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Quick thinking results in rare barbel capture

by Freddie Sandford |

Published on7th January 2026 at 3.49pm

While fishing for chub, Tony Gibson noticed the river conditions were changing, becoming far more favourable for barbel. Wasting no time, he quickly changed stretches and tactics with the hope of contacting one of the illusive barbel he knew it held.

“I've been chub fishing on the Great Ouse this season, but on a recent session in which the river was rising, I had a go for barbel.

“The evening before I’d blanked while chubbing, and was also caught in a downpour, which soaked both me and my kit.

“With the forecast looking less favourable for fishing the next day – bright sun and cloudless skies – I took a chance to get out, thinking I might as well do so to get the kit dried off if nothing else!

“That rain had significantly coloured the river, which was slowly rising. I initially tried for chuband, after first losing a fish, I managed to then land a chub weighing 5lb 9oz.

“Things went quiet after that, and looking at a reed stem marker on the far bank I could see that the river was still coming up, and I felt that the conditions were becoming more favourable for barbel.

“So, I moved to a stretch that I’ve always thought looked like potential barbel territory. Targeting the edge of a crease between the main flow and a nearside slack, on my first cast my end tackle was pushed back under my own bank by the current, so I changed to a heavier lead.

“Fishing a 20mm Dynamite Baits Complex-T boilie alongside a small PVA mesh bag containing a few broken ones, the bait had been out for around 20 minutes when some clouds started to drift over the full moon, dimming its brightness.

“Suddenly, the rod-tip slammed over in a typical barbel bite, and the fish took line as it powered off downstream. Fortunately, that initial run seemed to drain its energy, and the rest of the fight was a slower, determined plod – typical of big barbel.

“When netting it, I could see in the beam of my headtorch that it was a big fish. After leaving it in the net to recover while I assembled the weighing and camera kit, I was delighted to see the scales indicate 17lb exactly.

“With barbel few and far between on the Great Ouse these days, it’s a fish I was very pleased with.”

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Tony with his hard-earned barbel

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