Paul Coopley 18lb 2oz Barbel

The River Lea continues to deliver on the big-fish front, after Paul Coopley slipped the net under this specimen of 18lb 2oz.

He was fishing at King’s Weir as part of the Christophe Pelhate memorial weekend, when he headed to peg 4 on the house bank. After locating a patch of gravel just four yards out, he fed three pints of hemp and pellets onto it and left the spot alone all day so he could socialise with the other anglers there. Making his first cast with a luncheon meat hookbait at 8:30pm, he was confident something might happen, and after 90 minutes, it slammed over and he lifted into a dead weight. Five minutes later, the fish of a lifetime lay in his net, smashing his previous PB by 4lb.

Well done Paul!