GARSINGTON angler Neil Turner banked a smashing brace of double-figure barbel from his local stretch of the Thames.

The two big fish, which weighed 13.0.0 and 11.13.0, fell to legered meat over a bed of hemp.

The biggest is a new personal best.

THE Thame barbel record has been smashed by Coventry's big-fish expert Phil Smith at Dorchester.

The barbel weighed in at 12.3.0 and took a Dynamite monster crab boilie fished with a PVA bag full of pellets.

The rig was placed by a near-bank bed of rushes and he had to wait half an hour before the rod tip went round.

It was his second double from the Thame, the previous one weighing 10.10.0.

Smith has set himself the target of catching a double from ten different rivers this season, and has already caught eight doubles, five of them over 12lb.

SPENDING 48 hours on Linear Fisheries' Oxlease Lake at Stanton Harcourt, Preston carper Billy Deakin fished a swim 60 yards out and landed three twenties and a huge common carp weighing 31.0.0.

All of our big fish waters - Linear, Linch Hill and Orchid - are all producing a lot of fish at the moment, but as the year moves on, sport will start to slow up.

My advice would be to pick your time when to go on these waters and contact the fisheries beforehand to find out how they are fishing.