16lb 11oz bream for low-stock pit

A relentless pre-baiting campaign finally paid off for Dave Harman this week when he slipped his net under this fine 16lb 11oz bream from a rock-hard Lea Valley pit.

The former Drennan Cup winner took the fish alongside six other double-figure specimens to 13lb 8oz during a two-night trip to Langridge Lake on the Essex and Herts border.

The ‘classic’ bream bait of a stack of sweetcorn - comprising a mixture of real and artificial grains - did the business for the 47-year-old all-rounder from Addlestone in Surrey, who comfortably beat his old best for the species of 15lb with the capture.

It was just reward for a summer spent battling against chronic floating weed problems at the 180-acre windswept venue, as he explained.

“Before every session I’ve been spending upwards of an hour clearing the huge banks of weed, which extend for about 70yards in front of the swim. If I didn’t bother, I’d be waking up in the morning with a car-sized ball of the stuff attached to the lines!” said Dave.

“Then, whenever I’ve hooked a fish, I’ve had to keep the rod high and walk to the back of the swim, without giving any line.”

To keep the bites coming, Dave has been priming his spots regularly with a big hit of particles, introducing 30kg of sweetcorn, hemp and wheat every week since July. Bites have been few and far between for most of the campaign, although that all changed on his latest visit, when the bream uncharacteristically chose to feed during daylight hours.

“Nearly all my fish over the past month have come at between 6am and 2pm, which is really weird because in the past it’s always been night-time action on there. I got the take from the big one at quarter to seven in the morning, and to begin with when I looked in the net I thought it was another 12 or 13lb’er. It was only when I lifted it out of the net that I saw how thick across the back it was,” Dave added.

His successful rig was made from 15lb ESP Strip Teaze coated braid, coupled with a size 8 hook and a 4oz lead on a safety clip.


Big match bags taken on in-form River Wye

One of the most prolific winter stretches of running water in the country has started to creep into form as Andrew Murphy found out when he won the latest match on it with 59lb 4oz.

The River Wye at Hereford is a haven for huge shoals of various species during the winter months and the Wizards rod utilised floatfished maggots during the Joe Bowers Memorial match to land barbel, chub and dace.

Several good causes also benefitted from the 90-peg event, with almost £500 being raised for charity.


Swim change produces 40lb 4oz mirror

A change of swims paid dividends for Ted Bryan when he landed fish of 40lb 4oz and 38lb 10oz in a matter of minutes from a southern stillwater.

Fishing close to a large weedbed, the Syndenham-based all-rounder baited each rod with 50 Nash Bait iC1 boilies.

He then took both mirrors on 15mm glugged pop-up hookbaits mounted on size 8 Nash Fang X hooks and 20lb Missing Link hooklinks.


Prebaiting produces 39lb 11oz mirror

A week long prebaiting campaign paid off in style for Leon Stearn when he banked this 39lb 11oz mirror from the Fjords on the Cambridgeshire St Ives Lakes complex.

The local rod had been introducing Denham Bait Innovations The Element boilies to a marginal spot on the tricky low-stock venue.

He soon had the fish visiting the spot on a regular basis and managed to stalk the lake’s biggest known resident called the Round Brown.

For venue info visit: www.stiveslakes.com


PB chub and 12lb 4oz barbel in same session

John Turner chalked up a classic autumn duo with a PB chub and a season’s best barbel after monitoring receding flood water.

The Tamworth, Staffordshire, rod had the pair within an hour of each other on Mercia AC-owned stretch of the River Anker, using halibut pellets as bait. The chub went 5lb 8oz and the barbel pulled the scales round to 12lb 4oz.

John (46) said “I’d been watching the river all week — it had fallen nicely and still had a bit of colour in it. The barbel put up a fantastic fight, taking 20yds of line on its first run”


Simple boilie tactics produce 7lb 11oz chub

Darren Worton used nothing more complicated than a single boilie to tempt a stunning 7lb 11oz specimen from the Dorset Stour.

The Bournemouth-based rod banked the early autumn lump after a friend in a local tackle shop gave him some new baits to try. Shortly afterwards the 47-year-old landed the new personal best from a Christchurch AC-run stretch of the river.

He told AT: “My mate gave me a handful of Sticky Baits’ Vortex boilies to try. I rigged one up, lowered it in, and sat back. Half an hour later the rod pulled round and I thought I’d hooked a barbel, such was its power. It was an absolutely brilliant result.”


