A 12 year wait for a new PB barbel ended in fine style for Bedford angler Martin Walker after landing this 17lb 13oz fish from the middle Trent. His original best, a 14lb 12oz fish, was caught from River Ivel at Biggleswade – a far more intimate venue than the savage Trent.

After three sessions learning the new, more brutal methods employed on this large and powerful river, Martin banked a new PB of 14lb 14oz which he was happy enough with, but the following morning he smashed his PB yet again with the immense seventeen-pounder. Martin says the fish felt heavy from the off and feels ‘truly privileged to have caught her’. It came on a cocoon boilie hookbait fished on a 4ft hooklink below a feeder crammed with boilies.