40lb 4oz common for Jerry Hammond

JERRY Hammond has caught his twenty third UK carp over the 40lb-barrier in the form of this 40lb 4oz common.

The owner of Carthagena Fishery was fishing on his own syndicate water when he hooked in to the fish which has avoided capture since the start of the season.

With carp showing just below the surface he started the session using zig rigs but when the fish dropped down in the water he switched over to chod rigs on the deck.

This produced a 12lb mirror almost straight away and then on the final morning the specimen known as Tango.

Jerry used a new boilie he is helping develop with Mad Baits on chod rigs tied with ESP Stiff Rig Bristle Filament and size 5 Stiff Rigger hooks.

He said: “I’ve just signed with Century so this was the perfect way to christen my new ADV-1 rods. It’s the first time this fish has topped the 40lb-barrier too.”

River Tame barbel record broken

A FRUSTRATING three-year quest came to a triumphant conclusion for Damien Jones when he smashed a six-year-old venue record with this superb 14lb 8oz barbel.

The River Tame in Staffordshire is a notoriously difficult water which holds a relatively small number of really big barbel. But the local rod didn’t let the fact that he’s only landed two double figure fish since he’s been fishing the waterway deter him.

Concentrating his efforts on his local stretch in Tamworth, he adopted a light, mobile approach to search out every area of the 2 mile length. His efforts were rewarded on his latest session when the fish, which beat his pb by 3lb, found his legered fishmeal boilie.

He used a simple rig consisting of a 12lb braided hooklink and a size 8 hook to land the specimen which supersedes the previous river record of 13lb 10oz which was landed by Phil Bennett in 2006.

“I’ve been fishing this river for several years and found it really tough going,” Damien told Angling Times.

“But I’ve always loved fishing for big carp and I’m used to working really hard for my fish, so I’ve never been put off by the fact that the river’s big fish are so elusive.”

End of year success

BEN DOWERS banked the biggest mirror in his club lake on his last proper session of the year in the form of this 35lb 6oz specimen which topped a four-fish catch on the south-eastern venue.

The Suffolk-based rod who is backed by bait company Sticky, fished blow-back rigs in conjunction with small PVA bags.

He said: “I was hoping that the big common that resides in the lake was going to slip up during the session and things started off well when the first three nights produced three fish.

“However, the frosts then came and things went quiet and just one other fish graced my net. Fortunately for me it was a decent fish, in fact at first I even thought it was the biggie by the scrap it gave me.

“I was quite surprised to see a mirror go over the net cord but it turns out it's the largest mirror in the lake so I was well happy with that.

“I will hopefully do a bit more time on the lake through the winter but come spring I will have a more concerted go at it.

“For now though I’m more than happy with the mirror, even if it wasn't my target fish."

All the fish were taken using 16mm Sticky Baits Vor-tex boilies with bags of crumbed boilies and matching flavoured pellets.

The rigs were placed over a bed of various sizes of free offerings, pellets and particles.

PB 16lb 10oz bream from low-stock pit

LEE MCMANUS  ended a frustrating campaign - that had resulted in just two bites in over 720 hours of fishing - with this impressive 16lb 10oz personal best bream.

Measuring a mile in length and half a mile wide, Swithland Reservoir in Leicestershire is a notoriously hard water at the best of times - but has proven to be even tougher this year due to vast weed beds that all but choked the venue during the warmer months.

Even though the majority of it has now died away, Lee had to call upon all of the knowledge he’s gained over the last 17-years on the water to get the better of its resident bream.

After suspecting that the fish would be out in the middle of the lake and out of casting distance, the specialist from Birstall, Leicester, used a bait boat to get his simple leger rig and a couple of handfuls of hemp, corn and casters to a spot at 190 yards.

And it was these tactics that resulted in only his second bite in 30 sessions and beat his long-standing personal best of 13 years.

“I’ve been fishing this water since 1995 and it’s always been hard. But this year has been the toughest of all because the weed has been a nightmare. I was beginning to think that I was going to have to wait until next year to get another crack at the big ones,” said Lee.

“I persevered, though, as the bream will always continue to feed up until the water temperatures really begin to plummet.

“Not only was it a great feeling to get a bite after so many nights sat behind silent alarms, but to beat my old pb by 1oz made it all worthwhile.”

England's biggest pike landed

The biggest-ever English pike has been claimed from a Lake District trout fishery - but the captor released it without taking a photograph.

