Proof that big perch thrive in canals too with 4lb 4oz fish

Pete Webster further proved the big-fish potential of the nation’s canal systems when he banked this huge 4lb 4oz perch.

The dedicated specimen hunter from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, concentrates his efforts on venues in the North of the UK and slipped his net under his second canal-caught perch over 4lb using floatfished a lobworm.

His bait was presented close in to his own bank at the bottom of the near shelf and these were tactics that also tempted a tench that weighed in at 4lb 8oz.

“This is the culmination of a two-year quest to prove that my first perch over 4lb from a northern canal wasn’t a fluke,” Pete told Angling Times.

“I fished away from my baited area as I’m convinced that that the big perch don’t like to feed here and really hang back.”