Milton specimen angler Ben Horsman landed an enormous Thames barbel, weighing in at a hefty 16lb 4oz.

o Ben caught the fish at dusk and used a boilie fished over the top of a bed of hemp and pellet.

The fish took five minutes to land on an eight pound line with a size six hook, and he used a two ounce lead to hold bottom.

Catching barbel of any size from the Thames seems to be getting harder every year, and there are stretches of the river that are completely void of this wonderful fish.

They do still come out, but certainly not in the numbers they used to, which is why Ben's catch was a particularly special one.

I would like to see the Environment Agency putting as much effort into barbel conservation as they do salmon, and although there has been a stocking of small barbel in the upper Thames, the reason why these fish are in decline needs to be looked at.

OXFORD pleasure angler Bill Fields, who spends his time fishing the Thames around Oxford, netted a fine chub the other day, pulling the scales down to 6lb 2oz.

Bill was using a stick float with a 4lb main line, size 18 hook and red maggot.

Besides the chub, Bill also had several perch, the best going 2lb.