Jeff Dandy, who admits he did not realise the significance of the catch, said his main concern was returning the 46lb 1oz beast safely.

Had the weight been confirmed, it would be the biggest pike ever caught in England and would be just 10oz shy of the 20-year-old British record from Llandegfedd Reservoir in Wales.

Jeff, who is a competent pike angler despite favouring fly fishing, said he was not aware of the magnitude of the capture.

The Barrow-in-Furness rod told Angling Times: “I am absolutely genuine. I didn’t want any publicity - I’m not interested in that. My big concern was getting that fish back in the water. I can understand the doubters but somebody is going to catch it again.”

Top pike angler Neville Fickling said: “Esthwaite has produced pike to 37lb in the past. It’s gone through a bit of a lull but is now producing big pike again, so it’s not impossible for a fish like that to turn up.”

Esthwaite fishery manager David Coleman doesn’t believe Jeff would have made up the story: “We had a pike wash up dead earlier in the year that was well over 35lb.

“There are always going to be doubters, but we told Jeff to bring his scales in and we checked them against a set of Reuben Heatons and they were smack on. He’s an honest guy and I have no reason to doubt him.”

Jeff presented a floatfished roach from a boat and tamed the pike after a 20-minute battle using 30lb braid, a Shimano Baitrunner and a Fox Pikemaster rod.

He said: “It fought like absolute stink but when we got it to the boat and netted it I knocked the unhooking mat in the water in the panic and it floated off before I could get it back. To cut a long story short, we basically wanted to get the fish back in the water as quickly as possible.

“I was with my boat partner who’s in his sixties and I’m 56 - we’re not fishy-tale people!

“I’m kicking myself now. We did have a phone with a camera on it, but I didn’t actually realise at the time that it was near the record.”

Jeff, who said the fish was not bloated and looked immaculate save for a mark left by the hooks on its left jaw, added: “I’ve nothing to prove it so I’ll just have to catch it again - that’s going to be my mission.”

Damo's 93lb mirror

Damian Clarke has become the first English angler to bank two 88lb-plus carp from two different venues, after hunting down the famous Scarred Mirror, from Luke Moffat’s Les Graviers lake, near Dijon in France.

The huge specimen, which is one of the biggest fish in the world, breaks his previous personal best which stood at an already impressive 88lb after banking the huge Saussaie common last year. And it was that capture that sparked Damian’s interest in chasing another 80lb-plus fish.

“After targeting and catching the Saussaie common last September I wanted to catch something as big or bigger,” he told Angling Times. “The list of venues that hold carp of that size and are accessible to all are extremely limited. The Graviers holds the famous Scarred Mirror that was once the world record at 99lb. As well as this fish there is another over 80lb, so it seemed the obvious choice.”

The Korda operations manager quickly hatched a plan to single out the venue’s biggest resident. “Scar is a fish that is seen a lot in the margins and with the calm cold weather I just imagined him visiting an area that was well over 200 yards out from my swim. I'd not seen anything - it was purely an instinctive decision.”

After heading out in the boat to investigate the area close to some dense foliage he found a firm ‘sweet spot’ that he fancied. “The bottom of the lake has a lot of clay on it and I simply bumped the lead on the bottom until the lead didn't stick, indicating a harder spot. This was where I placed my hookbait. To complete the trap, I dropped 20 15mm Mainline Hybrid boilies and a very small handful of sweetcorn. I've been asked why I used sweetcorn on a lake that has a great many bream in? Simply, I wasn't too concerned about the bream - I had seen how corn was used to get an immediate feeding response in similarly cold water conditions on the Underwater 7 shoot, so I wasn’t about to leave it out of the baiting situation.”

Damian explained what he took into consideration when coming up with a rig to target one of the biggest fish in the World. “I'm not one for using really big hooks, I know that 60lb carp have huge mouths, but I’m confident in a particular setup. The rig featured a size 6 Wide Gape X hook, with a ring sliding on the shank and a small piece of shrink over the eye of the hook. The hooklink material was my ever-faithful Hybrid Stiff in 20lb, 5.5 inches in length. This setup is something both Danny Fairbrass and I have caught a lot of carp on from a variety of different waters. I threaded two standard bottom baits onto the hair. The reason I did this was, firstly, to be a little different - most anglers use singles or snowman type setups and, secondly, one of our lads has caught a great many big carp from Gigantica using multiple baits on the hair.”

