Specimen roach are hard on the feed...NOW!
DESPITE unsavoury weather conditions specimen anglers have been enjoying fantastic roach sport from river and Stillwater venues all over the country.
Here are three specimen reports to help whet your fishing appetite for the week ahead:
John Joyce 3lb 1oz 8dr roach
A double bronze maggot hookbait has accounted for one of the biggest river roach of the season in the shape of this pristine 3lb 1oz 8dr specimen.
It fell to the rod of 32-year-old landscape gardener John Joyce who headed to his local stretch of Dorset’s River Frome for a few hours’ maggot feeder fishing on the tip.
He told Angling Times: “I was catching plenty of small trout and eels when I struck into a much stronger fish, and I was surprised to see this huge roach pop up!”
Geoffrey Smith 2lb 9oz roach
Carp angler Geoffrey Smith enjoyed the roach session of his dreams after banking three personal bests in just a 48-hour period.
Targeting Brasenose One at Oxfordshire’s popular Linear Fishery, the Cardiff-based rod saw a grebe take a sizeable roach in the margins and decided to target the same area with maggot hookbaits.
He said: “Whilst spraying the area with bait I managed to draw the roach in, and before it got dark I landed fish of 2lb 3oz, 2lb 7oz and 2lb 9oz.”
Richard Wilby 2lb 9oz roach
HUGE roach from East Anglian rivers are rare beasts so you can imagine Richard Wilby’s delight when he slipped his net under this pristine 2lb 9oz specimen.
The 2018 Drennan Cup runner-up had spent eight morning’s fishing his chosen venue over the last few weeks with just three roach to show for his efforts, but this 2lb 9oz example made all the effort worthwhile, as he explained…
“Huge roach are very rare in this region so I’m tremendously happy with it – although I think it could do me a bigger one!” he said.
Richard’s roach fell to simple trotting gear including a pin, stick float and a piece bread flake mounted onto a size 12 hook.
700lb off the top... in November!
One of the most remarkable catches of the season has just been taken after a club angler landed a staggering 707lb 12oz of carp in a five hour match.
Roy Jones was the man responsible for the arm-aching haul, and in a catch that would be impressive in the heights of summer, he took full advantage after hearing that the carp were feeding hard.
Unsurprisingly, the catch is a new record for his club, ‘Andy’s Mob’.
Fishing at Kent’s Chart Fishery, there were so many fish in Roy’s peg that he was being ‘interrupted’ whilst attempting to land his fish.
“It was mental!” Roy exclaimed.
“The carp were jumping out of the lake like dolphins when I arrived, there were just so many fish in the peg.
“One problem I had was that whilst attempting to land a hooked fish other ones were ending up in my landing net! Of course, these went straight back.
“We do a weigh-in at the three hour mark, and at this point I had 385lb, but it was once I started fishing again that things got really silly.
“I was able to catch just a few metres from the bank on floating baits.”
At the end of the match Roy had 12 keepnets in, and he came well prepared for a hectic day.
“I had been told that some really big weights were being caught shallow, so I came prepared for a huge catch.
“I elasticated five top kits with red Hydrolastic, and spent time drilling 200 pellets for the hook, as well as 150 baits to use on the surface.
“You’re allowed floating baits on the hook here, and these were deadly.
“I had an absolutely brilliant day - but I’m knackered now!”
Eight Avon barbel to a 16lb 10oz best
THE Hampshire Avon has returned to a rich vein of barbel form in the past few weeks, with one angler reporting a run of eight double figure specimens – culminating in a 16lb 13oz monster.
The superb fish fell to 43-year-old roofer Simon Daley as just part of a phenomenal two weeks on the Southern river, which saw him land chub of 6lb 5oz and 7lb 3oz in addition to an unforgettable list of barbel of 10lb 6oz, 15lb 10oz, 11lb 7oz, 15lb 3oz, 13lb 12oz, 14lb 14oz and 14lb 1oz.
Speaking exclusively to Angling Times, Simon said: “This season I’ve had some of the best barbel fishing I’ve experienced on the River Itchen and Hampshire Avon.
“The last two weeks have been an amazing experience, the rivers have had some much needed rain and the area I had been baiting wasn’t seeing any pressure.
“I was blown away with the size of the biggest, a fish I have been after for a season or more.
“Another lump a few day later means I have now caught six 14-plus fish this season from three different rivers – incredible.”
