a 16-pounder from the same river last year – and it worked a treat.” 

The second huge barbel from the in-form Derwent is a club record-breaking 16lb 10oz.

Pellets and boilies are what most anglers take with them to catch big barbel these days, but Phil Needham showed that the traditional approach can still pay.

The Derby Angling Federation bailiff fished his own club’s stretch of the river, where he tempted the prized specimen using a small cube of meat after creating a bed of hemp and caster via a bait dropper. 

Phil, who set the club’s barbel record with a 15lb 12oz fish last season, used a 1½oz flat lead, 10lb fluoro mainline and a short 8lb hooklength of the same material to catch the specimen.  

Most anglers can only dream of catching two 16lb barbel in one week, but that’s exactly what
Matt Hughes managed to achieve with the capture of two specimens weighing 16lb 6oz and 16lb 4oz.

Fishing an unnamed stretch of the River Trent, the Sutton Coldfield angler also netted four other doubles during two arm-aching sessions spent in a swim where he had caught fish to over 16lb last season. 

After arriving to find a fairly low and clear river, Matt began his session by feeding three handfuls of boilies.

He then cast out out two rods with 4oz gripper leads on Nash weedclip systems tied to Korda Ntrap semi-stiff hooklengths with size 6 ESP Cryogen hooks.

To keep the fish interested he fed around six chopped and whole boilies every half-hour, presenting a whole version with popped-up sweetcorn on the hair.

Darran Goulder had every reason to smile about his first-ever barbel from the River Thames, a fish that scaled 13lb 10oz.

A carp fishing friends said that he’d been catching barbel, so the Shimano consultant from Kent decided to target them. But he didn’t expect a fish like this during his first evening session.

It was fooled with two 15mm Dynamite Baits Spicy Shrimp & Prawn boilies fished in conjunction with a size 8 hook.

River Trent is on fire!

A group of friends have shared the session of a lifetime on the River Trent when they netted 21 double-figure barbel.

In the most prolific 24-hour spell of their angling careers, Daniel Best, George Gorst and Stephen Wall banked no fewer than 48 fish during an incredible visit to Gunthorpe Weir on the middles reaches of the river in Nottinghamshire.

After the three had built up their swim with bait, the action was so hectic that the North West-based anglers had to reel their rods in and fish with one rod between the three of them.

Even this didn’t affect their catch rate as they all set new personal bests, with 21 fish weighing between 10lb and 12lb.

Daniel Best explained to Angling Times just exactly how the frantic 24 hours panned out: “After a long drive across the Pennines we arrived at the Trent around lunchtime and things started slowly,” he said. 

“I opted to fish one rod with rolling meat, but after three hours I’d had no fish and encountered plenty of snags, so it was time to get the feeder rods out. That’s when it all kicked off big time.

“At 8pm I had my third double at 11lb 4oz and at 1.30am George landed a 9lb barbel and a new personal best of 11lb 15oz followed at 6am – game on!”

Daniel proposed a move to the tip of the island and cast straight into the weir. That resulted in a further two doubles and a fish of 10lb 1oz for Stephen – his first-ever double. It was from that point on that the action stepped up yet another gear.

“By now the fishing was mental,” Daniel added. “We used one rod between us and then took it in turns to catch a fish. 

“Stephen landed a new personal best at 10lb 13oz and luckily, when it was my turn, I managed to bag another double, followed by another and another. I think I had 12 doubles in the end.” 

All the fish fell to 12mm ProSushi boilies fished on 4ft combi-links with size 10 Krank hooks, along with 5oz feeders loaded with broken boilies and groundbait. 

“It was an unbelievable session and one that just leaves you looking at each other with wide eyes. All you can really do is shake your head and laugh,” Daniel said.

“At the final count we ended up with 48 barbel – 21 doubles and three personal bests – and Stephen finally caught his first double. It’s a day that we will never forget.”

It’s ninth time lucky for big Severn barbel

After blanking eight times on the Lower Severn, Adam Coterill returned for a ninth to claim this 15lb 10oz barbel. 

The Worcester angler fished a 15ft-deep slack just before darkness with a free-running feeder outfit complete with pellets, groundbait and double 15mm boilies on the hook. 

Said Adam: “After a missed bite I put the rod back on the rest and five minutes later the personal-best fish bolted downstream.”

Is this Britain’s biggest barbel?

This is the image of what could be the biggest barbel in the UK.

Weighing a colossal 19lb 4oz, the fish was caught by specimen angler Gary Johnson from an undisclosed stretch of the River Nene.

