A SCHOOLBOY who is believed to have caught one of the biggest pike ever landed by a fisherman on the River Wye has had another record-breaking day fishing on the river.

Thomas Macdonald-Ames was only 12 when he caught a pike that was nearly as big as him early in 2017. At the time only the fact that he could not weigh the fish stopped it entering the record books – although a quick check with a measuring tape showed the fish was 49 inches long and therefore could have been more than 40lb in weight..

Now Thomas has shown that catch was no fluke after he caught a 27.5lb pike and a 12.5lb pike in the space of half an hour.

Thomas, who is a pupil at Gwernyfed High School and turns 15 in March, caught the two fish in the Upper Wye and this time was equipped with an appropriate set of scales to make sure he had a proper record of his achievement.

Thomas’s dad, Louis, who is head of operations with the Wye and Usk Foundation, was on hand to take a photo of Thomas’s catches which he said were probably a record catch in such a short space of time.

Louis said Thomas was delighted with his afternoon’s work and couldn’t believe it when he caught his second fish. Louis said Thomas has been a keen fishermen ever since he first picked up a fishing rod “at the age of four or five”.

Thomas initially would go fishing with his dad but now he gets down to the river any chance he can.

Louis said Thomas would love to one day make his living working in something to do with the fishing world. “He spends almost every spare moment in his life either fishing or thinking about fishing. Even when he’s at school, I’m sure half the time he’d thinking about being out on the riverbank trying to catch a fish.I think one day he would love to be a professional angler or a gillie – that’s someone who who acts as an attendant on a fishing expedition.”

Louis said he didn’t want to give away exactly where Thomas caught his fish as the last time his son appeared in the Brecon & Radnor Express lots of people rang him up trying to find out the location. “Let’s just say it was on a private stretch of the Upper Wye - in the Erwood area.”

Back in 2017, Thomas could have claimed a 110-year record for the biggest catch on the river if he had been prepared to keep the fish long enough for someone to fetch a set of scales.

However Thomas was convinced that his fish was pregnant and decided she should be back in the river straight away.

It was a selfless and mature decision for such a young boy to make but shows that even then Thomas was thinking as much about the welfare of the fish as he was about himself.

Thomas wrestled with the predatory fish for more than 25 minutes, being pulled from once side of the River Wye to other in his dad’s boat as he struggled to hook his catch.

“It was bigger than any fish my dad has ever caught,” Thomas proudly boasted to the Brecon and Radnor Express at the time. “I caught it using a spinner. After a while my arms were starting to hurt so I was glad when we got the fish to the bank. It’s the biggest fish I have ever caught.”

When Thomas and his father Louis headed out on to the water, two days before his 13th birthday, they had no idea they would hook a catch that would rival the then 110-year-old Wye river record of 37lb.

That record belonged to a Major Booth. At the time Thomas’s dad told the paper: “Thomas caught a monster of a fish. It had teeth like a crocodile. I am sure that it would have easily rivalled the record.

“We could tell it was something big by the way the line was being tugged on. I was on the oars, trying to keep the boat steady, but we were being pulled from one side of the river to the other. Several times the pike took off across the river and at one stage I thought I might have to take over the fishing rod. Thomas struggled, but he wouldn’t let go, even when he saids his hand were going numb. I’m proud to say he toughed it out and it was amazing to see what was on the end of the line.

“When we finally saw the catch I thought I’d have to grab the fish with my hands. I was so proud of him, it was a real father and son bonding moment.”

Louis had added: “As the fish spawn Thomas was keen to release the pike back in to the wild as she was full with eggs ready for laying. We measured the pike in at 49 inches. If I had fully realised that Thomas could have broken a record I would have gone back to shore to get my scales to weigh it.

“I am so proud of him, pike this size aren’t commonly found up this end of the river so this really was a brilliant achievement.”