Huge zander to a deadbait

Big fish enthusiast Geoff Collins has continued his breath-taking run of form - catching this 18lb 5oz zander from a Midlands stillwater.

Only a month earlier the Northamptonshire rod landed the biggest barbel brace of the year with fish of 18lb 10oz and 15lb 12oz from an undisclosed river, and he struck gold once again when the impressive predator fell for his floatfished deadbait.
Bright skies and clear water provided less than ideal conditions, but undeterred he headed to a deep spot which had a good track record for producing specimen zander.

The first bite of the day came to his boat partner, Chris Ebden, resulting in a zander of 9lb. Shortly afterwards Geoff received a tentative take.

“I initially thought it was a small zander as it didn’t put up much of a fight but it suddenly realised it was hooked and made repeated efforts to bore for the bottom,” said Geoff, who was used 15lb mainline, a 20lb Drennan 7 Strand wire trace and size 8 treble hooks. 

“When I got a glance at the fish it was clear it was enormous and thankfully it went into the net on the first attempt. Once on the boat I realised I’d how lucky I’d been as the hook was only just in its mouth.

“I don’t have that much time to get on the bank with family and work commitments but this catch –which beats my previous best for the species by 6lb - shows that a little research can be vital. It’s always better to spend an hour in the right place rather than 10 hours in the wrong one.”

With the temperatures expected to plummet in the coming weeks Geoff has now set his sights on increasing his pb of another predatory species: “It’s been a fair few years since I had a really big perch so I’d love to bag one around the magical 5lb-mark,” he added.