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Nick,

They are there to be caught, I have been out this evening and between 5pm and 10.15 pm I had seven barbel and a couple of chub, the best barbel weighed a shade under 9 1/2 pounds.

I was fishing a few miles downstream of where you had your double and tonight I was using a paste wrapped boilie on a 75cm hooklength and a size 8 Drennan super specialist hook.
I used a free running cage feeder which I stole off Scuba Steve a few weeks ago and the groundbait was a mixture of ground down pellets and brown crumb, (70:30), I dampen it just enough to make it bind and sometimes if I remember I mix a tin of sardines in sunflower oil in with it I also like to add garlic powder, often a couple of heaped tablespoons to about a kilo of dry mix, I buy this cheap and in bulk at the local Indian shop but if you offer to go food shopping with your mum to tesco you will find they sell big bags of it for a couple of pounds with the big tins of oil and the bags of chapati flour.
We eat allot of tinned tuna in brine in our house and rather than tip the juice down the sink I keep it in a bottle in the freezer and use that to mix my groundbait.

I sometimes add a few bits of bait to my groundbait mix or use the so called time bomb method but tonight I didn't bother as it's a strange time of the year and a feeder full of bait can kill a swim stone dead. I was also fishing a popular swim and there was evidence that it had been fished recently so there is no telling what bait had gone in, I work on the old adage that you can always put bait in but you can't take it out.

I don't usually post this sort of stuff on here but I am the regional organiser for the barbel society in Shropshire and hold meeting a couple of times a year where we have a guest speaker from the barbel angling world, as a junior you can get in free but you will need to bring an adult with you, (if it is a non fishing adult they can come in free as well), we also have junior fish-in's/ tuition days which anyone can attend but again you need to bring an adult, all the tutors are crb checked and the organisation is brilliant, there is one next weekend on the river Trent but it's a bit late to book that now and there are no more until next season, we do have one on the Severn below Bridgnorth, (usually in August), If you fancy it and need to know a bit more send me a pm or give me a call, my number is on the b/s site and I will call you back to save your credit.

Apologies for all the edits but it's late and It didn't read very well the first few drafts.