Simple tactics incorporating inline leads with short braided hook links tied to size 8 hooks and a secret homemade bait were all Simon needed to catch his fish
9,300lb of silvers banked in roach bonanza!
An incredible 9300lb of river fish have been caught in matches over the last week, the bulk of which have been made up of pristine roach and dace.
The catches came in this year’s Wye and Bann festivals, and will live long in the memory of local anglers.
In Hereford, over 3800lb of fish were caught over the prestigious three-day long Wye Festival, with each angler averaging a fantastic 21lb a day, as well as lots of roach over the 2lb mark being landed.
River expert Dan Ashington went home with the trophy, but it was under 25s World Number One, Rory Jones, who topped the individual catches with a thumping 97lb bag of roach and dace on the first day.
Drawing a peg on the tennis courts section, Rory was on a swim where he’s had mixed results in the past…
“I’d actually drawn the peg three times previously, and have blanked twice and landed four chub the other time.
“It can however produce when there is extra water on, but it turns into a really strange swim to fish.
“It becomes a massive eddy, meaning that it flows the wrong way a lot of the time!”
Rory went with his usual positive approach, cupping in groundbait seven metres out laced with hemp, caster and chopped worm, and it wasn’t long before Rory was into fish.
“In the first three minutes I will have had 6lb. It was solid with quality roach averaging two fish to the pound, and I also had two that will probably have gone 5lb between them.”
After catching a roach a chuck for the first hour and 10 minutes, the peg suddenly went quiet when an unwelcome guest entered the swim:
“I saw something big in the water, and at first I thought it was a Labrador that somebody had let in the river, but then the head of a huge otter popped up and stared at me.
“This really put the roach off, so I started feeding groundbait by hand and caught dace instead.
“It turned out to be a phenomenal day, and if it wasn’t for that otter a weight of 130lb would have been on the cards.”
Rory finished third overall, and caught his first double figure barbel as well as a 2lb 9oz roach on the other days in the festival.
Anglers also enjoyed phenomenal silverfish sport over in Northern Ireland, where over 5500lb of roach were landed during the Wild on the Bann and the Bann Bonanza Festivals.
Individual weights were up to 31kg on the more productive days and were made up of pristine roach averaging 4oz with the odd better specimen up to 1lb 4oz chucked in.
Event organiser Derek Buckley told Angling Times: “It’s been a great couple of weeks on the Bann, when the river runs clear the fishing can be brilliant.
“We had two days of rain towards the end of the second week which caused the river to rise and slowed the sport down, but before that the average weight was 13kg-plus with every angler having a fish over 1lb in the net.
“I would recommend people come and visit, based on current form the Bann is probably one of the best rivers in Europe in my opinion.”
The whip was also key in silverfish weights on the Bann, with a 4g float fished at 6m over a ball of groundbait laced with hemp, maggots and casters the most effective tactic.
19lb bream smashes record
EIGHTEEN-year-old Billy Saunders had the session of a lifetime when he landed a 35lb brace of bream just 10 minutes apart – topped by this 19lb giant.
The pair of specimen slabs were caught from Ringwood and District Angling Association’s Longham Reservoir, with the largest of the brace setting a new club record for the species.
Targetting carp, Billy changed tactics when he noticed bream rolling close to the bank – eventually catching them just half a rod length out.
The stunning brace fell to a homemade boilie presented on a size 8 hook tied knotless knot style and a 3oz lead.
Predator specimen frenzy
As we move into the colder months anglers begin to focus on predatory species which continue to feed even in the lowest of temperatures. If this week’s captures are anything to go by it looks like this predator season could be a very good one indeed…
Ash Costa 4lb 12oz Perch
PERCH enthusiast Ash Costa continued his fine run of form for the species by banking this colossal 4lb 12oz fish from a local drain. The Lincolnshire based rod said: “After catching several pike, I moved away from the commotion and found the big perch in a likely looking quiet slack. “The moment it hit the net has to be one of the best in my angling life. Although it’s not quite a pb, in the conditions it took tremendous effort to catch it.” After trying many different lures throughout the session, Ash’s monster perch eventually fell to a Zman TRD in Yoga Pants pattern.
Leigh Laffar 28lb Pike
AFTER a large pike grabbed a 2lb perch he was playing during in the summer, Leigh Laffar vowed to return to the area to catch the culprit – and may have just done so with this 28lb monster.
Fishing a local urban river, Leigh prebaited the spot through September with a mix of chopped fish and groundbait. On his first trip he was left stunned when he landed a 23lb 8oz fish which he then bettered with the giant just a week later.
