Whilst the north of England isn’t famed in specimen angling circles for big barbel, the rivers of Yorkshire have produced some phenomenal fish in recent seasons, with this 15lb 7oz barbel one of the largest ever caught in the county.
It was landed by Site Manager, Chris Carlyle from a small waterway that’s known to hold a few very good barbel. He’d spent a bit of time there this season and has been baiting a swim downstream. On his fifth visit, conditions were perfect, with water levels rising slightly combined with mild temperatures, leaving Chris confident of a bite. When his rod wrapped round, he had to hold the powerful fish hard from the snags, but his 15lb line and rod did the trick, a Sticky Krill dumbbell boilie wrapped in matching paste was the winning hookbait, fished over crumbed free offerings and ellipse pellets.
Well done Chris!