“River record and the fish of Blu’s lifetime”
This huge 17lb 14oz barbel from the Warwickshire Avon has well and truly blown the river record out the water. It was landed by Birmingham angler, Blu Bradley, who found the river slowly running off after recent floods.
The weather was mild, and conditions looked ideal for a barbel or two. Fishing a feeder filled with cheesy garlic groundbait and a large cylindrical piece of meat hair rigged on a size 8 wide gape, he was quickly into fish. First, he landed a 12lb 2oz barbel which he was delighted with, but after a quiet few hours he decided on a move.
In the new swim, he filled the feeder with meat and had a decent chub before his rod tip was hammered over by something more substantial. Blu knew culprit was clearly a barbel, with the fish running downstream before stubbornly coming back up. When he finally had it in the net, he sat in shock whilst letting the fish recover. At 17lb 14oz it smashes the current 16lb 4oz record for the river and is the fish of Blu’s lifetime. It was weighed on two separate sets of scales. He added another barbel of 10lb 4oz before packing up that rounded off what he describes as a session that ‘couldn’t get any better.’
Well done Blu!