The instinctive choice of location and carefully thought out tactics bore fruit in the very early hours of the Wednesday morning of Damian’s weeklong session. “The fact that it was slowly taking line against a tight clutch at over 200 yards was the first signal that it was a big fish. Just five minutes into the fight I was convinced it was the one. It took about 30 minutes to get the fish to within 20 yards and a further 15 arm aching minutes to get it near the net. From the first sighting, the huge scar that runs down its flank was clearly visible. It was the moment I'd been waiting for! Being attached to a carp you know weighs over 90lb was certainly intense. Luke, the lake owner, came round and with help from my fishing partner Clive Gibbins and another angler we carefully weighed and photographed the Scar on an extremely cold and misty November night at 93lb 8oz.”
As if the Scar wasn’t enough, Damian also banked mirrors of 20lb, 38lb, 40lb, 41lb, 48lb and 55lb 14oz! So, where next for Korda’s monster hunter? “Well, the obvious place would be Rainbow Lake but there is another beautiful 80lb-plus carp I would love to catch along with the Brown Fish at Graviers. Those, along with the huge creatures that inhabit Gigantica, will certainly keep me busy for the next few years!” he added.

Winter fifty

A FISH that rarely makes an autumn appearance showed just how big it can go in the colder months by tipping the scales at exactly 57lb.

The huge mirror was banked by Matt Jackson during the final night of a weekend session on a southern gravel pit.

The 25-year-old factory worker said: “It’s never been that big before and it’s been known as a bit of an autumn dodger — people always wondered how big it would go if it was caught at this time of year.”

The Salisbury rod fished from Friday to Monday over the Bonfire Night weekend, and had the take just before daybreak on the final morning.

“It’s quite a rural area so there were loads of fireworks going off to begin with and that killed it for the first two nights,” he said.

But a twitchy take on Monday morning, followed by a difficult fight through a weedy swim, eventually yielded the prized capture.

“It’s a pretty tough water,” said Matt, “top rod last year had nine fish and some people only get one or two a season, but this year I’ve had 22 bites and landed 18 different fish — but this one really was the icing on the cake.”

Matt fished a CC Moore Odyssey XXX pop-up on a stiff rig over 3kg of freebies at 150 yards’ range next to a weedbed.

Boilie and maggot cocktail produces 31lb mirror

Carp don’t get much better looking than this 31lb mirror caught by Martin Cannon during a session on the Linch Hill Fishery Christchurch syndicate in Oxfordshire.

Dropping in the closest free swim to where he’d seen fish showing, the 31-year-old Honda shift manager from Swindon baited a clear area with 0.75kg of CC Moore N-Gage XP boilies and 10 spods of dead maggots.

He then cast two rods over the bait and one off to the side with a 15mm boilie hookbait tipped with 5 maggots inside a small solid PVA bag. In the early hours of the following morning this rod burst in to life and after weeding him up, Martin had to wade out and coax his prize towards the waiting net.

His winning setup consisted of a 4ins Fox Coretex hooklink with all of the outer coating removed and a size 8 Gardner Incizor hook.

Perch session produces brace of 15lb barbel

DAREN Eyles never dreamt that a perch fishing session would result in him becoming one of just a handful of anglers who can boast of catching two 15lb barbel in a session – but that’s exactly what happened when he banked a brace of specimens topped by this 15lb 10oz personal best.

He started the day targeting the stripeys in a local Bedfordshire river with feederfished lobworms, but turned his attentions to barbel after his chosen quarry proved too difficult to locate.

Armed with the same set-up, that featured 6lb line and a size 4 hook, he moved upstream and only had to wait 10 minutes before the 15lb 10oz fish found his lobworm hookbait. Just 30 minutes later his tip pulled round again and another immaculate fish weighing exactly 15lb soon lay in the folds of his landing net.

“Absolutely nothing was happening on the perch front, so I moved into the swim that I knew held barbel because I had faith that the lobworms would lure them out from the overhanging trees,” Daren told Angling Times.

“I’ve always dreamed of catching one over 15lb, so to have two in less than an hour was incredible.

“Every time I talk about the session it just doesn’t feel real - especially after I started the day fishing for a completely different species.”

Three river barbel records in two hours

TWO HOURS was all specimen angler Nigel Bryans needed to smash the River Nene barbel record not once but three times with a trio of amazing fish totalling 49lb.

