It was landed by Dave Thornley, a man that doesn’t do much barbel fishing as he spends the little time he gets on the bank targeting pike and carp. But after having a chat with his mate Jerry Gleeson, one of the country’s best barbel anglers, the pair arranged a trip to the in-form venue. Before starting, Jerry told Dave that there was a really big fish in the stretch, but Dave admitted he’d have been delighted with a ‘double’.

With the river powering through, Dave targeted a slack area by an overhanging tree just a rod length out, where he fed a mixture of small pellets and fished a 14mm halibut pellet over the top. After landing a chub just under 6lb, he was pleased enough, but when his rod roared off at 5:30am the following morning, he connected with a much more powerful fish that surged into midriver. However, a bit of weed ended up over its head, and the fish came in with ease. Having landed what was clearly a big barbel, he went to get Jerry, who was left in awe by the size of the fish.
At the time of writing, the fish was being processed by the Barbel Society as an official record for the venue. It’s expected to be accepted.

Well done Dave!