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.”

KORDA and GURU go blue to support NHS

CREATING a positive atmosphere online is going to be vital for people’s mental health during this virus pandemic and lockdown.

It is therefore brilliant to see companies big and small doing their bit to cheer anglers up, whilst they can’t get out fishing themselves.

One thing that has proved popular this week is tackle brands Korda and Guru’s changes to their logo. Both have decided to go blue in support of our NHS workers.

Whilst only a subtle change, it is a nice touch, and worthwhile recognition of the work of our frontline services.

A statement from Tackle Guru on social media says:

“POWER TO NHS 💥🚑💙 We’re sending our love and support to all the NHS hero’s fighting against COVID-19... True super hero’s that put their own lives at risk for us 👊🏼❤️ Stay safe everyone, stay at home and save lives 👏🏻”

Both Korda and Guru are putting out a host of video content on their Facebook pages, so be sure to go and check them out!