Judging by the amount of catch reports we have received recently it seems as though many Bankside customers are out on the banks and catching in what has to be one of the best times of the year for both carp and barbel. First up is a big barbel off the Loddon and here's what the lucky captor had to say: 

River Loddon Stunner

"Hi Jon,
Attached is a snap of one of the better barbel I've caught with the Team Barbel boilies, caught on Sunday night on the river Loddon. Unfortunately I discovered that my scales had run out of battery but I reckon it was between 10 & 12lb. I had another of 12lb 4oz about two weeks ago from another stretch of the Loddon, again on the Team Barbel boilies.
Your Team Barbel boilies have definitely been my best performing barbel boilie for a long time so good work on those little beauties! I'm off for a week's fishing on the Wye next week so we will see how well received they are up there!
Many thanks and speak soon,
Justin Garrett"

Carp now and an angler who has been steadily getting amongst the big commons throughout 2008 is Alan Smith. After several good seasons on the more pressured lakes around the Oxford and Gloucester region, Alan has been concentrating on running water this year and the 24 and 27lb fish pictured are just a small sample of the action Alan's been finding. A prototype Bankside boilie has been the winning bait, and more details of these will be released shortly.

Alan's 24lb common

Yet another big common to Alan Smith