London Barbel

The smaller London rivers are producing some big barbel...

Wey and Lea Barbel captures

Carl Welch recently bought a Cemex ticket for the small River Wey in Addlestone. 

Carl reports:

"I was going for the chub in the river so I baited with hemp, prawns, tares and some other baits, targeting a swim just 3ft deep. I fished a boilie from Heathrow Bait Services over the top of the hemp, prawns and tares. I cast on a small bit of gravel when a barbel came out and steamed off with the bait. This was a hard fighting fish and I had a great battle. 

I never knew that the barbel grew so big here, so it was a surprise when the fish spun the scales round to 11lb 4oz. 

The line I was using was X-Line weighted with 3 AAA shots. I also used Korda IQ fluorocarbon hook link in the gin clear water. The hook was a Korda size 6 and I used a bait-dropper to get the bait down and I kept on moving until I found the fish. I have also seen some nice chub at about 6lb, and some carp about 12 pound'ish. I will be going down there all winter to try and get some chub this year."

Meanwhile the river Lea at Fishers Green produced some  even bigger specimen barbel

Adam Seary had a short evening session on Wednesday 21st October 2009 which resulted in a stunning three-fish catch. 

Adam told us he had: 

"A barbel of 14lb 4oz being the 1st fish, then a 14lb 12oz, followed by a 9lb 8oz in a four-hour session. I broke my PB twice, firstly with the 14oz 4lb fish then again with the 14lb 12oz fish. All three fish fought like demons and were all in good condition. 

All three fish were caught on a Greys specimen 1.5 TC rod, Shimano 5000GTE reel, 10lb Big Game clear mono, coated braid hook link, size 11 Drennan Barbel hook and a home made boilie. A session I wont forget in a hurry! That takes my tally to 16 doubles now in 4 seasons. Roll on the 15-pounder!"

Both Fishers Green and the Wey are Cemexangling venues.

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