I went back to the Kennet last Wednesday and was surprised to find I was the only angler on the whole stretch at Burghfield.

A few barbel have been coming out recently, so I thought that I must be in with a shout.

The swim I chose has produced good fish in the past and if you have one on, you need to hold them, as there is a huge snag just downstream.

I baited up with hemp and caster and left it to work its magic, but alas, there were no barbel at home.

I did tempt a couple of chub, one of which went 5.2.0, which I caught on hair-rigged caster fished with a Drennan oval feeder.