Competitions
21 September 2025
‘Barbel Whisperer’ Phil wins RiverFest with ton-up haul!
Lincoln golden oldie Phil Foster is known as the ‘barbel whisperer’ by his friends and he certainly lived up to that nickname, winning the 2025 Riverfest crown with a blistering second day performance on the River Trent at Burton Joyce.
Weighing in 102-5-0 of barbel plus a couple of chub, Phil added that to his 3-15-0 from day one on the Ashfield Anglers stretch to finish with 106-4-0, winning him the £12,000 first prize and a title that the 78-year-old former RAF man has been after since the event started.
Second and £7,000 went to Geraint Powell with 85-9-0, 71-0-0 of that caught on day one, with former champion Paul Cannon earning third and £5,000 with 30-12-0.
Despite a low weight on day one from the Ferry Field, Phil drew well on Sunday, pulling peg 58 in the Nelson Field from the bag, just one away from where Geraint won the match on the first day. Casting downstream towards peg 59, Phil landed 13 barbel including an 11lb 11oz specimen plus those chub, one of which weighed close to 6lb for a brilliant day’s fishing.
Blockend feeder tactics were the order of the day, filled with hemp and caster with three casters on the hook fished on a long hooklength in the clear water. A slow start soon picked up and when the fish arrived, Phil was waiting as little as a minute for a bite at times.
“It’s been an incredible day’s fishing – you don’t catch 100lb on a river that often,” he said. “This is an event I’ve fished every year and wanted to win. It’ll take some time to sink in! My only worry in the morning is whether the fish would stay in peg 59 or move upstream a little towards me. As soon as I caught my first couple of fish and those around me weren’t getting any signs, I began to think that this might be my day.”
Each barbel was weighed once it was landed and then released as per club rules, allowing Phil to know his running total. Once he got to 70lb and heard that Geraint was struggling, the winning line loomed large!
For Geraint it was a case of close but no cigar. The Wales international had a great opening day on peg 59 of the Nelson Field, netting 11 barbel on blockend feeder and caster tactics for 71-0-0. Whether he could defend that lead on day two depended on drawing a good peg. Pulling peg 21 on the Ferry Field from the bag wasn’t it. Even so, he managed 14-9-0 to hold onto second comfortably, 12lb of that made up of a big barbel on the feeder.
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