7lb 2oz chub is 'fish of a lifetime.'

John Davey achieved a ‘lifetime ambition’ when he caught a 7lb 2oz chub from the River Dove.

The chairman of Stoke-on-Trent AS admitted that he was ‘blown away’ by the size of the fish, which smashed his old best for the species of 5lb 8oz.

The 62-year-old, who had to recast every 10 minutes to clear his line from weed coming down the swollen river, said: “A 7lb’er is something that I’ve always wanted - it’s a huge fish for the Dove and something that I really wasn’t expecting.”

John used a simple leger rig consisting of a small bomb, an 18ins braided hooklink and a size 8 hook.


Gut feeling leads to 41lb 10oz mirror

Time spent looking for the carp and careful swim selection paid off for Nigel Williams when he landed this 41lb 10oz mirror from RH Fisheries’ Acton Burnell Top Lake.

Arriving at the Shropshire venue for a quick overnight session, the Cheltenham-based rod grabbed his bucket and set off round the 17-acre water in search of his quarry.

“The lake had been producing a few good carp over the last couple of weeks, but after a couple of laps I hadn’t seen any fizzing, bubbles or showing fish,” Nigel told Angling Times.

“This was quite strange because the fish in the lake are usually very active so with nothing to go on I dropped into a swim that allowed me to cast tight to the dam wall. The wind was howling down this end and I had a feeling that there would be a few fish knocking around.”

Rather than using chod rigs like lots of anglers targeting the lake, he decided to fish with his favourite blow-back presentation tied with an Avid Captive Braid hooklink material. And to add some attraction around his 15mm Sonubaits Code Red hookbait he attached a large PVA bag of Sonubaits S Pellets using a PVA bag link. “This item of tackle ensures that the rig doesn’t tangle on the cast and stops the lead falling off when fishing big PVA bags at range,” he explained. “I flicked two rods tight to the overhanging trees that stretch along the length of the dam and flicked my third rod into open water. As darkness fell, the odd fish started to show in the middle area of the lake, but I decided to stick it out where I was until the morning. I don’t know why, but I had a gut feeling that something special was going to happen.”

After an uneventful night, Nigel was up at first light scanning the water for signs of carp and with fish still fizzing in the middle area of the lake he decided to move swims for the last few hours of his session.

“As I started to pack my bivvy away, my right-hand Delkim screamed into life and line began tearing from my reel. There was nothing I could do to stop the fish for the first few minutes. I just let it charge around in open water.”

Eventually, after an epic battle, a huge mirror emerged from the silty depths about 20 yards from the bank. Although Nige only got a glimpse of the carp’s tail, it was apparent that he was hooked into one of the venue’s larger residents. A couple of heart-stopping moments and a premature swipe with the landing net later, Nigel finally slid the fish over the spreader block.


Korda Team England World Carp Cup report

The Korda Team England have recently returned from the World Carp Cup in Romania where they finished eighteenth.

Korda's James Armstrong accompanied the team and you can read his report on the match and interview with team coach Ian Huntington below...

Youth, energy, experience, quality and enthusiasm; Just a few words that describe this exciting new England Team.

The selection process was a long, hard, affair and the only way to choose our future team fairly was to hold some trials. This gave several of the UK’s best carp-match anglers the chance to shine and gain a seat on the prestigious plane to Romania.

Korda: Why did you have trials?

Ian: Those that have been to the World Championships before obviously have experience and a head-start. It’s a great baptism for all these anglers because from whatever they’ve done before, there had never been a selection process like this before. We had three trials – the theme of the first being the endurance-side of things which as it turned out was extremely important, whereas on the next trial was on a technical basis, where the anglers were catching bigger fish in a more traditional carp fishing scenario. This had less relevance as it turned out as luck, as in most English Carp matches, played too big a part with most of the fish ending up in one area of the lake. The third trial reflected team-work and the guys working together, sharing information while they’re on the bank, which is something that is totally unheard of in English competition carp fishing. These guys normally fish against each other, so to have them fish together as a team, and share that information is normally against their nature, so we’ve broken all those moulds, to effectively create what we want as a team. This whole process is about selecting a team, which did mean that some very good individual pairs that fished did not become part of the team.
The management team were to keep a very close eye on each pair, and individual, throughout the trial period and narrowed it down to four pairs. Three that would begin the match in Romania and a substitute pair if required. One thing that was clear; this was a team event and each individual had to work well with others, as well as retain the qualities required to be considered in such a major event.