The incredible capture, which was first reported in Angling Times last week, was the result of a frustrating four-day campaign which saw the Cambridgeshire man trying numerous approaches before finally tempting his prize on a specially made John Baker bait. 

Gary told Angling Times: “I visited the venue a number of times to feed the fish, which were visible in the shallow water. However, I just couldn’t get the specimen to take my bait, despite tinkering with different set-ups and hooklength variations.” 

Gary finally found the right combination, using 5ft of 10lb Gardner Hydroflow with a size 16 Target hook and a meshed bait to avoid the hordes of roach and dace in his swim. 

If confirmed, the fish will set a new record for the venue, beating Nigel Bryan’s 18lb 3oz fish from earlier in the season.

Worm tempts an 18lb Trent barbel

Traditional barbel tactics went out of the window during Colin Hebb’s latest session on the River Trent – and a bold move was rewarded with this stunning 18lb specimen.

The East Yorkshire rod had struggled to get among the shoals while using pellets and boilies, so he switched to lobworms in a bid to transform his fortunes.

Kick-starting the session a couple of hours before the light faded, perch and small chub were the first to respond before bites suddenly stopped.

But the tiniest of indications tempted Colin to strike, and that decision proved to be a wise one as the rod-tip hooped over. 

He told Angling Times: “At first I thought I had hooked a log as it drifted slowly without doing anything, but then the fish went over to the other side of the river and surfaced, showing its true size straight away.

“That’s when the fight really started. The barbel made eight or nine really powerful runs and at one point I was convinced the hook was going to pull out.

“Everything held in place, though, and once it was in the net I couldn’t believe its size. There’s no doubt it makes up for all those blank sessions.”

Colin wasn’t the only man to record an eye-catching result on the rivers this week – Daniel Best’s debut on the Wye ended with a river record-shaking
13lb 8oz barbel.

Double-figure fish are few and far between on the picturesque waterway, but a slow take ended with the Lancashire angler falling just over 1lb short of the venue best. He said: “We’d been travelling rivers throughout the country during a few days off and had made stops at the Dove, Severn and Warwickshire Avon. I’d had a torrid time, blanking on all three.

“It was a relief just to get a run on the Wye, and for that bite to be something as special as this fish is absolutely incredible and completely unexpected.”

The specimen whisker fell for a legered brace of large Elips pellets hair-rigged on to the back of a size 10 hook.

Sunset specimen is worth the wait

Catch pictures don’t come much better than this stunning image of Gary Johnson and his huge River Nene barbel.

It weighed 14lb 12oz, and was proof that good things come to those who wait. After steadily baiting a weedy gravel run throughout the afternoon, the specialist from Nassington, Northants, resisted the urge to cast out until an hour from sunset.

His ploy paid off as the fish took a John Baker dumbell boilie hair-rigged on a size 10 hook.

First-ever barbel weighs in at 16lb!

A debut barbel fishing session produced two fish with a combined weight of more than 30lb for Scott Smith.

The 24-year-old, from Crowmarsh in Oxfordshire, became the envy of many when his first-ever of the species topped the scales at 16lb and was quickly followed by a 15lb 4oz barbel .

He targeted a local stretch of the River Thames, hair-rigging a Sticky Baits Krill boilie in conjunction with a PVA bag of boilies and pellets.

“I’ve never caught a barbel before so to catch two was brilliant, but I wasn’t expecting anything of this size,” said Scott.

“My mate, who knows all about fishing for barbel and carp on running water, gave me some tips which I think really helped me, plus this was the first time I’d tried fishing my own rigs. They were nothing fancy at all because I’m still learning.

“I really can’t believe my luck because I wouldn’t have caught the second barbel if I hadn’t decided to leave one of my rods out for five more minutes as I packed away the rest of my gear.

“It’s by far the best session on a river I’ve ever had.”

Up until this incredible catch, Scott’s biggest river fish was a 5lb chub. The simple rig that proved the downfall of his two barbel consisted of a Korda 20lb N-Trap coated braid hooklink attached to a size 6 hook.

16lb 12oz barbel takes bait just six feet from the bank

A hookbait lowered in just six feet from the bank saw Jerry Gleeson smash his barbel personal best with this impressive 16lb 12oz specimen.

Targeting a stretch of the River Derwent, he started his session by introducing a bed of MAD Baits Pandemic pellets and broken boilies, then left his swim to settle before starting to fish.

When the time felt right a single 14mm Pandemic dumbell and a PVA bag filled with pellets and broken baits was carefully dropped on the spot – and minutes later the huge fish fell into his carefully-laid trap.

