It's fair to say it's been a slow start to the season on the big barbel front, but after a welcome bit of rainfall a few fish, such as this 16lb 2oz Thames cracker, have slipped up.
FANCY CATCHING A BIG BARBEL YOURSELF? HERE'S WHERE YOU CAN DO IT.
This year's Drennan Cup runner-up and former winner Alan Stagg tempted the thickset specimen using a 15mm Krinella boilie cast to the river's main boating channel over around 50 boilies.
Alan was fishing the same stretch that produced some big fish for him late last season, but this specific barbel was one that had eluded him.
That all changed on his first session of the summer, and he beat it using a 15lb Mirage Platinum fluorocarbon hooklink from Gardner, and a size 8 hook from the same company, below a 2oz inline lead set-up.
LEARN HOW TO START BARBEL FISHING IN THIS TACKLE AND TIPS GUIDE.
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