A WYE fisherman has won an award for catching the largest fly-caught fish in England and Wales during 2017.

Terry Ward caught his 46-inch salmon, weighing well over 35lb, at the Cow Pond on the River Wye at Winforton on March 16 last year and recently received the Charles Farlow Trophy and an engraved bottle of sloe gin to mark his achievement. Terry’s catch also won the River Wye Gillies Norman Owen memorial Cup.

The spot where Terry landed his 35lb monster fish is the same spot where the largest ever salmon caught on the River Wye, weighing 59.5lb, was reeled in by Miss Doreen Davy in 1923.

Terry, who is 68 and has been a keen angler for most of his life, said the salmon is the biggest fish he has ever caught.

Landing such a big fish with a rod and line is always quite a struggle but in Terry’s case it was complicated by the fact he had forgotten to take his guy net.

Beaming with pride while recollecting the battle, Terry said the salmon initially tried to break free from the line by leaping out of the water and making zig-zag runs.

“After 20 minutes of fierce runs and aerial activity the salmon went deep and stayed firm in the middle of the pool,” Terry said. “During this lull I realised that I had not got my guy net with me. I was lucky enough to have my mobile phone with me and prayed for some phone signal which is intermittent at best in this location. Fortunately I managed to make two calls, first to Sportfish Winforton to summon help and second to my wife Pat at home, whereby I asked her to call Colonel James Forrest requesting the same help. In the event Col Forrest arrived first with his net and camera. Shortly after he arrived, the fish was sufficiently subdued and came to the net.

“The drama worsened when the frame of the net broke because of the weight of the fish but we were still able to land the salmon by grabbing the net’s mesh.”

Terry said he did not have any weighing scales with him so he could only measure the length of the salmon and take photographs. He then released the salmon which swam off strongly.

After receiving his award at Sportfish in Winforton, Terry said: “Catching any fish of this size in our rivers is an absolute dream but if any of our rivers can provide such fish it has to be the Wye.

“Catching a fish like that is extremely exciting and a privilege.”