Barbel before fifty

I am a fisherman. I have fished since I was a nipper and used to go with my dad  - which I miss. I have caught many fish but never a Barbel. It was my mission to catch one before I was 50 (soon) and recently brought a new rod and reel with a trip to the Derwent near to where I live to take this challenge out of my bucket list.

The weather has been great so on Wednesday I hopped off after work to some beautiful lakes close to Derby for a 'session' they are Carp lakes mainly and I had some good sport with two double figure fish (just) plus a couple of 5-6lb's

This is the middle lake of three - I am fishing about 7 feet deep on the dam.

The fish are in superb condition and very powerful with very thick backs solid bodies.

It so so nice.,warm and peaceful that we fished to twilight and with my last cast of the night fishing on bread in the margins I was gobsmacked to hook a small Barbel. By now I had put away my camera and it was quite dark so I slipped it back with a very big grin on my face.

Not the place I expected to catch my first Barbel and I will still go to the Derwent for a bigger version but nonetheless very satisfying.