Huge Hampshire Avon barbel leaves it late

“After finishing work at 3pm I headed straight to the Hampshire Avon, hoping to catch another big barbel.

“By the time I arrived I had around half-an-hour of light left, but this gave me just enough time to drop my homemade boilie hookbait and a PVA bag of matching freebies into a deep run.

“Just as I was contemplating packing away, the rod suddenly arched over and line started pouring off the reel spool!

“As soon as I connected with the fish I could tell it was a really good one. It was mint-conditioned, and turned out to be my second barbel over 16lb from this part of the river.”

Simon Daley and his 16lb 9oz Hampshire Avon barbel