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Night-time bites seal Lee Martin’s Barbel Masters victory on the River Trent
Lee Martin overcame difficult low-water conditions and high pressure on the River Trent to win the 2026 Barbel Masters final. Using a match-style baiting approach and capitalising on night-time feeding spells, he landed 68lb of barbel to secure the prestigious title and £5,000 first prize.
@UK Barbel Masters
by Angling Times |
Published on28th October 2026 at 12.00pm
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Finalists in the 2026 Barbel Masters were faced with a ‘perfect storm’ of bad conditions, but that didn’t diminish their spirits, with good catches being enjoyed by many.
Held on the River Trent at A1 pits, 50 anglers who had come through three qualifiers battled it out in bright sunshine and high air pressure, with cold nights and low water levels to boot.
At the end of the 48hr match, Lee Martin’s 68lb haul finished clear of Tom ‘Sniz’ Roberts’ 51lb 5oz in second, earning him the £5k cash first prize, thousands of pounds worth of kit and the trophy.
“Despite the weather there were some nice fish caught, with the largest being a 13lb 4oz specimen landed by Daniel Worrall,” said Dan Clarke, who ran the final.
Proud winner Lee with event organiser Dan Clarke © UK Barbel Masters
“The lads all enjoyed it, and the feedback was really positive. We could run the event later in the year, when the fishing may be more consistent, but we’d then lose the social side of it, which is a huge element.”
Lee took a leaf out of the matchangling book to claim victory from fancied Peg 1, the ‘sunken barge’ swim.
“It’s a fast, shallow and quite narrow swim, and during the day I used a stopwatch and cast a small feeder filled with hemp and casters every two to five minutes to build the peg,” he told us. “I didn’t catch during the day, but as night set in, I added more pellets to the mix and fished an 8mm pellet hookbait on my upstream rod and a 15mm dumbbell and PVA bag on my downstream one.”
Bites came in bursts throughout the night for Lee, who had to work hard for each of his fish.
“I was dead on my feet by the end, but I’m buzzing to have won,” he added. “It was my first time entering, and I scraped through the qualifier with one fish. I think I’ll take the missus on holiday with the prize money, then buy a bit more tackle!”
Junior sales boost rod licence figures
The two-rod adult licence is a key area of focus for the EA © Angling Times
The Environment Agency (EA) has revealed that although overall rod licence sales are up year-on-year, there has been a concerning fall in the number of adult permits.
Figures for September 2026 showed 779,036 licences have been sold – 2,000 more than at the same point in 2025. Encouragingly, this was boosted by a continued rise in junior licence sales, as well as increases in the number of senior and disabled licences sold.
However, total income from licences for the same period is down by £335,500, due primarily to a decline of over ten per-cent in purchases of the key adult licences.
“What we have seen is the power of external factors on sales – the blisteringly hot summer and World Cup will have proven major reasons for some not to pick up a rod and buy a licence this summer,” said Tom Sherwood, EA Senior Advisor.
“The vast majority of our deficit income comes from the decline in sales of our main rod licence product, the adult annual coarse and trout two-rod licence.
“The decline in the two-rod licence is one of our biggest concerns. Reducing our customer churn rate to realise growth in this sector is where much of our focus in communications and marketing now lies.”
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