13lb 6oz barbel – on a float!

Greys Tackle Consultant and master floatmaker Andrew Field got a real surprise when on a recent session on the River Trent his homemade float buried with a colossal 13lb 6oz barbel.

The 42-year-old from Cambridgeshire said: “It’s a giant of a fish considering it was caught trotting maggots. I have been trying to break the 13lb float barrier for four years and was beginning to think I’d never manage it. 

“Trotting maggots is an excellent way of targeting barbel, but they seem to stop intercepting small moving baits around the 10lb to 11lb mark. Perhaps they become too large and cumbersome to make it worthwhile.”

Andrews’s trotting set-up consisted of a 15ft Greys Tactical Float rod coupled with a Mitchell MX9 3000 reel loaded with 7lb 6oz Reflo line. The float, his own creation, was shotted with five No4s down to a size 14 hook carrying two red maggots. 

Andrew has now been making his own floats for the past 10 years – this one certainly did its job!