I fished a stretch of the Gt Ouse and not above Bedford,in fact a fair way down,I knew barbel were present in the weir,but I didn't enjoy it,it was very snaggy,I knew there were odduns caught downstream but could I catch em,could I hell,some sessions I got liners(too deep to see them)that I felt were barbel,others I had them and felt sure they were bream(which they were,had them to over 8lbs),one particular swim appealed to me,don't ask me why,but I felt it shallowed from around 9/10ft,shallowed to to around 7ft before immediately dropped back to 9/10ft again,the water was a nice pace,anyway,I fished it 3 or 4 times without anything other than odd bream,then one particular day,just after I retired,I got into the swim,as I set up a barbel head and shouldered just upstream,I threw 8 boiling out,cast in with a small pva bag of pellet and broken boiling,a few liners early then after 25 minutes the rod twitched(3ft of course) and my only barbel from the stretch was on,10lbs 2ozs,about an hour later another barbel rolled,then I had a bream,action over....