COVENTRY’S Andy Hart has taken the biggest barbel ever taken on the Warwickshire Avon on the shape of a 16lb brute.

Fishing below Stratford, Andy (31) revealed had been baiting an area heavily for five weeks before putting in some serious time on it.

Andy, pictured with his new Warks Avon barbel record, baited for nearly five weeks
before fishing the stretch.

“I must have put in around 60kg of bait over the five weeks, baiting twice a week and resting it,” said Andy, who banked 60 carp from the Myton stretch of the river last winter.

“I only started to fish towards the end of the period. On the first session I landed a 10-pounder in the day and then hooked and lost a bigger fish that snapped the mono like cotton. That was my queue to switch to 20lb Ron Thompson braid mainline.”

The fish, which took a KA Baits Belchan boilie fished over KA Baits pellets, took 15 minutes to land and beats his personal best by 2lb 8oz. That fish was pictured in Midland Angler at this time last year. He beat it using a Daiwa Emblem rod, 25lb Mantis hooklength in conjunction with ESP leadcore and a size 6 D7 Raptor hook.

“I really feel that pre-baiting is key at this time of year,” added Andy, who also took three carp to 20lb 4oz in the same 48-hour session, lost another double figure barbel and landed two more of 8lb 8oz and 4lb.

For the full story see December’s Midland Angler