Birthday personal best

Alfie Waters had an early fortieth birthday present in the form of this personal best 35lb 8oz common from a Cambridgeshire stillwater.

The fish, his first ever UK thirty, came just before first light during a short overnight session and took the Norfolk-based RAF Tornado aircraft engineer over half an hour to land.

Lee used a single Mainline Baits Cell hookbait on a size 8 Fox SSC hook and an 8ins 15lb Coretex hooklink on a running rig over 50 freebies on clear spot at 25 yards.

“It was a fantastic start to my fortieth birthday weekend and one that I will never forget,” he said.