The River Lea is currently the most in-form barbel river in the country, with numerous fish breaking the 18lb barrier being reported almost weekly. Paul Coopey is the latest angler to bank one of the river's enormous barbel when this fish of 18lb 2oz graced his net while fishing the highly regarded Kings Weir Fishery.
Paul was fishing the river as part of the Christophe Pelhate memorial social fundraiser weekend, and it was a fitting tribute that such a magnificent fish would make its presence known during the event.
"I was due to fish the river for the weekend in memory of Christophe Pelhate, and on arrival, I found the famous weir pegs already taken, so I decided to fish peg 4 on the house bank," Paul told us.
"After having a quick lead around, I found a patch of gravel about four yards out and decided to hand feed three pints of hemp and pelletmix onto it."
"Due to wanting to socialise with the various anglers partaking in the weekend, I decided to leave the spot alone all day in the hope some fish would gain confidence over the bait."
"I made my first cast at 8:30 pm. The rod went in perfectly on the first cast, and I was quietly confident something might happen as the conditions looked great," he added.
"The hookbait of choice was a dumbbell of luncheon meat, presented on a size 8 hook to 12lb main lineand a 10lb fluorocarbon hooklength."
As there wasn't a great deal of debris or weed coming down the river, Paul left his rod untouched, fearing a recast would potentially spook any fish that had become confident in the area he had baited.
"After around 90 minutes of little action, the rod slammed over and I lifted into a dead weight, which at first I thought was weed—until it started moving upstream," he said.
"After a battle of only five minutes, she was ready for the net. Unfortunately, I missed with the first two attempts, but third time lucky, I managed to subdue her."
"She was massive and weighed 18lb 2oz, which beats my previous PB by 4lb. A fish of a lifetime and a night never to be forgotten."
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