The evening was very warm. The barbel were topping, often leaping clear of the water, an awesome sight on the Lower Severn. 
I fed in 4 to 5 pints of hemp through a large feeder as soon as I arrived, constantly casting to the same area for nearly half an hour. I like to bait up this way so I can be sure my bed of hemp is where I want it as the river is a good 10 to12 feet deep even at low summer levels. Being out of reach of a bait dropper, a feeder is the best option for getting a bed of bait down.
Then I left it while I tackled up my session rod, a Shimano Technium Specialist, matched to a Shimano 5010 reel loaded with 8lb Pro-Gold line. The business end was a simple running lead attached via a Solar low resistance ring with Kryston Silkworm hooklength and Drennan Super Specialist size 2 barbless hook.
Baiting with a hair-rigged piece of meat, big enough to deter the eels, I cast to the bed of hemp and waited.
Not too long as it happened. The light was beginning to fade when the tip banged down and I was in to a good barbel. The nice thing about the Lower Severn is there are not too many snags so you can give the fish their heads a bit and not have to bully them too hard initially. 
A few minutes later and the fish was in the net recovering. Having given the barbel a few minutes to recover, the scales put it at exactly 9lb. A quick couple of photo’s and back she went.
Less than 30 minutes later and number two was netted, slightly smaller at 8lb 13 oz. A short gap again and number three was hooked. This fish powered off downstream and I probably gave it a bit too much stick on trying to turn it resulting in a hook pull. Felt like at least another ‘8’. The disappointment at losing that one went quickly when hook up number four came and this time a 7lb 15oz fish came safely to the net.
Four fish hooked, with three landed with a combined weight of 25lb 12 oz in around two and half hours. I thought I was dreaming!