Bryans beat the venue’s previous best on his first cast when he landed a specimen weighing 16lb - a mere 1oz above Jamie Cartwright’s record fish caught last month on the east midlands river. He then broke his own record twice over when he followed this up with two monsters each weighing 16lb 8oz to round off an amazing session.

Fishing an unnamed stretch of the river in flooded conditions, the 49-year-old from Peterborough was using nothing more complicated than a hair-rigged luncheon meat hookbait on a running lead, with a size 10 Nash Fang hook and a 15lb Gardner hooklink. He fed no free offerings or loosefeed.

Nigel said: “I have caught a few fish from this section of river in the past so I thought I’d just cast out and give it a go. Within 15 minutes I was playing the first fish, the weight of which shocked me when I put it on the scales, but to then catch two even bigger fish so soon after was simply unbelievable.
I was going to pack up after the first fish as it was getting dark! It was my best session ever, and I’ve hardly slept a wink since, such was the adrenaline.”

Short session success

Stu Morgan proved you don’t to spend days on end camped by the lake to catch big carp with this 35lb common topping a four fish catch taken in a short morning session lasting just a few hours.

The Hampshire-based bait maker visited his local syndicate the day before and spodded out a mix of bait to a spot which he’d caught from recently.

He then returned the following morning at first light and cast out two blow-back rigs to the area.

“Within a couple of hours I was playing my first carp of the day, but unfortunately I lost it in the weed,” he said. “I need not have worried, though, as in the next two hours I managed a 15lb 14oz common, mirrors of 22lb 8oz and 19lb 8oz and topped it off with a fish known as The Long Common.”

Stu’s winning presentation consisted of 25lb Fox Coretex hooklinks attached to size 7 Arma Point SSSP hooks.

“If you can get a swim ‘rocking’ by applying bait on a regular basis then it often means you can reduce your time spent on the bank while keeping your catch results soring,” he added.

Big perch on the feed

PERCH personal bests tumbled at a host of stillwater venues this week as the prolonged lower temperatures and frosty mornings sent the species on the feed.

One man taking advantage of the seasonal bonanza was Wyn Jones, who was rewarded for persevering at a rock-hard Hertfordshire venue by landing a 4lb 11oz cracker following his only bite of a day session.

The 54-year-old gas engineer from Cheshunt had endured numerous blank days over the past three seasons at the water, with just one lost fish to show for his efforts. But all those countless unproductive hours soon melted away with the capture of the special fish, which beat his previous perch pb by a whopping 1lb 10oz.

“I was just pouring a final cup of tea before I started packing up, when the bite came out of the blue.  It was a fantastic fish, and I’m still buzzing from the capture to be honest. It’s incredible the difference catching just one fish can make to your morale – I was beginning to think I’d never catch a big perch from the venue, but now I can’t wait to get back there for another go!” said Wyn.

He used a simple swimfeeder rig on a running link, with 6lb mainline, a 4lb hooklink and a size 12 hook holding three bronze maggots.

Another angler who banked a new personal best on his only bite of the session was Lee Chatfield, who landed a 4lb 5oz fish from a southern Stillwater. The 36-year-old threw away the rule book and polefished a king prawn hookbait over a mix of chopped prawns, chopped lobworms and red maggots soaked in Sonubaits Krill liquid, introduced on a little-and-often basis.

“It was hard going because of all the recent rain, but one bite can change your day and makes it all worthwhile. The fish will be well over 5lb in February, when I will hopefully catch her again!”
The fish beats Lee’s previous best perch of 4lb, caught from the river Thames.

King prawns have also been doing the business for Bob Langford, who has had a rake of big perch from his own Springfield Meadows during a series of short evening sessions, topped by a 5lb fish taken last week.

Freelining his bait under overhanging trees did the business for Bob, who told Angling Times:
“Visitors to my lakes have had loads of decent perch over 3lb while targeting carp with prawns, so I thought I’d give them a go. In a couple of evenings last week I had fish weighing 3lb 12oz, two at 4lb 2oz and then the big one. I always knew that there would be a ‘five’ in there!”

Chilly lands Manor Farm's Spike

“This is a capture that has well and truly lit my fire!” These were the words of Ian Chillcott after capturing Spike from Richworth Linear Fisheries’ Manor Farm at 44lb 6oz.

Arriving to find the lake busy and no signs of fish showing he dropped in to a swim which an angler had just vacated but the first night passed without event.

