If you are after catching a big barbel, there aren't many better places to visit than the River Trent as the ability of this waterway in recent years for producing monster fish is nothing short of remarkable. However, barbel don't populate the entire length and as with any stretch of river, there are more prolific areas to target if you want to be successful.
Bobs island in the Newark area is one such fishery that has made many anglers dreams come true in the last few seasons, throwing up more than its fair share of big doubles to those that visit.
Nevertheless, just because it holds a good head of barbel by no means makes it easy, and due to the angling pressure, it can almost feel devoid of fish at times. However, if you persevere and fish well, you too can land of its treasures, just as Matthew Green did on his first trip to the fishery, when he banked this beast at 17lb 12oz.
HERE IS AN EXCELLENT GUIDE TO FISHING FOR BARBEL ON THE RIVER TRENT.
"I arrived with the hope of fishing the famous point swim on the island, but unfortunately that was already taken. After a good walk around, I decided to fish the swim before the Barrel Swim just after the bend as it looked the most promising," Matthew told us.
"This particular swim had a set of trees on the opposite bank, with a nice crease forming about four foot off the branches. I just felt that was where any barbel would potentially be sitting, so I fished as tight as I could get to it," he added.
Matthew opted for simple feeder fishing tactics, deploying a 5oz Korum cage feeder filled with Dynamite Big River Meat-Furter groundbait and pellets. Below this, he tied around 4ft of Korum 10lb Smoke Screen as a hooklength, with a Korum size 10 Grappler hook and a matching Meat-Furter hookbait attached on a hair rig.
"I didn't want to cast the big feeder too regularly, so I decided to catapult a pouch of pellets into the swim every ten minutes or so to keep some bait going in," Matthew explained.
"A few hours passed and after a couple of liners, I got a savage bite which saw me connected to a really powerful fish that was using the flow to its advantage."
"It took a good 15 minutes to come in after powering around in the current like a torpedo, but once it had tired it self out, I netted it nice and easy. The 2.25lb Korum Omega rods played the fish beautifully."
"I allowed her time to rest in the net for a good 10 minutes, which gave me chance to get all my weighing equipment ready. When I put her on the scales, I was blown away when I saw the needle swing round to 17lb 12oz. It was the fish of a lifetime, in superb condition too. I will definitely be heading back to Bobs Island in the future," Matthew said.
IF YOU ARE YET TO CATCH A BARBEL, CHECK OUT OUR TACKLE AND TIPS GUIDE TO HELP YOU.
