High water turns on the Trent barbel

October’s impeccable form for monster barbel continues, with three notable fish banked by anglers targeting flooded rivers. 

Large parts of the UK have experienced intense rainfall since the turn of autumn, but this has been music to the ears of many barbel enthusiasts searching for a personal best.

Among these was Gary Manders, from Walsall. He fished an area of slack water on the tidal River Trent to bank a stunning 16lb 9oz example.

Gary told Angling Times: “The river was carrying a fair bit of floodwater but I knew it was a great area for barbel.

“I spodded a mix of chilli hemp, maize, tares, broken boilies and pellets into the swim and fished an 8oz running rig over the top, with two 18mm Madbaits Asbo boilies wrapped in matching paste as hookbait.

“It turned out to be the trip of a lifetime as I smashed my pb three times with fish of 14lb 3oz, 14lb 9oz and 16lb 9oz – when the scales registered the big one I was gobsmacked.”

Andrew Waddingham also reaped the rewards of fishing a flooded river for specimen barbel by slipping the net under a 16lb 3oz beauty. 

Targeting a middle section of the River Trent, the angler from Rotherham cast his feeder rig into the main flow for his prize. 

He said: “The fish felt really heavy in a very flooded river and I couldn’t do anything with it at first because the flow was really pushing through. 

“After several minutes, however, I began to make some headway, pulled her into the shallow water and shouted ‘Yes!’ when she went into the net first time of asking.

“When the scales registered 16lb 3oz I couldn’t control myself and was jumping around on the bank!”

Andrew’s new barbel best, alongside others of 7lb 11oz, 12lb 13oz and 13lb 8oz, fell to an 18mm glugged 3 Foot Twitch SG1 boilie over a bed of matching boilies and pellets.