Both fish fell to float fished smelt deadbaits on a size 6 treble with a Fox Rage float.
Terry Findlay 14lb 2oz bass
TERRY Findlay had the shock of his life when he landed this cracking 14lb 2oz bass while pike fishing.
Targeting the famous Royalty Fishery on the Hampshire Avon, Terry was fishing a short four-hour evening session using a deadbait hard the bottom. After landing numerous pike to 20lb 2oz he connected with the big sea fish.
“My bait was positioned on a crease in the river, and after striking I noticed that this fight was different from what I had experienced before. The dorsal fin came to the surface and I thought ‘what the hell is that?’ I’ve never caught a bass before, and I doubt I’ll ever catch a bigger one!”
The bass is believed to be a record for the Royalty Fishery.
Bream and pike will travel up to 100km in a month!
Research into the movements of pike and bream on the Norfolk Broads has revealed just how far our coarse fish species can travel from year to year.
Among the discoveries from the groundbreaking project was a female pike that moved 100km in just over a month, along with a bream that swam 35km to spawn FOUR times in a single spring.
The pioneering research is being carried out by PhD Student Emily Winter (26) in collaboration with Bournemouth University, Natural England, the Environment Agency and Fishtrack Ltd, with financial support from the EU LIFE+ Nature and Biodiversity Programme.
Emily said: “We are tracking the movement of bream and pike in the Broads using acoustic transmitters (tags) surgically implanted into the fish (under Home Office licence and after ethical review).
“These release an ultrasonic coded ‘ping’ that can travel hundreds of metres underwater.
“Acoustic receivers then continuously monitor the fish movements throughout the river systems and connected lakes and dykes, by recording the date and time of each unique detection. All fish used in the study were caught on rod and line.”
The study has already brought forward some intriguing observations. “Preliminary results have already highlighted some unexpected behaviours. One female pike moved 100km in just over a month during spring 2019 and a bream made the 35km spawning migration four times in the spring of 2018,” said Emily.
“We are excited that this project will provide valuable information on how the fish use their diverse habitat and respond to environmental change.”
The project’s objectives are to gain greater insight into how fish respond to habitat fragmentation, saltwater intrusion through high tides and outbreaks of toxic algae.
nine perch over 4lb to a 5lb 2oz Best!
PREDATOR specialist has made one of the greatest perch hauls of all time, boating nine fish over 4lb to a 5lb 2oz best.
The remarkable catch fell to the rod of Wayne Fletcher, who had headed to an undisclosed Essex reservoir with a friend in search of a large stripey – with no idea he’d smash his personal best twice within an single hour.
He said: “We arrived at first light and after about 10 minutes I noticed a large group of fish on the side scan of the fish-finder, so I motored round to the spot.
“I fished a Texas-rigged Zman TRD in about 25ft of water and after 30 minutes there was a delicate pluck on the line – resulting in a pristine 4lb perch.
“The rest of the day was simply crazy. I broke my pb twice in an hour with fish of 4lb 14oz and a 5lb 2oz beast – followed by six others over 4lb. My boat partner had a 4lb 11oz perch pb too!
“I was still shaking as we came off the water that day, thinking to myself: “Was it a dream?”
l Wayne’s impressive catch of perch wasn’t the only to be taken from a boat this week either.
Carp angler Joe Atkinson targeted Farmoor Reservoir in Oxfordshire and used a variety of lure tactics to catch no fewer than 27 fish to a best of 4lb 7oz.
Included in the mighty haul were perch of 4lb, 4lb 1oz, 4lb 3oz, 4lb 5oz, 4lb 6oz and 4lb 7oz, plus four over 2lb, 17 over 3lb to 3lb 15oz and six over 4lb.
“I beat my personal best four times throughout the day,” he said. It was the perch session of my dreans!”
The perch were caught on a mixture of tactics, but most of them fell to a drop shotting approach.”
Pair of ‘7s’ tops great chub week
It’s been a great week for chub anglers, with the biggest reported to Angling Times a massive specimen weighing 7lb 12oz.
It fell to keen big-fish hunter Simon Aldred, who decided to try the Great Ouse after arriving at his first-choice venue to find it too high and coloured.
And what a decision it proved to be, as just 20 minutes into the session he found himself doing battle with the big chub.
“My tip tapped, then hooped over with a very positive bite,” Simon said.
Chub often put up a harder fight with the extra flow, but it soon became apparent that this was no small fish.
