Pensioner Mike Holcombe has banked one of the biggest barbel ever reported from the River Severn in the shape of this 17lb 2oz whopper.
The 83-year-old was fishing the famous waterway’s lower reaches with his son Alan when he tempted the impressive fish using a boilie hookbait.
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It falls just a couple of ounces short of the current unofficial Severn record – the 17lb 4oz fish caught by Andrew Hadfield two years ago.
The father and son duo enjoyed a memorable trip, during which Mike also landed a fish of 12lb 9oz, while Alan chipped in with a hat-trick of doubles to 13lb 13oz.
“We were on our annual fishing holiday, spending a week on the river,” Alan told us.
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“My father had a slow start to the week, before having the incredible brace on the final day. He’s caught some amazing fish in his time, including perch and crucians over 4lb as well as 3lb grayling, but he describes the seventeen-pounder as his ‘fish of a lifetime’. It came on the last cast of the trip, too!”
The pair were fishing on a falling river in a swim they’d baited heavily with hemp, pellets and boilies, using a bait dropper. Simple running rigs with 4ft hooklinks and size 10 hooks did the business.
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