Dean Derbyshire, 21, is enjoying a terrific winter on the Dorset Stour – this 15lb 6oz Barbel his latest specimen! Dean notched another weekly Drennan award in last weeks issue of Angling Times for this excellent photo.

Hardwork and effort was certainly rewarded with this fish, since Dean had gone to the trouble of pre-baiting a stretch of the river with Boilies and Paste prior to this trip. Taking advantage of the recent mild spell and floodwater conditions, a running 5oz Grippa lead was required to hold bottom. In order to counteract the amount of debris coming down in the flow, Dean added a swan shot to his hooklength, plus some Grippa Stops up the line – a clever trick which keeps pieces of detritus from sliding down the line onto the rig.

A CC Moore’s Meteor boilie, hair-rigged to a size 8 Super Specialist Barbel hook, proved the successful hookbait.

Drennan Grippa Stops have all kinds of useful applications and normally retail at 99p a packet.