Despite the Tidal Trent seemingly lifeless, Kevin Charman continued to regularly recast and keep the feed going in and was rewarded with this huge 18lb 8oz barbel.
The Hampshire angler had found the river fining down after recent floods, but he had struggled to buy a bite, despite reports of good fishing from the days before. Regularly and accurately casting with a big bait-up feeder packed with scalded pellets and a few hookbait samples, his rod eventually hooped over.
He lifted into a fish that gave a slow, deep and powerful fight, before the huge barbel surfaced. It beats his previous PB by nearly 3lb and was caught on a 12mm dumbbell wrapped in paste, plus a small PVA bag. This was fished below a 5oz gripper lead, into which he’d also pressed some paste.
Well done Kevin!