Whilst there have been plenty of small barbel reported this season, remarkably few heavyweights have hit the bank, but that changed this week when John Alexander caught this 17lb’er from a southern river.
After a couple of weeks of hot, dry conditions, John saw there was due to be a change in the weather and decided to target an area of the river he knows to hold some good fish.
"The weather was particularly bad on the Friday of the capture, with hard wind and rain, usually indicating prime conditions," John told us.
"Earlier in the session I fished another swim, because someone else was fishing the area I knew they would be."
"After an hour or so I ventured back to the swim to luckily find it vacant! I had one rod upstream on a 4oz gripper and 2ft Xline hooklength, and a second rod downstream with similar arrangement 5ft out from the bank."
John opted to use Sticky Krill boilies fished alongside a PVA bag filled with pellets and broken boilies, attached to a size 10 Drennan Barbel hook. He also utilised small backlead to keep everything pinned down.
"I proceeded to catch a couple of chub around 5lb on double small pellet and pellet mesh bags. Bites slowed up, it was getting a bit colder, and I started to think about heading home, but decided to stay on until 11pm," he said.
"The left rod rattled, and initially I don't think the barbel realised it was hooked, but seconds later it roared off to the far bank and a long a weed bed."
"I just maintained steady pressure and held it in the main flow for a bit."
"The fish found some strands of weed to get tangled up in, but I was able to keep pressure above it to keep control."
"Once out of the flow I netted quite easily, a new personal best, by 1lb from a different 16 fish I had 2 years ago," John concluded.
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