A famous fisherman's catch of a trout being swallowed by a pike as it was being reeled in has gone under the hammer at auction in Devon.

RB Marston had to reel in the two fish for 50 yards at a Dorset river, hoping that the line would hold out until both fish were landed.

The fish netted �7,500 on Friday, when they were sold to a taxidermist and collector who said he would have paid up to �30,000 for the lot.

The 8lb (3kg) pike and accompanying trout were caught in 1912 by Marston, who at that time was the editor of the Fishing Gazette.

I thought at any moment that the gut would break, or the fly would come out of the trout's mouth

RB Marston, 1912

When the fish were caught, they changed the understanding of how some pike stalked their prey.

Angler Richard Pretley said: "Before this, they'd always believed that a pike would take its prey sideways on. That's always been what's understood.

"Marston actually caught the trout. He was reeling in the trout when the pike took it, and then he thought he was going to lose it.

"But on very light tackle he managed to land the trout with the pike still hanging onto it."

Writing in the Fisherman's Gazette in 1912, RB Marston described his amazing catch.

'Dead chuffed'

He said how the pike hung on for 50 yards: "Of course I thought at any moment that the gut would break, or the fly would come out of the trout's mouth, or the trout out of the pike's mouth."

Luckily for him it all remained intact.

The eventual buyer, Rob Chinnery of the Victorian Taxidermy Company, said he was very pleased with his catch.

He said: "I'm very happy. I thought it would cost me a lot more money.

"I was prepared to give a lot more, so I'm dead chuffed."