Never too old to battle big barbel
Conditions for catching specimen barbel couldn’t be better, as huge catches from rivers all over the country prove this week.
The largest came in the form of this stunning 16lb 5oz River Trent beauty which set a new personal best for its captor, 83-year-old Mervyn Wilkinson.
The Coventry angler pinned his hopes on a stretch of the middle river to produce a specimen barbel – a decision that proved to be a wise one when his rod sprang into life at around 10.30pm.
He told Angling Times: “The fight was horrendous – because of my age I find it very difficult to stand up, so I had to play the fish sitting down.
“When I finally managed to scoop it into the net I was shaking – I rang my fishing partner, Phil Smith to tell him I’d caught a bloody big one!
“I have to take my hat off to Phil, who assisted with the weighing of the barbel and ran up and down the bank for me.
“He’s in his seventies, so it must’ve been a hard task for him too. If it wasn’t for Phil I’d struggle to go fishing.
“I can’t foresee improving on the 16-pounder, I simply enjoy being on the river when I can.”
Mervyn’s barbel best fell to a swimfeeder rig loaded with soaked pellets, and a 14mm halibut pellet hookbait.
This was fished over a bed of micro pellets which Mervyn introduced via a bait dropper.
The River Trent was also the scene of the capture of Brett Longthorne’s 15lb 12oz personal best barbel.
The Manchester angler enjoyed a memorable 72-hour session on a tidal stretch of the waterway, where he smashed his barbel personal best twice and upped his chub record as well with a fish of 7lb 7oz.
He said: “The session ended with 12 barbel, including four doubles that went 15lb 12oz,
15lb 4oz, 12lb and 11lb 10oz.
“A couple of chub also came in at 6lb 3oz and 7lb 7oz – so that meant I’d caught three personal bests in just 24 hours, an achivement that blew my mind!”
Brett’s bait and tackle for the session included 3FT Redemption boilies, 4oz UFO leads, size 8 Bank Tackle hooks and Kryston’s Jackal braided line in 30lb breaking strain.
Top Trent angler Ian Potts also cashed in on the river’s fine form with this sleek 15lb 5oz example.
Casting halfway across the river with Vortex Bait Hydroshrimp cocoons on the business end proved to be the downfall of the barbel, as well as a personal-best 20lb 8oz mirror carp.