“On seeing its flank in the water I could tell it was an absolutely colossal fish,” he added.
“Only after she went into the net did I realise just how big she was – like a breeze block!”
Simon’s Ouse chub took a liking to a boilie hookbait presented on a running rig incorporating a 2.5oz lead down to a 15lb Korda N-Trap hooklink and size 8 Drennan Super Specialist hook. This was fished alongside a PVA bag of crushed boilies and pellets.
l Big chub have also been on the feed further south, as Nick Brown discovered with a thickset 7lb 8oz River Lea fish.
Fishing the legendary Kings Weir stretch, Nick settled into a swim with an overhanging tree and a shallow run that he had fancied for a few years, and after a couple of taps on the tip the rod whacked round.
“I turned the torch on and realised that I was connected to a real lump, which tipped the scales round to 7lb 8oz.
“The fish actually coughed up a load of red maggots on the mat, so I had to feel sorry for the angler in the swim before me – he must have been so close to catching it!” he said.
Nick used a 10mm boilie wrapped in Mainline Paste alongside a ‘dynamite stick’ filled with pellets, groundbait and crushed boilies of the same flavour.
33lb 5oz pike... on a fly!
Matt Roberts slipped his net under three specimen pike – topped by 33lb 5oz beauty (right).
The 30-year-old from Surrey opted to fly-fish for the pike on
his favourite Midlands reservoir and attached a minnow-imitation lure to his line in an attempt to ‘match the hatch.’
The ploy soon worked, as he explained: “Using a fast-sink line I presented the fly in 18ft of water among a shoal of baitfish I’d located on the fish-finder.”
“During the day I had three takes which were really subtle – just a sharp tap followed by a solid resistance. I landed pike of 22lb, 29lb 5oz and 33lb 5oz – my new fly-caught best. It was definitely the session of a lifetime.”
Pair of ‘7s’ tops great chub week
It’s been a great week for chub anglers, with the biggest reported to Angling Times a massive specimen weighing 7lb 12oz.
It fell to keen big-fish hunter Simon Aldred, who decided to try the Great Ouse after arriving at his first-choice venue to find it too high and coloured.
And what a decision it proved to be, as just 20 minutes into the session he found himself doing battle with the big chub.
“My tip tapped, then hooped over with a very positive bite,” Simon said.
Chub often put up a harder fight with the extra flow, but it soon became apparent that this was no small fish.
“On seeing its flank in the water I could tell it was an absolutely colossal fish,” he added.
“Only after she went into the net did I realise just how big she was – like a breeze block!”
Simon’s Ouse chub took a liking to a boilie hookbait presented on a running rig incorporating a 2.5oz lead down to a 15lb Korda N-Trap hooklink and size 8 Drennan Super Specialist hook. This was fished alongside a PVA bag of crushed boilies and pellets.
Big chub have also been on the feed further south, as Nick Brown discovered with a thickset 7lb 8oz River Lea fish.
Fishing the legendary Kings Weir stretch, Nick settled into a swim with an overhanging tree and a shallow run that he had fancied for a few years, and after a couple of taps on the tip the rod whacked round.
“I turned the torch on and realised that I was connected to a real lump, which tipped the scales round to 7lb 8oz.
“The fish actually coughed up a load of red maggots on the mat, so I had to feel sorry for the angler in the swim before me – he must have been so close to catching it!” he said.
Nick used a 10mm boilie wrapped in Mainline Paste alongside a ‘dynamite stick’ filled with pellets, groundbait and crushed boilies of the same flavour.
Baiting in a slack pays off with 16lb 2oz river trent barbel
Baiting an area of slack water on the middle River Trent helped Stephen Hall bank this new personal best 16lb 2oz barbel.
The 3FootTwitch-backed angler arrived to his swim at 5:30pm and fed a large helping of hemp and crushed Redemption boilies, before casting out a single Redemption boilie over the top.
He said: “At 8:15pm I had a huge pull on the rod tip. I’d never felt a fish like that before – the strength, power, and stubbornness of this fish was incredible. When I got her in the net I was blown away.”
Monster eel falls to drop shot lure
A predator angler has boated one of the biggest eels ever taken in the UK – during a lure fishing expedition to a Midlands reservoir!
Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, rod James Knights was drifting his boat in search of perch when the 9lb 8oz monster nailed his drop-shotted Zman TRD lure in 27ft of water.
