One of my favourite rivers is a Great Ouse tributary in Bedfordshire and has big fish of every species. On this particular river it is near impossible to get a good swim at the back end of the season as everyone wants to be there for the late Winter feed they seem to go on every season! Me and my fishing buddy Mick got to the river just before late afternoon to find it rammed! We thought about trying another section but this was where monsters lurked!
We managed to squeeze in on this tiny stretch of river. I baited my hair rig with a big piece of luncheon meat and dropped it in close to my feet in a couple of feet of slack water. I reasoned that any natural food would build up here because of the slack water. I had action from the off but was a species I was not expecting. A like if about 10lbs was unhooked and slipped back! I recast and again i was soon into a fish. This time a chub if about 3lbs was in the net. Small for this river as it was the 1st Chub under 5lb I had caught.
Well maybe 30 minutes later my 1lb 1/4 test curve rod bent double! I grabbed the rod and held on for dear life! The fish went on powerful but thankfully short runs. About 10 minutes later the fish was in the net. It was just past dusk and I was happy to reel in and call it a day as I had something special in the net. It is probably my greatest catch to date? A huge 17lb 6oz Barbel. A MONSTER and I doubt I will catch a better fish in my life?!
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