“The next day I was watching the water when I saw a slick coming up in front of a swim to my right at about 75 yards range,” he said. “I quickly wound in one rod and took it, along with a net and a mat, to the peg and cast out a pop-up towards it. I’d literally just sat down when it ripped off and after a spirited scrap I landed a 24lb mirror.”

With the fish returned he wasted no time moving the rest of his tackle into the swim and soon had all three rods in position. He then baited the spot with 1.5kg of a new prototype boilie from Mainline Baits in a mixture of 10mm and 15mm sizes along with half a kilo of matching Response pellets.

“In the middle of the night I had another screaming take and I lifted into what felt like a tuna! It just kept charging off on powerful runs and stayed deep. After 20 minutes I eventually gained the upper hand and slipped it into the net. I was delighted when I realised it was Spike because it is one of the lake’s jewels. And at weight of 44lb 6oz it is my biggest ever Oxfordshire carp.”

Chilly mounted pop-up hookbaits on hinged-stiff rigs tied with size 5 Arma Point SR hooks and a 30lb Fox Illusion hook section with a prototype hooklink material boom section.

“The fact that it was caught while field-testing new rig components for Fox and bait for Mainline was a great confidence booster. The capture was made all the more special as it was taken during a filming session for a segment for a new DVD that will be released in 2013,” he added.

40 year old leather landed

THIS 30lb 10oz leather has to be one of the oldest carp in the country and is believed to be at least 40-years-old.

It was caught by Luke Griffiths during an overnight session on the Little Bundy’s day-ticket water in Cambridgeshire.

Targeting a spot on the edge of an overhanging tree in 20 feet of water just 10 yards from the bank, the 24-year-old carpenter baited the area with 30, 18mm Mainline Baits Cell boilies. Over the top of this he positioned a matching hookbait on a size 6 Fox Arma Point XSC hook with a Line Aligna Adaptor pushed over the eye and a 25lb Coretex hooklink.

“I have been dabbling on the lake on and off all year but decided to have a concerted winter campaign to try and catch the leather,” said Luke. “This was only the second night of my campaign and I was surprised to catch it so quickly as it doesn’t get caught very often.  Not only is it a stunning looking fish, the fact that it is nearly twice as old as me makes it a really special capture.”

23lb river pike on roach deadbait

JAMES Sarkar only had one bite during a recent session on the River Severn – but he wasn’t complaining as it resulted in this 23lb personal best pike.

The 20-year-old Sparsholt College student presented a floatfished roach deadbait on a pair of size 4 trebles to tempt the impressive predator, which beat his previous best of 22lb 8oz, from the near margin of his swim on the midlands waterway.

His father, Dilip, has also been getting in on the pike action over the last week and landed a 20lb 10oz specimen from an undisclosed river.

43lb 8oz linear ends run of blanks

MARTIN Pick brought a welcome end to a run of 20 blank nights with the capture of this 43lb 8oz linear from Wellington Country Park in Berkshire.

After a quick lead about the Leicestershire-based rod located a small clear area surrounded by dying weed at 100 yards range.

He then baited the spot with a kilo of mixed 10mm, 15mm and 18mm DT Baits Cold Water Mix boilies and cast a 15mm fluoro white pop-up hookbait over the top.

“When I arrived I had actually seen a fish show down the other end of the lake, but one of the other anglers told me that in the last couple of nights there had been a number of carp showing in the area of the water which I’d been concentrating on so this was where I headed to.

“It had been a long time since my last take from the lake so it was a massive relief when my alarm burst into life shortly after midnight,” Martin told Angling Times.

“The fish weeded me up almost straight away and I had to go out in the boat to try and free it. Once I got over the fish I managed to get it moving again and because it was a full moon I could just make out a huge ball of weed and a decent looking carp coming up towards the net. I’ve never had a 40lb-plus linear before so I was buzzing to finally put one on the bank. Hopefully, a 40lb common won’t be far away now as I know there are several in the venue.”

Martin put his faith in a reverse combi-rig which consisted of a 20lb Korda N-Trap and 25lb Mouthtrap hooklink attached to a size 6 Choddy hook.

Town centre chub action

You don’t have to venture far from civilisation for picturesque fishing, as this chub proves.

The upper Great Ouse in Buckingham town centre was the venue that produced this scale-perfect 5lb 3oz fish for Adam Perna.

The 27-year-old tiler from nearby Bicester in Oxfordshire trotted maggots at dusk.

