Opening night fifty

ON THE opening night of his new East Midlands syndicate water Jerry Purse landed the lake’s biggest resident at a huge weight of 55lb 10oz.

Faced with a large amount of Canadian pondweed and blanket weed, the 37-year-old from March in Cambridgeshire decided to use a naked chod rig setup to ensure that his hookbait was presented effectively.

“I baited an area roughly half the size of a tennis court with a scattering of Denham Baits Red Enzyme-X boilies at midday and then rested the swim during the day,” Jerry told Angling Times. “I eventually cast out at 7pm and then had the take just two hours later.

“The fish weeded me up twice during the fight and at one point I thought I’d have to go out in the boat to land it. Thankfully it came free, but I’d seen its tail break the surface in the weed and by the size of it I had a very good idea which fish I was attached to.

“Once it was out of the weed it plodded around for a bit before I netted it on the first attempt and smashed my old pb of 31lb.

“The fish in the lake started spawning a few days later so I definitely caught it at the best time,” he added.