Roll me a fat one

Another summers day spent chasing Barbel on the Warwickshire Avon. Today was a real red letter day as I landed eight Barbel and a solitary Chub. The first two fish were around the 5/6lb mark and were not put through the weighing and photo rigmarole. Next one along weighed 8lb 6oz.

The rolling meat was doing the trick again but it had to be in exactly the right spot each time to get a bite, a foot away from the shade of the willow and it was left untouched. Four more fish followed including a couple of 'sevens' and then I hooked something that snagged me up before I could get a grip on it. I released the line to see if it would swim out. It didn't. I could still feel it wagging so tried putting some steady pressure on it, suddenly I felt it kick and we were back in. I could see the fish battling in the shallow crystal clear water quite a distance away and she looked decent which did nothing for my heart rate. It seemed to take forever to get the fish into the net but it was probably only a few minutes and I knew that I had nailed my biggest of the season so far. I let her have a rest in the net while I had a breather myself and then did the weigh in and photos. 

10lb 14oz of pristine Avon Barbel. A super way to round off my best ever Barbel session-so far!