He said: “It wasn’t the biggest chub in the world at 5lb 3oz, but it was taken right in the town centre, in the park, and my mate managed to get a great photo.

“It just shows what sort of fishing there is on your doorstep, you don’t have to walk miles into the countryside to get decent chub.”

Chod rig fools 44lb 3oz common

This impressive common had evaded capture for over a year until Simon Bloys recently caught it at a weight of 44lb 3oz from a low-stock Northants syndicate water.

After spotting signs of fish activity at 40yds range, the local 48-year-old general manager introduced around 20 CC Moore N-Gage XP boilies and then cast matching pop-up hookbaits on chod rigs over the top.

“The take came the next morning and even though I was fishing with a tight clutch the fish was stripping line with ease,” he said. “It took me through numerous weedbeds but after nearly half an hour I gained the upper hand and guided it in to the net.”

Simon tied his rigs with Korda Mouthtrap and Kaptor Choddy hooks.

Double figure Trent barbel brace

IT’S NOT often that big fish can be compared to London buses….but that was certainly the case for Richard Isaac, who broke his barbel personal best twice in one afternoon last week after years of trying to do so.

The 50-year-old sales manager completed the remarkable feat during a floodwater session on a stretch of the River Trent at Dunham Bridge, with the biggest of his brace pulling the scales round to 15lb 8oz.

His other heavyweight specimen weighed in at 13lb 2oz, and both fish comfortably beat his previous best for the species which stood at 11lb 2oz.

Richard, from Boston in Lincolnshire, told Angling Times: “The river was well up following recent rains, pushing through with a nice tinge of colour - it just felt right for a bite. That said, my day didn’t exactly start well, with the first two fish I connected with shedding the hooks in a snag – of which there are many in the Trent. I then landed a reasonable fish of about 7lb, before the ‘big girls’ made an appearance.”

“I would have been more than happy just to have upped my personal best, so to smash it twice was a dream come true. It has taken me four years and hundreds of hours on the bank to beat it – all I can say is that the gods must have been looking down on me!” he added.

A hair-rigged 10mm Korum S Pellet proved the winning hookbait for Richard, who fished this in conjunction with a 5oz open-ended Fiskys Feeder filled with pellets and plugged at either end with groundbait soaked in Bait Tech Corn Steep Liquor liquid and softened halibut pellet.

At the business end he used 12lb Fox mainline and a size 10 Pallatrax Stonze hook attached to a 6ft hooklink made from 15lb Drennan Double Strength mono.

River anglers enjoying big pike sport

Reservoirs may steal most of the limelight when it comes to big predator catches, but two anglers proved the spoils on offer from wild running water venues by landing huge river pike.

Leading the way was Gwyn Davies, who tackled a stretch of the Upper River Wye to land a stunning fish weighing 29lb 12oz.

Float legering a sardine in slack water just off the main flow, the 44-year-old from Fordingbridge in Hants, took the impressive fish on his only bite of the day at 10.30am.

Gwyn, who has a Wye pike best of 32lb, said: “I spent the first hour fishing sink-and-draw, but I switched to float legering because the water was cold and so I figured a static bait might work better. When it came, the take was a very positive downstream run which I hit straight away. The fish stayed deep for most of the fight, but provided a few scary moments when it neared the net by thrashing half out of the water. My brother Mansel was on hand to help and did a fine job netting it first time.

“Neither of us fully appreciated the fish's weight until he started to lift it from the water. We weighed it with two sets of scales, but it fell agonizingly close to the magic 30Ib.”

The fish was beaten with the help of 17lb Bass Pro Excell mainline, a 28lb trace and a pair of size 6 semi-barbed trebles.

Slightly further to the east on the River Severn near Worcester, Mark Humphries banked a fine quartet of pike in just two hours of fishing, including a brace scaling 27lb 4oz and 20lb 8oz.

After two quiet hours of the resident zeds failing to show any interest in his deadbait offerings, Mark (54) reeled in, picked up his lure rod, which was rigged up with a rubber shad, and on just his third cast latched into the biggest of his haul.

“I felt a heavy bang on the rod, and it then went solid, and I thought to begin with that I had hooked the bottom. Then the tip bounced a couple of times and I realised it was a fish! When it got close to the bank I could see the fish was only very lightly hooked on one treble, so I was praying that it would stay on!” said Mark.

“It was a really healthy-looking fish. It would only have to eat a few more chub and to be carrying a bit of spawn come the end of the season to be nearing to 30lb,” he added.