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As one or two folks have commented ,catches of this number of Barbel in the Ouse are unusual . From my own experience 2 barbel in a 3 or 4 hour session is good , 3 and 4 fairly unusual and 6 exceptional . As to why , well one could speculate till the cows come home , they may be still grouped up after spawning , you may have hit on a holding spot that the fish find particularly conducive . When I have caught well the river has either been unusually high or extremely low and fish shoal up in very tight areas , whatever the reason obviously a good swim , be interesting to see if it remains consistent in different conditions / time of year . Regarding size of barbel , in my view a barbel over 7lb is a good Ouse fish , I think it is very heartening that smaller barbel are showing up in good numbers , obviously a healthy stock . I don't know what baits / tactics Geoff is using , from my own observations smaller baits , particularly maggots and casters seem to attract a smaller stamp of fish , but I'm sure others have different experiences . As to catching big barbel, well it all depends on what you define as big , in my view 10lb + barbel are fairly thin on the ground , I think a 9lber as an excellent specimen for the Ouse . Does size matter , of course it does , but the fact that they are coming out in reasonable numbers is the main thing

River conditions , last evening mother Ouse was at NSL with a reasonable pace and a tinge of colour , a warm evening with a high water temp of 62f saw me take my first Ouse eel of the season , must have been 4oz . Barbel were rolling away all around the swim flicking their pectorals at me with disdain completely ignoring my baits , never mind it was a nice evening .