Chalk steams are famed for their crystal-clear water, but James Champkin made the most of one when flooded and heavily coloured to tempt three huge barbel over two sessions.
On his first trip, he managed fish of 16lb 12oz and 15lb 12oz, but he went one better on his second trip a few days later, landed this 17lb 4oz beast. On that session, things were tougher, with lots of debris coming downstream, making the fishing challenging.
Having worked his way down the stretch, James was cold and losing confidence but decided to try one last swim before going back to the car. Here, a subtle crease had formed in usually unexciting area, and 20 minutes after dropping his hookbait in, his rod buckled with half the tip being wrenched below the surface. A fantastic fight followed, before the extremely long barbel was netted. Double 18mm Source boilies wrapped in matching paste was James’ winning hookbait, fished alongside PVA mesh bags of matching baits.
Well done James!