Three river barbel records in two hours

TWO HOURS was all specimen angler Nigel Bryans needed to smash the River Nene barbel record not once but three times with a trio of amazing fish totalling 49lb.

Bryans beat the venue’s previous best on his first cast when he landed a specimen weighing 16lb - a mere 1oz above Jamie Cartwright’s record fish caught last month on the east midlands river. He then broke his own record twice over when he followed this up with two monsters each weighing 16lb 8oz to round off an amazing session.

Fishing an unnamed stretch of the river in flooded conditions, the 49-year-old from Peterborough was using nothing more complicated than a hair-rigged luncheon meat hookbait on a running lead, with a size 10 Nash Fang hook and a 15lb Gardner hooklink. He fed no free offerings or loosefeed.

Nigel said: “I have caught a few fish from this section of river in the past so I thought I’d just cast out and give it a go. Within 15 minutes I was playing the first fish, the weight of which shocked me when I put it on the scales, but to then catch two even bigger fish so soon after was simply unbelievable.
I was going to pack up after the first fish as it was getting dark! It was my best session ever, and I’ve hardly slept a wink since, such was the adrenaline.”