Korda: How the team was chosen?

Ian: The venue Lacul Corbu only received ratification from FIPSed in late May this year and a report issued in mid-June through the FIPSed Italian delegation who inspected the venue. This rubber stamped its use for the world championships. We knew from this report that the venue swims had only been built in March /April and the venue only stocked at the beginning of May with hundreds of tons of small fish, consequently the action would be non-stop as we have experienced previously in the World Championships in South Africa. Based on all the information from FIPSed the results from the RIGS series of tournaments held on the venue, together with all the trials information the team was chosen. The focus being on World Championships experience, team spirit and endurance the final team selected was as follows:

Jake and Dan Wildbore - Jake is a former British junior champion and with Dan his brother has been second in the BCAC at senior level. Dan and Jake were also the best performing English pair at last year’s world championships in Italy, beating GP Knell of South Africa, a two times individual and four times team World Champion off the next peg.

Billy Flowers and Jamie Londors - Three times world silver medalists in four previous attempts at both team and individual level make them a formidable duo whose work rate at these events is second to none and makes them a formidable pair.

Mark Bartlett and Kev Hewitt - Having never before competed in the World Championships, however they need little introduction. Bart and Kev smashed the 48 hour World and British enduro records in the first trial at Drayton. The rest of the world knew all about these guys before they arrived and they were certainly one the most feared pairs in the competition.

Jack Stamp and Kia Sanger - Also having never before competed in the World Championships, however they have been consistent winners in their BCAC qualifiers on big hit waters, also very solid performances throughout the England trials process winning two out of three sections, not to mention being UK Carp master’s winners.
All in all a formidable team I think you will agree.

Of course, one of the most important factors in succeeding in an event of such magnitude is preparation. Ian and Pete had placed a lot of thought in rig mechanics and bait. They even visited the venue months in advance to form a strategic plan.

Korda: How did you decide on the tactics for the 2012 World Champs?

Ian: Bait, it was clear from the visit that our main strategy should be formed by fishing Boilies over free offerings of the same. Fishmeal type Boilies and soluballs were evident in every swim and it is clearly what the fish are used to being fed on. The throwing stick will play a major part. Pasting baits and fishing in conjunction with two bait stringers. Maximum range fishing should be with pasted singles.
We even discussed this with some of the finest bait brains in the country upon our return. Unfortunately the key to the match and what we did not know was the lake had been corrupted onto one single type of bait. Since the fish were stocked in May 2012 and while at the fish farm prior to this they had been fed solely on this bait. Consequently countries that had been and practiced were aware of this and managed to get some local bait to enable them at least to take part in the event. The Bulgarians who are next door to Romania commissioned their own bait based on what had been fed to the fish. Portugal and Serbians had contacts in Romania who provided local bait. The fish were fed daily throughout the summer by boat on the Romanian bait on fixed lines parallel with the bank so the host countries were not taking any chances. Imagine feeding a lake in this country with only one bait for a year and then holding a match on it, the outcome would be just the same as Romania. Those with the introduced bait would do well and the rest would really struggle to get a bite.
From our point of view and bearing in mind you are kept behind lines when you visit it’s difficult to have foreseen this coming without actually practicing on the venue and within two hours of the match starting we were asking ourselves questions about the bait. We later found out from the South African team and the French team consultant Ronnie De- Groot that they had also brought different English bait from two other leading English manufactures, most of which stayed on the pallets and was not used at all in the case of South Africa. That’s 1.5 ton of bait or 10k of bait left on pallets.

The lads touched down in Romania and were instantly transported to the meet a great event that included a Hog roast and live traditional Romanian entertainment. From the viewpoint of an outsider it was completely overwhelming. The time and effort that had been invested into the organisation of the initial nights entertainment was spellbinding.

Korda: Did you imagine the event to be as big as it was?

Ian: Having fished in five previous World Championships with Pete we were still amazed our hosts had put on such an amazing event. The South African event had been amazing and the teams silver medal very satisfying, however the sheer scale of expense the Romanians had gone too with three different themed gala dinners, open top bus parades around the city not to mention the spectacular fireworks displays really set this event apart.
It was then completely eclipsed by the second nights opening party where all 21 countries plus press and invited guests were treated to a ball room banquet fit for Kings which when compared to all previous carp fishing tournaments we had attended really did stand head and shoulders above.

The following day did however bring with it the draw and the start of the match so slowly and unsurprising quite reluctantly the management of the participating countries began to call time and usher the competing anglers back to their hotel. 

