Still on the Spanish theme, here’s a picture of me with an Andalucían barbel which I caught from a charming little river down in southern Spain. These are absolutely cracking variations on our own UK barbus barbus.

You probably didn’t know that there are perhaps a dozen different types of barbel in Europe alone. Some of them, like the comizo, are massive. These gorgeous canary-coloured Andalucíans grow to well over twenty pounds, so imagine what one that size looks like!

This one was caught on four grains of sweetcorn on a size 8 hook with just a couple of SSGs as weight. I touch legered and the rod hammered round in my hands. I doubt whether the fish weighs three pounds but it fought like a thirteen pounder, believe me. What a magnificent creation and what magnificent fun in the sun!