Drennan’s Ryan Hayden made the most of the rain this weekend and landed this stunning 10lb 7oz barbel on a short morning session.

With the river being low and clear for many weeks, Ryan made the most of the rain on Saturday and arrived at the river just after dawn the following morning knowing the river would have a tinge of colour.

“I opted for a mobile approach, baiting a handful of swims and leaving them to rest before fishing each of them in turn for 30-minutes. The river looked great, but until my last swim, I had only had indications from small chub and roach.

“On the final swim of the day all came good, less than a minute after carefully lowering the rig into position on a deep gravel run the rod tip began to twitch, followed by the rod arching over and the clutch bursting into life. The fish was very long and made several long runs before making it into the net.”

Ryan used a 1.75 Martin Bowler Specialist Barbel rod, 9-40 Specimen BR Reel loaded with 15lb ESP Syncro XT Loaded and a simple combi-rig made up of 15lb Micro Braid and Super Specialist Barbel hook baited with a single boilie.