19lb 1oz barbel is a new River Thames fishing record

The River Thames barbel record has been broken with the capture of a giant 19lb 1oz specimen.

The amazing catch was made by big fish angler Garry Teer from an undisclosed stretch of the Southern waterway and was part of a brace of whiskers, the other being a 12lb 8oz fish following an incredible double-hook up.

Both specimens were taken on a single 20mm Bankside Baits Team Barbel boilie fished in conjunction with a PVA bag of broken boilies. The largest of the two is believed to be the same specimen caught by the 51-year-old last month at the weight of 17lb 9oz, a fish which also featured within the pages of the Angling Times.

Northamptonshire man Garry told us: “I had only been at the river for a little over half an hour when my downstream rod screamed off and the 12lb'er soon made its way into the net. As I was just about to release the fish my other rod, which I'd cast onto the shelf of a deep hole in the middle of the river, also screamed off.

"I knew it was big as soon as I hooked it as it just wouldn’t budge from the bottom and when I saw it in the net after a good fight it just dwarfed the first. It had a 22 inch girth, the fattest barbel id ever seen,” he'd said.

The winning rig consisted of a 2oz lead with a 2ft hooklink of ESP Strip-Teaze tied to a size 8 hook with a small piece of tubing to act as an aligner and improve hook-ups.

The brace in the net, the one on the left being 12lb 8oz! 

Garry’s catch, which beats the official waterway best for the species, an 18lb 2oz specimen caught by Guy Robb in 2007, came during the same week that rumours circulated of a UK record 21lb 10oz specimen on the same river. If true the catch would beat the current British record for the species, held by Graeme King, by a mere 9oz.

It’s a capture that wouldn't surprise many Thames regulars, including Garry: “The Thames has the possibility to throw up some really special fish not just barbel and being such a large river with a high food source, fish like barbel could easily grow to record proportions” he said.