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.

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.

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.

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.