THE tidal Trent is surely Britain’s current No.1 barbel venue - and here's more proof of its pedigree.
The tidal Trent is where Charles Snowden has had a fantastic season to land 56 doubles, plus countless others. His run was topped by a 14 lb 8 oz sample on his latest outing.
This was part of a huge weekend haul of big barbel with eight doubles in all, six over 12 lb and an estimated 150 lb of bream.
All were caught on 12 mm glugged pet shop bought low-oil pellets in conjunction with a 5 oz feeder.
The self-employed 53-year-old from Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, explained: “I used to regularly barbel fish 20 years ago and would often have bags between 100 to 150 lb but then had a very long break mainly due to work commitments.
“I’ve returned to it recently but struggled at first before I got my tactics right including fishing much heavier.
“Lots of people fish the tidal river and struggle thinking they can just bung out a load of bait and the fish will come, but I seem to have cracked it.
“I’ve found its best to fish very long hooklinks with the bait up to 7 feet from the feeder and to concentrate on fishing at night.
“The water has been very clear and the fish seem to be spooked by the feeder itself but take confidently if the hookbait is further away,” he advised.
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