The draw, as expected, was a nervy, tense moment and without doubt the most important part in any match. This was short-lived however, when each of Team England received a pleasing draw. The talented Hewitt and Bartlett drawing a renowned productive end peg in Section A was the most notable.

It was clear that the England Team meant business and worked tirelessly throughout that first day and night to grasp this daunting venue. However, by morning they were well behind. The local knowledge fired Romania into a huge lead and by the morning of the second day they were already ahead on points with over 800kg. They where chased by Bulgaria, Portugal and the Serbians.

Unfortunately, this was the theme of the match. As England moved further and further behind, it was clear that something was wrong. They were fishing out of their skin, far more methodical and accurate than other pairings that flanked the English, yet they where unable to buy any consistency in their catch rate. Their efforts could not be questioned.

The Romanians had been canny. The newly stocked carp had been born and bred on a certain bait and indicated an almost inherent urge to feed on this certain boilie. Unfortunately, this was the instrumental component that lead to the demise of the English attack and ultimately to the success of the Romanian catch rate.

The carp were so preoccupied by this now “natural” food source that they would rarely feed on anything else. It dealt the killer blow to the England and we feel that this edge would certainly have given England the necessary tools to have competed for a medal.
 
By the end of this epic match which saw Romania and Bulgaria battling it for first place, and England finishing in a disappointing 18th, the home nation succeeded by a whisker.

Looking forward to 2013 the England team having now fully debriefed and are looking forward to Portugal. Korda have expressed their huge confidences in this young team and will continue to be a supporting element to the team.

It’s set to be yet another highly contestant event with all participating nations feeling confident of a good result.

Korda: Changes for 2013 – and the team you have built?

Ian: Hard lessons have been learnt and it has been a very difficult experience to pick the team and ourselves up after this event. Team sponsors have also invested money and support and many people have given up their time as volunteers in the trials to try and raise our chances of winning the team gold medal for the first time.
Firstly the corruption of the water as described above, while this is strictly not against the rules and the Romanians freely admitted to doing this there is the morale issue here and in the interests of fair play and fair contest this can’t be right. I have already spoken to Dick Clegg about this and he is going to take the issue up with FIPSed at this year’s November meeting in Italy. While we appreciate the Lac Corbul is unique and its fish stock brand new thus making this corruption of the water more possible, it will not ultimately deter other host nations following suit leading to a potential breakup of the competition.
Practicing, the team needs to go and practice a number of times prior to the world champs. The days of just turning up and hopefully being lucky with our approach from information gained off the internet are over. Unfortunately this all takes time and significant money which has to be found if we are to compete. The South Africans spent 100k this year and went home without a medal. The Bulgarians said they spent 80k and they live next door and went home with silver. The Romanians spent in excess of two million euros creating the venue and hosting the event.
As a management duo we have generally sacrificed our whole fishing season organizing the trials, team meetings, workshops with specialist consultants, all for this event. The only shining light in all this is the team’s own preparation and commitment to the process and each other which has been something really special to behold and be extremely proud of. If we were going back tomorrow we would still take the same team as what we witnessed in Romania was a true English team spirit and grit in the face of extreme adversity. As mentioned, this all takes time and a commitment to the England cause and also means giving most of their other fishing up next year to solely concentrate on the world championships venue in Portugal, if we are to have any chance of winning a gold medal.

England team member Jake Wildbore commented “As a team we have been through highs and massive lows. The team is more unified than ever before. This year’s event had all the necessary elements to ensure the team a good result. The unforeseen and unfortunate circumstances that restricted our efforts have been forgotten and the team will learn from this year and approach Portugal with a clear head and even more conviction.”

Dick Clegg OBE. International Events Director for the Angling Trust stated.
‘ When Ian and Pete took over the roles of manager and coach of England’s Carp team I was convinced that I had appointed two people who were capable of winning Gold. This result although extremely disappointing for all has not changed my mind. I have seen the professional way that they conducted all the pre match practices and organised the logistics of transporting both team and equipment to Romania and I know that we will soon be back on the podium.
It is obvious from the information that I have received that questions need to be asked about certain aspects of the event.
I am due to attend a FIPSed technical meeting in mid November and I will certainly require an explanation to a number of problems arising from these championships.’  
Dick also mentioned that he and the Angling Trust Team would like to thank Korda for all their help and support along this journey.




Three bests in one session

Dean Pawsey had to wait 25 years to break his personal best – and then did it three times in one session at Fenland Fisheries Willow Lake.

