We all have a tale of that big one that ‘got away‘, well it nearly happened to one surprised angler except that he had the evidence on a ‘horse and cart.’
I know there are many Gwent anglers who venture down to West Wales to fish the river Towy. The river is famous for it’s Sewin runs and later in the season late runs of Salmon. This is a true story hard to believe but there were witnesses to the catch weighing in at 388 pounds with a girth of 59 inches and nine foot two inches from nose to tail

Alec Allen was well respected as a local sportsman and hockey referee. He was also a representative for a fishing tackle company. His great passion was fishing, which he shared with his father. They both rented a stretch on the Towy since 1928. This included some of the deepest pools in the river. The summer of 1933 was very dry with low water levels. Walking near one of the pools at Nantgaredig, Alec noticed a large ripple he though that maybe a large fish was in the pool.
Two days later he returned to the pool with his friend Edwin Lewis, he mentioned about the large ripple which he said was probably was a large salmon fish. Allen started fishing when he felt a tug on his line. He struck at whatever it was with no effect it was as if he hooked into a log. Then the ‘log’ started to move upstream. Alec knew that logs do not move up steam. As he continued to move the line and keep in contact with the fish. His line and rod was almost whipped out of his hands which the force of a shark. He played it for 20 minutes, all the time allowing the fish to move then keeping control of the line he walked up the bank. There was no deep channel to guide the fish. No salmon line would of held the fish. He was expecting to be smashed at any time. Suddenly he saw the fish it leaped out of the water and crashed into a shallow run just beneath the bank where he stood. The creature was threshing about in the shallows trying to get back into the main swim of the deeper water. A witness to the saga across the other side of the river, could not believe what was happening, the sightseer ran off shouting for his life. Edwin Lewis took up the gaff and struck it into the fish. The fish moved and straightened the gaff. Like a whale, the fish lifted it’s tail and caught Lewis throwing him into the air. Alec decided that it had been a freak catch anyway. Now grabbing a large rock Allen waded into the water and dropped it onto the fish’s head time and time again until he was almost exhausted. The creature began to die. The two men had no idea what it was.
There has been stories of sturgeon damaging coracle nets further down stream.
Alec went to a local farm to see if he borrow a horse and cart, the farmer asked why, Alec explained he had caught a very large fish.
News of the catch had spread around the valley. The fish by now had been placed onto a trestle. People were arriving in cars and carts to see the monster of a fish. Alderman Price said ‘’there were very large scales it was very slimy and black or grey and white in colour. ‘’No I wasn’t frightened, it was dead‘’. By now it was recognized as a sturgeon. Someone pointed out aren’t you supposed to offer it to the King?. A telegram was duly sent to ‘Buckingham Palace’. The same day they received a reply that the King was not in residence. So what do they do with the fish in high summer with no refrigeration. Eventually they sold to it to a fishmonger from Swansea for £2 10s that works out at a penny and half penny per pound, pre decimal coinage.
Forty years later Allen’s friend who helped him to load the fish onto a train at Carmarthen station were still bitter about the deal. Best Scotch salmon at Billingsgate market was then fetching 2s 6d a pound wholesale. Alec Allen continued fish until his death in 1972 at the age of 77.

It was a grey wet day when his friends gathered on his beloved river bank. The ex Chief Constable a keen angler, we all said the Lords Prayer as we committed his ashes to the water where he had fished for 50 years. As the ashes were swept downstream a trout leaped was it ‘Alec reincarnated’ ?. Anglers may remember the prayer; Lord, grant that I may catch a fish so big that even I, when speaking of it afterwards, may have no need to lie.