He said: “I’d already had a great day on the perch front, catching numerous fish to just over 4lb, when this giant eel made an appearance.
“The fight was absolutely immense – the fish felt very heavy from the off and I had no idea what I had hooked!
“There were lots of thumping head shakes which made me suspect it was a big perch, and it didn’t strip lots of line from the reel as a big pike would. I truly didn’t know what I’d hooked.”
Halfway through the fight the eel managed to wrap itself around a buoy, which gave James a nervy few minutes as he tried to free it.
“I had to drive the boat around the buoy multiple times, and on three or four occasions the eel swam backwards into the chain to try and break me off,” he added.
“Eventually I managed to drag it free, which is when I finally saw this gigantic eel.
It had taken my lure square in the mouth!
“On the scales it went 9lb 8oz and it was by far the biggest eel I have ever seen – if I’d lost it I would have thought it was a 20lb carp.”
Big fish of all species go on the feed
Specimen anglers have never had it better if recent catch reports are anything to go by – with monster barbel, chub, roach, perch and pike all making an appearance of late.
Here are three catch reports from the past week to get you in the mood for the weekend ahead…
Brett Longthorne | 16lb 6oz barbel
A large slack close to the bank on a rising River Trent provided Brett Longthorne with a new personal best barbel in the form of this sublime 16lb 6oz specimen.
Arriving to his chosen stretch on the tidal river early on a Saturday morning, Brett had been fishing for around two hours when he got the bite.
The big Trent fish fell to a Nutrabaits River Plus boilie presented on a rig made with a 6oz lead to hold bottom.
Alan Rio | 3lb 1oz roach
A drop-back bite saw Alan Rio strike into this stunning 3lb 1oz roach personal best.
The all-rounder baited a spot on an undisclosed gravel pit with a pint of maggots at 60 yards to gain a response.
“I quickly weighed the fish, which registered at 3lb 1oz on my scales – my first-ever 3lb roach!” he said.
Alan used 50g feeders and 4lb Drennan Supplex tied to a Drennan Super Specialist size 18 hook baited with maggots.
Simon Baker | 7lb 4oz chub
A weeked trip in search of a huge chub couldn’t have gone any sweeter for Simon Baker when he slipped the net under a brace of fish for 14lb 6oz.
The larger of the two weighed 7lb 4oz and fell to maggots trotted along a stretch of the River Lea in Hertfordshire.
He said: “I had a fantastic two days of fishing and ended the trip with 15 chub, including the two sevens and a pair of sixes.”
four perch over 4lb in ressie haul!
An Essex reservoir has produced one of the best specimen perch hauls of the season so far.
The remarkable catch, made up of 11 fish over 3lb 2oz to a best of 4lb 4oz, fell to the rod of tattoo artist Charlie Coppolo, who has been fishing the Hanningfield venue since the start of autumn.
The 32-year-old featured in last week’s Angling Times with a pair of 3lb-plus perch, but he was determined to go one better... and returned to slip his net under a 4lb specimen.
He said: “Following on from last week’s big fish I didn’t think it could get much better – but, amazingly, it did!
“We managed to locate a shoal of baitfish with a Deeper Chirp+ fish-finder, and once again the perch were there in numbers.
“Overall I managed to catch 11 stripeys, all of them weighing over 3lb 2oz.
“The haul also included four incredible fish weighing 4lb 1oz, 4lb 2oz, 4lb 3oz and 4lb 4oz.
“I’ve been trying for years to break the 4lb barrier and this time I’ve managed it four times in a day! I guess a five-pounder is my next target.”
Charlie’s fish were boated on a variety of lures, but a Gunki LS Kiddy in ‘Vairon’ colour mounted on to a 15g jig proved to be the most productive.
Lures also proved effective in Lincolnshire rod Ash Costa’s approach when he drop shotted a black Senko worm to bank plump 4lb 9oz specimen (left).
Ash was being plagued by pike during the morning of his trip to a murky drain near Boston, but a switch to a different venue soon put him on the perch.
He said: “A small group of fry had scattered in open water so I cast just beyond them.
“As the lure was falling through the water I had a very hard take, which I knew from the off was from a big perch.
“A short while later this huge fish lay in my net and I was one very happy and relieved man, because the hook came out straight away.
“It was a stunning fish with a huge frame, and my second perch over 4lb this season.
“It just goes to show how good black lures can be in very coloured water.”
Matchman Ricky Young proved that you don’t need big baits to catch huge perch when he tempted this 4lb 2oz specimen on a double red maggot hookbait.