Mirrors of 34lb 13oz, 35lb 14oz and 42lb 8oz graced his net following a change of swims, all of which beat his previous best of 21lb.

Casting to a gravel bar at 25 yards range, the 53-year-old, Sawtry-based builder offered Mainline Cell hookbaits over a dozen freebies on Fox Arma Point hooks and 15lb Coretex hooklinks.


New type of 'killer shrimp' in UK waters

Anglers in the Midlands are being asked to be extra vigilant after a second species of non-native ‘killer shrimp’ was found at a number of popular fishing venues.

Environment Agency officers discovered the Dikerogammarus haemobaphes on the River River Severn at Tewkesbury, and Bevere near Worcester as, well as on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal and the Worcester and Birmingham.

David Throup, Environment Manager for the EA said, “We now have a dedicated team whose focus is to establish the degree of the problem, and whether the shrimp has spread wider than the locations already found. We are treating this as a priority.”

The new discovery is a relative of Dikerogammarus villosus, an invasive species that has spread from Eastern Europe. According to scientists, it is a voracious predator that ‘kills a range of native species, including young fish, and can significantly alter ecosystems’.

The Environment Agency and Canal & River Trust are urging all water users to help slow its spread by checking, cleaning and drying all their equipment after use and before using it at another location.


Jones bags Brookside Fisheries hat trick

It can take years of practice to become a dominant force on any fishery but Paul Jones proved he has cracked the key to success at Cheshire’s Brookside Fisheries by netting three victories in a week.

The Bait-Tech ace kicked off the winning streak with a 93lb 4oz mixed haul from peg 49 on the Snake Pit and added another triumph to his tally just days later with an 87lb 10oz catch from peg 28.

He rounded off the hat-trick against a strong field when he alternated between pellet and maggot for 70lb 14oz of F1s and carp from peg 17.


Grafham predator hat-trick

Persistence in the face of the elements saw Adam Perna score a perfect hat-trick of autumn predators topped by this near-30lb pike.

The all-rounder was aboard the only predator boat out on Cambridgeshire’s Grafham Water in blustery weather conditions when he took the 29lb 14oz esox, along with a 3lb 10oz perch and a zander weighing about 7lb.

Fishing with lures on the expansive Anglian Water venue, the 27-year-old tiler and his boat partner James Aris overcame high winds to land seven fish between them during two days afloat.

Adam, from Bicester in Oxfordshire, said: “The pike was caught at the end of a long hard day’s fishing and we were the only predator boat out. Conditions were pretty difficult, with 2ft waves at times making it hard to present our lures effectively.

“By 3pm we had only captured one fish, a perch, although it was a big one at 3lb 10oz. We decided to move back to an area in shallower water of about 30ft where we felt our lures would work better, and on the first drift I had a few nibbles and then a solid but dull pluck, resulting in a hooked fish. 

“Initially I thought I may have been hooked into one of the famous big double-figure zander which reside in Grafham, but the alarming curve in the rod and the sheer power of the fish’s runs then made us think it was something altogether much bigger.”

The pike, which had picked up a six-inch yellow rubber lure with a single size 6/0 hook, was landed after a nervy 20-minute battle.

“It was an immaculately marked and conditioned fish and a new PB by over 7lbs. It was also the first pike I had ever landed at Grafham, and bigger than anything I could have hoped for,” added Adam.




Warwickshire win County Champs

Warwickshire are this year's Angling Times County Champions after a narrow one point win at Heronbrook Fishery.

The trio of Jon Arthur, Kev Folwell and Pete Caton fought off 37 other county teams to pocket the £3,000 first prize with their 27-point tally, local lads Staffordshire the ones to miss out as they finished just adrift.

For the full report check out this week's paper (October 9) on pages 62, 63 and 64.


Three fish for 111lb on solid bags

Simon Harbottle landed three fish for a combined weight of over 111lb during a 72 hour session on the Monk’s Pit syndicate in Cambridgeshire.

The fishing had been very slow over the past week so the 42-year-old Stockton-On-Tees-based rod decided to avoid fishing over a large bed of bait and instead put his faith in a solid PVA bag approach with the hope of nicking a bite or two.

After a couple of laps of the lake he had noticed a few carp showing out towards the centre of the lake, and following a quick lead around he located a clear channel in among the thick Canadian pondweed at around 100yds to fish over.

