Barbel have become our most popular river fish but Lee Burden has hit the angling headlines after landing a 13-pounder from a lake.
The fish, one of the biggest barbel to have come from a stillwater in the UK, came from Lychgate Fisheries at Stoke Golding in Warwickshire. The 33-year-old was fishing for carp and didn’t even know that the £5-a-day venue held the species. It fell for a boilie fished on a fluorocarbon snowman rig, size 6 hook and 15lb mainline and is a new personal best.