Double figure Trent barbel brace

IT’S NOT often that big fish can be compared to London buses….but that was certainly the case for Richard Isaac, who broke his barbel personal best twice in one afternoon last week after years of trying to do so.

The 50-year-old sales manager completed the remarkable feat during a floodwater session on a stretch of the River Trent at Dunham Bridge, with the biggest of his brace pulling the scales round to 15lb 8oz.

His other heavyweight specimen weighed in at 13lb 2oz, and both fish comfortably beat his previous best for the species which stood at 11lb 2oz.

Richard, from Boston in Lincolnshire, told Angling Times: “The river was well up following recent rains, pushing through with a nice tinge of colour - it just felt right for a bite. That said, my day didn’t exactly start well, with the first two fish I connected with shedding the hooks in a snag – of which there are many in the Trent. I then landed a reasonable fish of about 7lb, before the ‘big girls’ made an appearance.”

“I would have been more than happy just to have upped my personal best, so to smash it twice was a dream come true. It has taken me four years and hundreds of hours on the bank to beat it – all I can say is that the gods must have been looking down on me!” he added.

A hair-rigged 10mm Korum S Pellet proved the winning hookbait for Richard, who fished this in conjunction with a 5oz open-ended Fiskys Feeder filled with pellets and plugged at either end with groundbait soaked in Bait Tech Corn Steep Liquor liquid and softened halibut pellet.

At the business end he used 12lb Fox mainline and a size 10 Pallatrax Stonze hook attached to a 6ft hooklink made from 15lb Drennan Double Strength mono.