Despite fish still showing, Simon had to wait to until the following morning for his first take. “It weeded me up straight away and I had to go out in the boat to free it,” he told Angling Times. “I got over the top of it and soon had a huge ball of weed coming towards the net. Back on the bank, once I’d cleared the weed, I realised I caught one of the lake’s known big mirrors which tipped the scales at 42lb 10oz.”

Almost exactly 24 hours later his alarm signalled another hooked fish which resulted in a 39lb 10oz mirror on the bank.

“On the final morning I’d just made myself a brew when the bobbin on the left-hand rod pulled up tight. I had to go out in the boat again because the fish weeded me up and I was soon heading back to the bank with a 30lb 6oz mirror.”

The trio of specimens all fell to snowman rigs consisting of Nash Scopex Squid Red bottom baits and pop-ups. These were placed inside solid PVA bags filled with boilie crumb, a couple of whole boilies and pellets.




PB chub on bread crust

Dan Sales caught his first chub over 7lb in the form of this 7lb 4oz fish from the River Lea.

The 28-year-old Herts-based builder had spotted a few fish rising for chunks of bread on the surface during a previous carping session.

Returning the next day armed with lighter tackle, he spent an hour introducing free offerings before hooking his prize just before dark on a large piece of bread crust impaled on a size 3 ESP hook.

“There were around nine or 10 chub feeding, a couple of which must have been nudging 8lb!” said Dan.


52lb 2oz mirror tops 'session of a lifetime'

Shaun Gilbert smashed his personal best by over 34lb when he landed this 52lb 2oz mirror from Elphick Fisheries North Lake.

The 24-year-old was woken by a series of single bleeps on his alarm just after first light and thought he hooked into the venue’s only bream. “As soon as I lifted in to it I knew it wasn’t a slab and it was another 20 minutes before I even saw the fish. It took half an hour in total to get it in the net, at which point my mate told me it was the Big Girl. The next day I landed carp of 35lb 8oz, 23lb 5oz and 18lb, making it by far the best session of my life.”

All of his fish were taken on Mainline Cell boilies tipped with a piece of artificial corn.


Record blue shark caught

This mammoth blue shark could have tipped the scales at nearly 250lb, smashing the British record in the process.

But Bob Pollard decided to release the monster specimen rather than kill it, meaning it can never be claimed.

Length and girth calculations put the shark at 248lb, well above both the long-standing 218lb British boat-caught best and the 222lb blue shark taken by Wayne Little in 2010 which was also returned alive, but the 43-year-old builder had no intention of taking the fish back to shore to be weighed.

Bob, who snared the predator while aboard the vessel Bite Adventures, out of Penzance in Cornwall, said: “There’s no way I’d murder that fish. A British record sounds nice but I wouldn’t kill a fish for it.”
The Shark Club of Great Britain member, who had a 118lb blue shark earlier this year, was out with experienced captain Chippy Chapman and a group of other anglers.

“It was a fair day out, that’s for sure,” laughed Bob.

“It didn’t really sink in at first, I just thought ‘that’s a big shark’ but when Chippy shook my hand immediately and said it was a 200lb’er I just couldn’t believe it.

“It finally hit home on the way back in when we were looking at the photos, which don’t really do it as much justice as actually seeing the beast. It’s difficult to comprehend how fat the thing was - it was so out of proportion.”

The shark, which measured 98 inches long and 45 inches around the middle, took a mackerel flapper 30ft off the bottom in 250ft of water.

Bob said: “When the reel clicked it was a long way from the boat. There’s 300yds of braid, plus backing, on the reel and after its first run I could see the knot. It was probably a good half an hour before I got it in. It put a fair old bend in the rod and I was strumming the braid like a guitar at times.”

Trevor Cozens, who photographed the capture, said: “It was an incredible fish. My personal view is that it seems a madness you have to kill a fish to claim it. You don’t in coarse fishing, as long as you’ve weighed it and got the correct witnesses. I accept there are a lot of issues with weighing a fish on a boat but maybe recording length and girth is the way forward.”


Woodland View match raises £11k for charity

A highly respected charity is £11,000 better off thanks to the efforts of a group of anglers during a recent event at a top commercial complex.

House building firm Barratt West Midlands arranged the competition at Droitwich’s Woodland View Fishery to raise funds for the Acorn’s Children Hospice and over 50 fishermen turned up to help the cause.

Several contractors of the business also made generous donations and it Advanced Cleaning’s George Reynolds that dominated on the fishing front, taking 135lb 7oz to top the table.