Charity day reward for Ian Russell

One good deed deserves another, and so it proved for Ian Russell as he scored this 38lb mirror during a charity session.
Chris Wake bid £1,000 in an Anglers Against Cancer auction to fish with the popular carp tutor, and Ron Buss, at Oxfordshire’s Orchid Lake.
The trio settled into the Alamo swim and Ian caught one of the biggest fish in the lake on the first day of the 48-hour session.
“This is the first time I’ve fished here,” Ian told Angling Times from the bank. “It’s been a brilliant first trip and a brilliant first fish.”
He added: “I saw a fish jump at about 95 yards in open water and cast a single pop-up to it.
“About 90 minutes to two hours later, just before it started to get dark, it went off.
“The line and the clutch was so tight that it started bleeping, then stopped, and as I ran down to the rod I thought ‘did it or didn’t it?’... and then it whizzed off again.
“It was a hectic fight to say the least but eventually we got it in. Ron and (venue owner) Marsh Pratley recognised it as a fish called Big T which normally goes 33lb or 34lb, so we did a bit of a double take when it went 38lb, but we weighed it twice and that’s what it was.”
Ian used his trusty flicky rig with a size 8 Avid LSK hook and 12mm Sonubaits 24/7 pop-up.