It's safe to say that the 2025/26 season was one peppered with highs and lows.
A dry summer followed by seemingly incessant winter floods made things tricky for Britain’s big-fish anglers, and there were five blank weeks in this year’s Drennan Cup when no awards were given – the most we’ve seen since lockdown.
All that said, we still witnessed some spectacular catches. The spring was brilliant for tench anglers, and as predator season began on the reservoirs, perch over 5lb were regularly reported. Barbel anglers capitalised on the frequent floods, and the British Record fell twice, while numerous other river records tumbled.
So, while it has been a challenging campaign for many, the fish that were caught continue to highlight the golden age of specimen angling that we are living through, and this week, voting begins to find the 2025/26 Drennan Cup champ.
Here, we highlight the anglers who picked up the most weekly awards over the campaign. Who do you think deserves the title?
Simon Daley - 5 Awards
Storming ahead this season with an impressive five weekly awards is two-time Drennan Cup champion, Simon Daley.
The Hampshire angler has enjoyed a great campaign, with his first award coming in June for a stunning 12lb 1oz tench, which he braced alongside another fish of 10lb 10oz. Hair-rigged worm segments accounted for both.
As the rivers opened, Simon turned his attentions to barbel, setting himself the challenge of catching truly big fish from three rivers. He achieved his target in fine style, landing fish weighing over 16lb from not three, but four separate venues!
He kicked off on the Lea with a 17lb 9oz specimen, and then a few months later landed a huge 18lb 11oz Hampshire Avon fish. The River Itchen was the scene of Simon’s next result, where he managed a fish of 16lb 9oz, before finishing the season with a 16lb 1oz cracker from a flooded Dorset Stour!
Julian Barnes - 3 Awards
In a prolific spell of angling between late June and September, Julian Barnes picked up three weekly awards.
His first came for a tench of 10lb 14oz from a Bedfordshire stillwater and fell to Method feeder tactics, with a double fake caster hookbait doing the trick.
His next two awards were given for barbel, and both came within a two-week period. Fishing the River Lea, Julian capitalised on the arrival of strong winds and rain, first with a 17lb 15oz specimen, which he caught alongside another of 16lb 7oz.
Julian returned shortly afterwards and this time went one better with a superb 19lb 8oz fish, backed up by another heavyweight of 17lb 10oz in the same session.
Dan Bouskila - 3 Awards
Daniel Bouskila has been in great form over the past few seasons, and in this campaign, he arguably had his best year yet.
His first award came for a grayling of 3lb 5oz, caught from a chalk stream. The species is one he’s had exceptional results with lately, and this fish fell to nymphing tactics and put up a memorable fight after being hooked in a far-bank run.
Daniel’s next award came for a truly big dace of 1lb 1oz, a fish that was part of a spectacular catch in which he landed numerous others between 10oz and 15oz.
In the winter, Daniel headed to the rivers of Scotland, again with grayling in his sights. Although it was his first time fishing in the region, he made no mistake with a big fish of 3lb 1oz. Yet again, nymphing tactics were successful.
Barbel records tumbled
This season, the British barbel record has been broken twice, with two anglers catching the same giant fish from the River Lea.
First to slip the net under it was Simon Baker, who had it at a ratified weight of 22lb 1oz from the stretch at Kings Weir in autumn. As the river was running low and clear at the time, Simon opted for maggot feeder tactics in the turbulent weir pool.
A few months later on the stretch downstream at Fishers Green, Nathan Buckingham encountered the same fish, but this time it had packed on extra weight and tipped the needle round to 23lb exactly. Amazingly, he returned to the same stretch a few weeks later and landed yet another massive barbel, weighing in at 20lb 1oz!
A single hookbait comprising a small piece of luncheon meat produced on both occasions.
How to vote
All winners of a weekly Drennan Cup prize over the last five seasons are invited to vote in this year’s contest. Please submit your top four choices, in order, to freddie.sandford@bauermedia.co.uk or by calling 07707 286660. Voting closes on April 21, and the result will be revealed soon afterwards.
You can head over to the Drennan website to see all the winners of weekly awards this year!
