Cancelled holiday leads to giant barbel - Luke Agacy

“I hung my rods up on the Tuesday before the closed season because I was supposed to be in Amsterdam for the weekend with my girlfriend. Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, however, we had to cancel, so with it being the final day of the river season I grabbed the chance to go fishing for a few hours on a Thames tributary.

“When I got there, I cast a glugged fishmeal boilie hair-rigged to a size 8 wide gape hook on a running rig out into the flow and waited. My mate Matt then arrived and set up in the swim just upstream of me. 

“After around an hour his reel screamed off and he landed a nice 12-pounder. We thought that was it, but a couple of hours before midnight my rod arched over and I was into a good fish. 

“After a hard fight, this massive barbel just about went into the net. I could tell it was a good fish, but never expected the scales to settle at 17lb 1oz! A 17-pounder for me and a 12-pounder for Matt made it a special session that neither of us will forget.”