"This Could Have Been A Record Barbel..."

Carp anglers often encounter other species on their travels, but OMC's Mitch Koster never expected to hook this enormous potential record barbel on his latest session. 

Fishing for carp on a river in the Netherlands, where unlike the UK, there is no blanket closed season for rivers, Mitch was totally surprised when he spotted the giant fish attached to his line from the high wall he was fishing. 

"It looked huge from above and even bigger in the net," he said. 

"From the fight, I thought it was possibly a catfish due to the heavy strikes on the line and lots of power - I didn't expect barbel."

Records in the Netherlands are usually recorded by length. Unfortunately, with no tape measure with him and in a rush to return the spectacular barbel, which are in fact subject to a species-specific closed season in the Netherlands (between April and May), Mitch did not get a chance to record this. He estimated the fish, however, to be somewhere between 85-90cm in length. 

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"I was totally shocked at the size of this beast - it looked a right tank - possibly a Dutch record!" Mitch told us. 

The epic fish was landed on a Slip-D Rig tied with OMC Blend Coated Braid and a size 4 Colne-V Needle Point Hook. This was fished alongside a paste wrapped lead, and a big homemade boilie. All cast into the powerful flow with 3.75lb TC OMC Black Pearl Rods. 

Record or not, this is certainly one of the biggest barbel in the Netherlands, a true monster and one unbelievable fish! Don't you just love fishing?!

Journalist Chris Haydon joined the OMC Family in the spring of 2024, after six years working for the UK's number 1 fishing publication, the Angling Times. He is a keen Coarse and Carp Fishing All-rounder, fishing in the South West region, including the famous Cotswold Water Park.