The previous biggest club and Rother Barbel came from Fittleworth in November 2014 and weighed in at a mighty 18lb 9oz.

On the 12^th October 2018  at around 5.45pm John Hide landed a Barbel that when weighed easily beat this record.

Speaking to John a few days after the capture he said that he had been on the river since about 1pm and had tried all the normal baits apart from meat in his selected swim. His fishing companion had mentioned that he had tried meat and had one or two taps but nothing positive.

John decided to try meat himself and put a big piece on the hook, not long afterwards he had a slight indication and decided to check his bait which looked OK so he recast into the swim, about 2 minutes later the rod went round and the fish was on. Throughout the fight the fished stayed deep and then John had a heart stopping moment when the fish lipped the net on the first attempt, thankfully the fish was still on and at the second attempt the fish was in the net.

John immediately realised that this was a significant fish but it wasn’t until he weighed it and then carefully subtracted the weight of the net that he realised just how significant it was. Weighing in at 19lb 3oz the fish is a new club and Rother record.

This fish is likely to put on enough weight over the winter months to take it over the 20lb mark and John hopes that he or another angler will have the pleasure of its company then.