THE RIVER Trent has put down an early marker for the venue most likely to break the barbel record this season after a true summer heavyweight was banked by a visiting angler.
In recent years the Midlands waterway has produced its biggest specimens in the winter, ahead of the fish spawning in spring, so if the 20lb beast landed just last week by Ken Hunt is anything to go by, the British best for the species could finally be beaten during the current river campaign.
The 56-year-old plumber from Tyne and Wear tempted his massive new pb from the Gunthorpe Weir stretch during a two-day session with his mate Carl. He chose to ‘roll’ large chunks of luncheon meat, and had already netted several other smaller barbel before he latched into the 20-pounder.
“I was freelining with 15lb line through to a size 6 hook, with just a couple of split shot to help keep the bait down, trundling along the bottom. When I got the bite and struck, it went absolutely solid, and I could tell instantly it was a really big fish by the way it just held station and bored its way along the bottom,” he said.
“Trying to get it across the strong flow took some effort, as I had to play it quite strongly because of the snags in the stretch, but we had it in the net within five minutes,” added Ken, whose old pb stood at 15lb 4oz.
