Huge-framed barbel best of six doubles - Julian Barnes

“I HEADED to the tidal Trent for a 48-hour session, only to discover from other anglers that not much had been caught recently. To gauge the water, I began by fishing a trimmed-down Pandemic boilie alongside a small PVA bag of pellets, and almost straight away I had a 15lb 14oz fish.
“It was tremendously fat and looked as if it had been gorging, so I decided to fish with just PVA bags and no other free offerings, recast every two to three hours, and fish accurately to the same spot every cast.
“Just before dark a 16lb 8oz barbel picked the bait up, followed by a huge-framed fish of 16lb 12oz early the next morning!
“Along with three more doubles to 13lb and four singles it was a magical barbel session I’ll not forget in a hurry!”