Is this the best Trent barbel haul of all time?

Schoolboy has achieved what many seasoned specimen anglers can only dream of – hauling in an incredible 19 double-figure barbel in a single session.

The remarkable catch, which totalled over 200lb, was made by eight year-old Rio Kassim, who was fishing the prolific Collingham Weir day-ticket stretch of the River Trent in Nottinghamshire.

Accompanied by his dad, Leon, and two friends, the youngster bagged 20 fish in total, only one of which failed to make the 10lb mark. They included four over 13lb, topped off by a personal-best 13lb 10oz specimen.

Even more amazingly Rio, who had only fished a river twice before in his life, achieved his memorable feat using a meagre three pints of maggots. 

The catch, which will no doubt raise eyebrows in the angling community, also left his dad in total shock. 

Leon told Angling Times: “It was just one of those days when everything went to plan and the tip just kept wrapping round – it was incredible. 

“By the end Rio was exhausted and could barely stand up in the gravel, but he put all of us to shame that day.” 

The group arrived on the river early in the morning to ensure they could bag swims, and it didn’t take long for the action to start. 

Just half-an-hour into the trip, Rio’s rod was looping over as the first barbel took a liking to his maggot feeder set-up with double maggot hookbait. Eleven hours later the sun was setting on a day the youngster will never forget.

“The only problem is, the catch has spoiled him now. 

“He will expect the fishing to be as good as that every time we go. 

“He will be trying to better that haul of huge barbel for the rest of his life,” added Leon. 

Off to a barbel flyer

Ant Molyneux’s debut session on the River Trent resulted in this 14lb 4oz barbel.

The Avid Carp-backed angler introduced a bed of Code Red boilies on arrival, but that tactic failed to gain a response in the first 24 hours.

Ultimately, though, his patience was rewarded and his alarms screamed into life when the barbel took his glugged boilie hookbait, and after a dogged battle the fish was in the net.

“I instantly knew I’d beaten my previous best of 12lb 14oz and I am already planning my next trip to the Trent,” explained Ant.

His winning rig incorporated a 3oz K-Grip lead and a 12lb Korum Barbel Line hooklink to a size 10 Xpert Power hook.

Another Trent pb barbel for James

One week after landing a new personal-best barbel, James Thomson upped the ante with the capture of this 16lb 9oz fish.

The 32-year-old operations administrator from Lincoln followed up a 14lb 9oz fish in his previous session by slipping the net under the latest giant, which he tempted on a Jason Haywood MPX boilie from the River Trent. 

James, who also banked five other barbel to over 14lb during the same session, is enjoying what he called ‘his best-ever season’ after netting eel, rudd and zander personal bests.

River Trent is on fire!

A group of friends have shared the session of a lifetime on the River Trent when they netted 21 double-figure barbel.

In the most prolific 24-hour spell of their angling careers, Daniel Best, George Gorst and Stephen Wall banked no fewer than 48 fish during an incredible visit to Gunthorpe Weir on the middles reaches of the river in Nottinghamshire.

After the three had built up their swim with bait, the action was so hectic that the North West-based anglers had to reel their rods in and fish with one rod between the three of them.

Even this didn’t affect their catch rate as they all set new personal bests, with 21 fish weighing between 10lb and 12lb.

Daniel Best explained to Angling Times just exactly how the frantic 24 hours panned out: “After a long drive across the Pennines we arrived at the Trent around lunchtime and things started slowly,” he said. 

“I opted to fish one rod with rolling meat, but after three hours I’d had no fish and encountered plenty of snags, so it was time to get the feeder rods out. That’s when it all kicked off big time.

“At 8pm I had my third double at 11lb 4oz and at 1.30am George landed a 9lb barbel and a new personal best of 11lb 15oz followed at 6am – game on!”

Daniel proposed a move to the tip of the island and cast straight into the weir. That resulted in a further two doubles and a fish of 10lb 1oz for Stephen – his first-ever double. It was from that point on that the action stepped up yet another gear.

“By now the fishing was mental,” Daniel added. “We used one rod between us and then took it in turns to catch a fish. 

