Big Brace from collingham

[Phil Hackett The original disability bad speller w]

I find taking it to the nearest butchers after giving the fish a headache gets the best and accurate results. Dry dead weight is always the best for the East Eurofest.. A good butcher should be able to steak it for you for the feast for a couple of quid.

Two fish of that size should give you a fest of biblical proportions

 

[honslow]

I'd strongly advise against using a carrier bag for any fish over 5lb. If you have to then only lift it a few inches off the ground. I've had a carrier bag split before and will now never use one again!

 

[Paul H]

Another case for double bagging!

 

[Phil Hackett The original disability bad speller w]

Taking Greg?s point if you want the very best in carrier bags Ikea do a ?Bag for Life.? Dimensions are 36 inches long 15 deep and 14 wide. Weight 3 oz dry. Made from reinforced plastic with material stranded webbing in it.

The bag costs around a ?1 and has two sets of handles on it. One long for shoulder carrying, the other short for hand carrying.

Now any barbel that can fill that has to be the mother of all barbel!

Also useful for the said fest carry away!

 

[Matt Brown]

Do they come in Realtree or Advantage Timber though?

 

[Warren 'Hatrick' (Wol) Gaunt]

No, Scandinavian Pine.

 

[Phil Hackett The original disability bad speller w]

Alas I?d forgot about the Real Tree obsession??.dam I though only the ***fishers were into that!

Such a bag should please Eddie C as they only come in Everton blue with attractive yellow handles.
Come to think of it they look distinctly like the Swedish national flag!!!

Don?t Prada make good bags? Well that?s what my wife tells me anyway, every time she comes home with bag that?s cost her 200 bloody quid. A bag for life she says! Funny that as she keep buying them?
Anybody tried their carrier bags by the way?

Hope they don?t do real tree as the tackle tarts would get real bitchy about it then!

 

[paul williams 2]

I'm ready to eat humble pie, if there are 2 16lb+ barbs.......once i see the pics!

 

[paul williams 2]

I am going to apologise Paul.....even though they were not the weights you stated........because errors happen and you did witness two very large Barbel.

Sorry mate!

 

[Paul Makings]

Hi Paul,
Apolgy accepted, they did lose some weight though so the lad must have had his scales checked properly, but they was still big fish, we can both sit down and share the humble pie matey, i only reported on what i saw on the night..and did not realsise what the river record etc was.
He said he was going to keep his bait a secret but has made it public, i know what everyones going to be using from now on lol..

 

[lee fletcher 4]

Roll up roll up,

For the greatest show on earth. That?s if one can find a vacant seat in the weir field?

Then again, I popped down for a look-see not that long ago mid week and there wasn't one angler along the whole stretch! Mind you, come Thursday it's starting to look like Blackpool in Glasgow fortnight so get there early to avoid disappointment. Don?t forget those Tel-Star rod launcher contraptions so one looks the part.

What with the warm wet winter forecast, and the sheer amount of bait going in up there, Greg would be wise to get himself plugged in if he wants that "scoop" of a lifetime.

But some might say, the clever clowns are juggling way up stream along the middle river where I think you might find the fish grow a tad larger. (Smiley face winking)

Regards,

Lee.

 

[honslow]

You're right Lee, the conditions should be bang on this w-end. The middle river's full of whackers shocker unveiled in AT? Doubt it. Mouths are tighter than one of my grinners!!!

 

[sash]

Did you not pick up on the 18lb fish from the tidal Greg?

I must admit that I didn't think the 16lb fish looked as big as claimed, but then barbel are often hard to size from photos.

 

[honslow]

Yeah, it's in next week. Again, difficult to judge Sash. Big. But that big? Can only compare it to other photos of big fish. And it's not the best photo to be fair.

 

[Bob Roberts]

Sash, have another look at the fish. No I'll get straight to the point, look at it's tail. Spot the nick in the trailing part of the top lobe?

It's a well known fish and was coming out at 15lb plus two years ago. I've had it, Tim Ridge has had it, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if Uncle Tom Cobbley hadn't had it.

There are nowhere near as many really big fish at Collingham as the number of captures would have those who've never been there are led to believe. This fish is one of the biggest in that part of the river and like her mates comes out more often than the Traveller.

But that's not her fault and it no way dimishes the fact that she's a magnificent creature nor does it make her a mug fish.

I have no reason whatsoever to doubt it didn't weigh 16-odd and would like to congratulate the captor on a fantastic achievement.

 

[sash]

Ah, it's one of the four is it? Must admit, I'd missed that.

Apologies for the doubt and congratulations to the captor.

As I said, it is difficult to judge barbel size from some photos. I had a 12 just the other day that looks huge compared to an 11lb 15oz fish I'd caught a week earlier. The slightly larger was a long, lean fish, the other a shortish stocky fish so typical of the Trent. Must now aim for one of those long and stocky fish........

 

[sash]

Yep, just checked, it is the same fish that Tim Ridge and others have had.

 

[honslow]

There have been a spate of big fish caught in the last few weeks and, to be honest, it's a real nightmare judging the veracity of a fish simply from a photograph, especially if the fish isn't being held particularly well.
Obviously, our credibility as an angling publication is therefore at stake every time we write a catch story. How we deal with weight claims can be the trickiest part of the job. Often you just have to judge whether the fish 'looks' the weight and hope that the captor is being honest with you. Things can be further complicated by dubious weighing procedures which leave the captor convinced in his own mind that he has banked a lump, when the photos reveal they obviously haven't.

 

[Lee Fletcher 1]

Sorry Greg,

But I'm never convinced by the "might have miss read the scales wrong" banana. Reading a set of scales is dead easy. Our hamster can do it and shes blind in one eye. I once laughed my socks off when a 15lb Trent barbel went in the press when I'd caught it two weeks before at 12 lbs 3ozs!! Mind you, I once sent in a shot of a Trent twelve pounder years ago to a certain "publication" stating it was a winter caught fish which it was, caught in early January as I recal. It got sent back with a note saying it clearly wasn't caught in January as there were nettles in the foreground. Blimey! And there as clear as day were the young shoots of nettles covered in a thick hoar frost!!

That was the last time I sent anything up for publication.

Regards,

Lee.

 

[Nigel Connor(ACA ,SAA)]

I've got to agree with Lee.What half competent angler cannot get an reasopnably accurate weight ie with in an ounce or two?Zero the scales, pop the fish in and read the dial.Not rocket science to coin a phrase.