“KNOWING that most of the rivers near me were in flood and unfishable, I took a walk by the River Kennet on my lunch break to see if I could find any areas where I could hold bottom. “To my surprise, I found a large slack on a part of the river I hadn’t fished before, so I threw in a handful of fishmeal boilies and returned that evening. “I cast to the ‘crease’ and allowed my 2oz inline lead to be pushed into the slack by the pacier water.
“Around an hour later the rod hooped over and I slipped the net under this 15lb 2oz fish.”
“SINCE catching an 18lb 3oz PB barbel from the Trent back in October I’ve been pulling my hair out, waiting to get back there after the floods! Finally, the levels dropped enough for me to arrange my first session of the year there. On the first night I had fish of 11lb 15oz and 12lb 10oz before a screaming take at dawn resulted in this 16lb 1oz fish.
“A few days later I returned and hooked another big barbel. An epic battle followed before a 15lb 10oz fish lay in the net.
“Two big barbel in two trips can’t be bad!”
“GIVEN the flood conditions and mild weather, I didn’t have to think twice before popping down to the River Dove for a few hours’ fishing one afternoon.
“Finding a swim with slack water behind a big tree, just a few feet from the bank, I used a lobworm hookbait. Around 40 minutes later the rod ripped off and I lande