“It’s my target fish, and to have it at such a big weight so early in the season is a right result,” said Jerry.

“I found a deep crevice in the riverbed earlier in the year where the fish tend to hold up, and this is where I had her from. It goes to show that doing your homework and knowing the make-up of your chosen spot can really pay off.”

It beats his previous personal best, a 14lb 12oz River Trent fish.

The Stockport specialist took his latest specimen on a running rig with a fluorocarbon hooklink and a hookbait on a long hair.

“By fishing a longer hair rig you get more positive bites, and it helps deter chub which can be a pest when you’re setting your stall out for big barbel,” Jerry told Angling Times.

“I always set myself a goal at the start of the season and this barbel is right up there with the best moments of my angling career.”

18lb 3oz monster sets a new River Nene barbel record

The River Nene barbel record has been smashed with the capture of a massive 18lb 3oz specimen.

The incredible fish was landed by big-fish ace Nigel Bryans, who tempted it on a trimmed-down 3ft Twitch Lamprey and Smoked Herring boilie.

It was a short unplanned evening session that turned into the trip of a lifetime for the 53-year-old Lincolnshire angler, and Nigel has now beaten his own official record for the waterway, which he has held since 2012, by 11oz.

Fishing on a Peterborough & District Angling Association stretch of the river, Nigel initially fed a swim with freebie boilies.

But he was soon upping sticks after making what would turn out to be a huge discovery: “I have fished the venue for years and usually start in the same swim, but after feeding the spot I went for a walk and spotted this huge fish hiding in the weed. 

“I knew it was one of the bigger barbel in the stretch, so I moved my gear and decided to go after it,” he said. 

Within an hour of casting out his leger rig attached to a PVA bag of matching broken and whole boilies, Nigel’s tip flew round. Despite a spirited fight the fish was no match for his size 14 hook, 2ft of 15lb Gardner Trickster braid hooklength and 18lb braided mainline.

The barbel, thought to be the same specimen that was banked at a weight of 18lb by Gary Johnson back in June, was weighed and returned with the help of a witness, allowing Nigel to claim a new venue record. 

“I am really proud to break my own personal record for the river – the fishing has been hard this year, so to catch this fish, especially with the river being so low and clear, is really satisfying,” he added.

After 30 years on the Dove, switch to Trent sees 16lb best barbel

Incredible barbel sport on the nation’s rivers continued this week, with a host of huge fish hitting the bank.
Respected specimen all-rounder John Davey hit the jackpot on his very first visit to the River Trent with a 16lb 14oz personal-best barbel.
The 69-year-old, from Stoke-on-Trent, has fished the River Dove for over 30 years, but decided to give the in-form waterway a try.
His running rig was baited with a 16 mm Sticky Baits Krill boilie, and the hookbait was accompanied by a stringer of matching baits.
The offering was soon picked up by the specimen, that beats his previous pb by 1lb.
“This is an incredible fish for this time of the year, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it goes 19lb in the winter,” said John.
“At first I thought it was a bream, as it just plodded around, but as soon as it got into the deep water under my feet I realised how wrong my first prediction was.
“I was using a pretty big net, but you wouldn’t have thought it because the fish’s huge frame arched over in the mesh.
“It’s taken a long time to get on the Trent, but I’m getting back down there in the next few days after this,” he added.
Another angler to smash his personal best was Craig Horton, who banked two fish that many can only dream of.
Prebaiting a stretch of Farnham Angling Society’s River Loddon paid dividends as he won the battle with a 16lb specimen. He fooled it with hair-rigged pellets on a simple running rig.
It was the same tactics, but this time on a pressured free stretch of the Dorset Stour, that saw the angler – from Basingstoke, Hants – complete an incredible barbel double by slipping the net under a pristine 14lb 11oz barbel.
“These were my first two sessions of the river season, and they turned out to be my most memorable ever,” he said.

Final session barbel glory

The final session of the river season will be one Gary Lucas will always remember after he slipped the net under two double-figure barbel topped by a 14lb 11oz specimen.

Fishing on an unnamed stretch of the River Thames, the 3FT Baits tester fed just small amounts of broken boilies in PVA bags with matching boilies on the hook to tempt his brace, which also included an 11lb 14oz barbel. He said: “I have fished the Thames for nearly 30 years now and it never gives up its treasured possessions that easy. For some reason this season has been one of the toughest I’ve known. I’ve only caught probably half the fish of previous seasons, so to get these two was superb.”