3lb 1oz perch from southern waterway for Sam Edmonds

Heavily flooded rivers are hardly the ideal place to catch big perch but Sam Edmonds defied the odds when he took this 3lb 1oz fish from a southern waterway.

The Abu Garcia angler had been run down by illness but decided to battle through the discomfort and target predators on his local venue.

High water levels and a raging current did little to boost his confidence but he managed to tempt the specimen with a yellow twin tail lure.

“The conditions were far from ideal but that one bite made the effort all worthwhile,” said Sam, who used 0.12mm Berkley Nanofil to a 17lb wire trace.