45lb 7oz Porky from Monk's Pit in dawn showdown

Ian Fisher had to hang on tight as the largest fish in the lake tried its best to elude him.

The 45lb 7oz mirror, known as Porky, put up a real scrap in a dawn battle at Monk’s Pit in Cambridgeshire.

The Bedfordshire angler, who is enjoying his first season on the venue, took the new PB from a swim called Christmas Trees after catching a thirty and a twenty from the peg a couple of weeks earlier.

He said: “Odd fish showed on dark and I received odd liners during the night, telling me there were fish about.

“Just before first light the middle rod pulled tight and line was being taken. There was no need to strike hard with it powering off like it was – I just knew it was a bit special as I’d not felt anything fight like this.

“I had to slow it up as it kited to my towards a bay called No Carp Corner, but luckily I started to get some line back and it stayed clear of the nearside marginal reeds.
“Once under the rod tip it went on another long run with lots of head shaking. I got it slowly back under the rod tip with the net waiting, only for it to go on another surging run.

“Under the rod tip for the third time it rolled and then lay there beaten. I could see it was a lump and one of the Monk’s A-Team but I didn’t know which one until I got some help with the weighing and photographs.

“I couldn’t believe how just one fish could make a man so happy!”

The 43-year-old fished CC Moore’s Equinox boilies on a snowman rig made with Fox Camotex  and a size 6 Fox Arma LS hook.

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