“Stephen landed a new personal best at 10lb 13oz and luckily, when it was my turn, I managed to bag another double, followed by another and another. I think I had 12 doubles in the end.” 

All the fish fell to 12mm ProSushi boilies fished on 4ft combi-links with size 10 Krank hooks, along with 5oz feeders loaded with broken boilies and groundbait. 

“It was an unbelievable session and one that just leaves you looking at each other with wide eyes. All you can really do is shake your head and laugh,” Daniel said.

“At the final count we ended up with 48 barbel – 21 doubles and three personal bests – and Stephen finally caught his first double. It’s a day that we will never forget.”

Worm tempts an 18lb Trent barbel

Traditional barbel tactics went out of the window during Colin Hebb’s latest session on the River Trent – and a bold move was rewarded with this stunning 18lb specimen.

The East Yorkshire rod had struggled to get among the shoals while using pellets and boilies, so he switched to lobworms in a bid to transform his fortunes.

Kick-starting the session a couple of hours before the light faded, perch and small chub were the first to respond before bites suddenly stopped.

But the tiniest of indications tempted Colin to strike, and that decision proved to be a wise one as the rod-tip hooped over. 

He told Angling Times: “At first I thought I had hooked a log as it drifted slowly without doing anything, but then the fish went over to the other side of the river and surfaced, showing its true size straight away.

“That’s when the fight really started. The barbel made eight or nine really powerful runs and at one point I was convinced the hook was going to pull out.

“Everything held in place, though, and once it was in the net I couldn’t believe its size. There’s no doubt it makes up for all those blank sessions.”

Colin wasn’t the only man to record an eye-catching result on the rivers this week – Daniel Best’s debut on the Wye ended with a river record-shaking
13lb 8oz barbel.

Double-figure fish are few and far between on the picturesque waterway, but a slow take ended with the Lancashire angler falling just over 1lb short of the venue best. He said: “We’d been travelling rivers throughout the country during a few days off and had made stops at the Dove, Severn and Warwickshire Avon. I’d had a torrid time, blanking on all three.

“It was a relief just to get a run on the Wye, and for that bite to be something as special as this fish is absolutely incredible and completely unexpected.”

The specimen whisker fell for a legered brace of large Elips pellets hair-rigged on to the back of a size 10 hook.

River Trent match record shaken

"If I hadn’t broken around 20 hooklinks on the snags I would have smashed the river record out of sight,” said match fishing ace Paul Goulding, following an amazing contest on the Trent.

As it was, Paul still came agonisingly close to the five-hour target when he banked a catch weighing 177lb 7oz.

He was fishing a swim that he described as being ‘four feet deep with five feet of fish’ during a contest on the famous waterway at Holme Marsh.

The classic combination of a groundbait feeder teamed with a worm hookbait saw him hook a fish on his very first cast, and from the on the Daiwa Dons angler from Worksop never looked back.

“I knew I was on the right peg, especially when I netted 10 bream in as many casts. I was even getting bites before the feeder had a chance to hit the deck,” Paul told Angling Times.

“It was absolutely incredible. This guy carrying a deck chair came up and parked himself behind me. He told me he fishes the river all the time, and he said ‘you don’t mind if I sit behind you, do you?’ 

“I said ‘not at all, but can you do me a favour and go and borrow another net off of someone… and he kindly did just that.”

But it wasn’t all plain sailing for Paul, as an underwater snag cost the loss of what he estimates to be more than 20 fish

Had he landed those he would have smashed the current five-hour River Trent record that stands at 192lb 8oz and was taken by Mick Vials in August last year.

Despite the frustration,Paul stuck with his trusty feeder rig in throughout the match in order to keep the bites coming. 

It consisted of a 6lb Daiwa mainline, a 4lb hooklink and a size 14 Drennan Super Spade.

A feeder packed with groundbait and chopped worms with a single dendrobaena on the hook saw him land more than 50 bream in the incredible catch, which is his biggest ever from a river.

“There’s no doubt in my mind I would have had over 250lb if I hadn’t had to contend with that snag, but how can you complain about a day’s fishing like that?” Paul continued.

“The guy who sat behind me who I talked about earlier said he’d never seen anything like it before, and I speak for both of us when I say that neither of us probably ever will again.”