The Cheshunt, Herts angler was fishing a contest on the River Lea at Nazeing when he received a powerful take on his quivertip rod.
He said: “I had cast a small maggot feeder loaded with chopped worm alongside a double maggot hookbait to the far bank, and had a strong bite moments later.
“This fish was huge, and ultimately helped me win the match!”
Four perch to 4lb 6oz banked...
Perch fanatic Joe Royffe continued his impressive form for big stripeys again this week when he banked four specimens for nearly 16lb.
They weighed 4lb 6oz, 4lb 3oz, 3lb 15oz and 3lb 3oz and all fell to livebait tactics fished on his local stretch of the River Lee Navigation.
He said: “I landed the 4lb 6oz perch, but it was while unhooking this one that the other rod sprung into life and I soon had two big perch in the net at the same time, with the smaller one going 3lb 3oz.”
dutch treat with a 50lb 7oz pike
A new potential Dutch record pike has been boated at a colossal 50lb 7oz (23kg).
The fish fell to the rod of Westin Fishing-backed predator enthusiast Siegfried Schön, who was trolling a lure on a large undisclosed water in the Netherlands when he received a powerful take.
After a fight of around five minutes, the pike was netted and measured at an incredible 138cm long.
To see a video of Siegfried battling the pike, visit the Westin-Fishing page on Facebook.
4lb 10oz perch is best of six for 22lb!
An all-round angler has proved that now is the time to target a perch personal best... by banking six stripeys for more than 22lb, topped by this giant weighing in at 4lb 10oz 8dr.
Jim Mathews has been targeting a variety of species over the spring and summer, but with the arrival of October the 35-year-old switched his attentions to perch.
Fishing new waterways on the Hertfordshire/Essex border, it took Jim a few sessions to locate the fish, as he explained: “I find there is often a period of readjustment when switching species and starting at new venues, but once I’d narrowed down the key areas and feeding times things started to come together,” he said.
“Perch started to figure quite regularly and over the last nine days, in six trips, I managed to bank a brace of 3lb 2oz fish followed by others at 3lb 10oz, 4lb 1oz, 4lb 4oz and the big’un at 4lb 10oz 8dr.”
Jim’s last trip further proved the effectiveness of lobworm hookbaits fished over red maggots with the capture of the biggest in the haul, but not before a jittery fight.
“The light was fading fast and I had just returned the 3lb 10oz fish when I received a fast bite on my left-hand rod cast along a margin,” he said.
“I was met with a solid weight but the fish tried to shed the hook in a big snag.
“After 30 seconds I was contemplating going in after it when one of the snag’s branches snapped, the line held firm and the perch came free.
“Soon enough she was in the net, and I was one lucky and relieved angler.”
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.
No better time for a specimen barbel
It’s a superb time to be a barbel angler, and personal bests are being banked from rivers all over the country.
Here are the reports of three 16-pounders from the past week of fishing to inspire you for the weekend’s sport ahead…
Alfie Naylor – 16lb 14oz barbel
Newark rod Alfie Naylor proved the effectiveness of fishing big baits in flooded rivers for barbel when he slipped the net under this 16lb 14oz specimen.
He said: “The River Trent was rising and very coloured-up, and with this in mind I changed my approach and hair-rigged five Nutrabaits River Plus boilies on to a big size 4 curve shank hook, to which I attached a PVA bag of matching boilies.”
It was a new personal best for Alfie, who targeted a middle stretch of the river.
Mike Staines - 15lb 12oz barbel
The famous Kings Weir Fishery has lived up to its reputation for big barbel in the shape of this stunning 15lb 12oz fish, landed by venue regular Mike Staines.
A simple piece of hair-rigged meat proved too much for the specimen to resist, as Mike explained:
“I was fishing in the weir pool using a hair rigged piece of meat on a size 10 hook when I had a bite around mid-afternoon. “It was my first bite of the day, and I’m really pleased with the fish.”
Julian Barnes – 16lb 7oz barbel
Three trips to a flooded tidal River Trent helped Julian Barnes bank numerous double-figure barbel to a 16lb 7oz best. Targeting an area of slack water, he fished two 18mm Madbaits Pandemic boilies with a PVA bag of broken boilies and small pellets.
He said: “I love fishing in flood conditions, and once you find the right areas to present a bait the rewards can be great. During my three trips I caught lots of doubles with numerous to 13lb-plus, along with the 16-pounder.”
