Since the clock ticked past midnight into June 16th, my thoughts have been absolutely bombarded with barbel. With a recent history of rare catches along my local stretches of the Warwickshire Avon, this has only inflamed the obsession. June 16th was not just the start of the season for me this year, it also marked nearly a year without landing a barbel, which in my book is plain unacceptable! So, the 2026 Spring campaign began, with regular Wednesday trips to various stretches of the Avon planned after work.

SESSION 1:

A beautiful and quiet spot off the beaten track with the river running (as you would expect) a little low and clear. Landed a rare and random lone 6lb 8oz bronze river bream which beat my Avon PB! As late evening developed, entering the primary ‘catch zone’, the farmer showed up and turned a VERY NOISY generator on next to me to pump water from the river to spray his fields a mile away. Peace and concentration gone – no more bites.

SESSION 2:

35 degrees Celsius. Sun RIGHT in my face. Kayak club painfully close and occasionally plinking my line. A 6oz roach lasooed itself on a double 12mm hali pellet which saved the blank, but no sign of anything close to a barbel on this occasion.

SESSION 3:

Another scorching day. Folk swimming in the river. Rock thrown into the river near where I was fishing by shirtless yobbo. First retrieval lost all my end tackle on what seemed to be a hidden underwater blade. Lots and lots of knocks but fishing slightly upstream which just didn’t butter any parsnips when trying to keep a tight line with any prospective fish!

SESSION 4:

Same spot as last this week after lots of little nibbles on that previous visit. FINALLY connected with a fish, which was a chub of around 3lb. Saved the blank again, but not really what I was after. 4 teens swimming on the next swim with rock throwing contest lasting at least an hour.

SESSION 5:

Perfect new swim. Mixed some meat-flavoured groundbait, laced with 4mm hali pellet and threw a few loose balls in. 2oz gripper lead placed in the current, just holding nicely with a lovely rounded-off piece of meat as the hookbait. 20 minutes in at 6:30pm… WHAM!!! Barbel on… Barbel lunges… Barbel now in submerged tree… What to do?!? The only thing to do in this situation was let the line go slack and pray. 30 seconds later and the line started moving away from the tree… I tightened up and the barb was still on and now out of danger! Two minutes later we have finally broken that year-long wait for old whiskers to reappear. Weight: 11lb 6oz. Outcome: New PB. Celebration: Embarrassing 1990’s style solo dance moves.