45lb carp reward before dark

At this time of year it’s great to get a fish under your belt and head home before dark – and it’s even better when that fish weighs 45lb.
“It was meant to be an overnighter,” said Adam Honeysett after catching this big mirror carp from a windswept pit in southern England.
“But after catching the fish so quickly I decided to go home rather than do a night, so my session only lasted four hours!”
The Kent angler added: “I arrived at around 1pm and I decided to do a lap of the lake to see what I could see.
“On my way round I was lucky enough to spot a fish ‘head and shoulder’ in an area where there was no angling pressure, so I decided to go in there.
“I put three single hookbaits out to the area at about 110 yards, placing them about 20 yards apart. After about an hour, the bobbin on the middle rod pulled up tight and after a hard, slow, heavy battle I landed this 45lb mirror.”
Adam fooled the fish on a 10ins hinged stiff rig made with 20lb Rigmarole Camh2o and a size 6 Fox S3 hook. Hookbait was a 15mm Nash Amber Strawberry pop-up screwed into a Rigmarole bore ring.

4lb 6oz perch from wales!

Rivers and stillwaters across the UK continue to produce some of the best big-perch fishing ever, with both worms and lures accounting for huge stripeys.
First angler on this week’s list is Graham King (pictured), who made a visit to a stillwater in South Wales to smash his personal best with this 4lb 6oz specimen.
He and two friends fished a combination of maggots and worms to land large numbers of perch. They had 10 fish between them, and Graham backed up his four-pounder with another perch of 3lb 5oz.
A simple leger rig coupled with a soft Avon-style rod and a size 2 circle hook was the secret to the Worcester angler’s success.
“The trick to catching these perch was using a set-up with minimal resistance, so that’s why I was fishing slack lines with a really long drop on my bobbins,” said Graham.
“I struck at any movement on my indicator because perch are such aggressive feeders.”
Father and son Gary and Sam Edmonds know a thing or two about targeting predators on lures and the two fish pictured below are the fruits of a couple of short sessions on a southern river.
First came Gary’s 3lb 15oz perch, which was backed up with other fish to 2lb 5oz and is his 100th fish over the 3lb mark.
A couple of days later the pair returned, and this time it was Sam’s turn to bank the biggest perch, weighing 3lb 12oz.
Gary used a chatter bait rigged with a Berkley Havoc Pit Boss trailer – a Berkley Havok Rocket Craw was Sam’s lure of choice.
“It was really windy, which made it really hard to feel what was going on, but it’s definitely worth getting out there even if the conditions aren’t perfect,” said Sam.
“This is the fourth different perch weighing 1oz under the 4lb mark we’ve caught this year.”

Bluebell ‘50’ mirrors Terry Hearn’s Mary

Nineteen years to the day after Terry Hearn’s capture of Mary, Kev Hewitt slipped the net under his own 55-pounder.
At just an ounce under the weight of Terry’s record-breaking Wraysbury carp from 1996, Kev’s capture of Dave from Swan Lake on the Bluebell complex in Northamptonshire had a remarkable symmetry about it.
Kev, who first saw the iconic photographs of Mary on television show Tight Lines as a 12-year-old, was even using ESP’s Terry Hearn- named rods.
“I was only 12 years old but I remember seeing Terry and the iconic photo,” said the Swindon angler. “Fast forward 19 years to the day and I find myself holding a new personal best of 55lb 12oz. Dreams can come true!”
The 31-year-old added: “The lake had been fishing slow and there had not been a fish out in three weeks.However, the weather looked bang on. Strong winds and moody skies is big-fish weather, especially at this time of year. It could just be the catalyst needed to switch it on, so when I saw the forecast it was a last-minute decision to go down to Swan Lake for a 48-hour session.
“I had my first bite from a 23lb common off a baited area at around 90 yards and then had another fish of 37lb 6oz on a mini ESP PVA bag with a single grain of ESP artificial corn balanced as a hookbait.
“On the second morning the same rod was away again and this time a slow, steady big-fish battle resulted in the new pb slipping into my net.
“Three fish in 48 hours is a great result, topped with the big one that means this was a session I will
never forget.”
The Hinders manager, who caught Dave last autumn at 53lb 4oz, used a new CC Moore PVA bag mix inside mini solid bags and tied a 3ins ESP Sinklink hooklink to a size 6 hook.

Midweek joy at 45lb pb carp

This beautifully photographed autumn carp gave Chris Abbott his second forty of the year during a fruitful session.
The 24-year-old set a new complex record at Norfolk’s Nar Valley Fisheries with this 45lb 2oz mirror from Lake Geneva, and also caught a 30lb 12oz common and two other mirrors of 37lb 4oz and 33lb 12oz during his 72-hour stay.
Having lost two fish on the Monday of his midweek session, Chris’s dejection turned to elation as he snared the 30lb 12oz common and a 33lb 12oz mirror on Tuesday morning.
The feeding spell repeated itself on Wednesday morning as a 37lb 4oz mirror at 7am was followed by the big one just over an hour later.
Chris, from East Dereham in Norfolk, told Angling Times: “At 8.15am I received a single bleep and saw my rod-tip pull round on the solid clutch.
I then had to walk back at least 20 yards to get the stretch out of my line and guide the fish away from any danger.
“When the fish was at around 100 yards it started fighting and, as I eased it closer to me, I was sure it was a good one. As it came in close to the margin
I caught a glimpse of it and I knew then that I was attached to something very special. My legs had gone to jelly at this point while the fish was trying to flat-rod me.
“Finally, around 20 minutes later, the big mirror slipped over the net cord.
I was absolutely buzzing! I phoned my mate David Selley, who was already on his way down to photograph the 37, and told him the good news.
“We weighed the beast and she went 45lb 2oz. I was absolutely over the moon to have broken my pb for the second time this year and to have caught my second forty from
this venue.”
Chris fished to a small island of rocks at 120 yards and baited with about 1kg of a prototype boilie from Wensum Baits. He fished 15mm hookbaits on Korda IQ D rigs.

16lb 7oz river barbel slips up to two anglers

This 16lb 7oz barbel is proof that some of the UK’s biggest specimens live in small rivers.
Luke Ayling followed up his recent capture of a 16lb 1oz fish from the River Thames when he switched his attentions to its much smaller   tributary, the Thame in Oxfordshire.
He scaled down bait size, too. Instead of the large homemade hookbaits that he uses on the Thames, the local specialist chose to incorporate Lone Angler Ocean Pride 14mm barrel baits wrapped in matching paste into his combi rig.
His Thame barbel beats the current river record of 16lb 2oz caught last year. And to show just how good he is on a variety of waters, Luke went on to land his first-ever barbel from the River Itchen – a fish of 13lb 4oz.
“I’ve really been on a roll recently and you’ve got to ride your good fortune while you can. Every big-fish angler knows that it doesn’t last for long,” said Luke.
“I can honestly say that my Thame fish was the hardest-fighting barbel I’ve ever hooked. The battle was a little hairy, to say the least.
“Then, just to cap it all off, a friend and I decided to have an hour’s barbel fishing on the River Itchen after a very successful day after grayling, and I achieved a very
long-standing goal of catching a real chalk stream barbel.”
Incredibly, the very same barbel that gave Luke his River Thame record also provided a day to remember for Philip Almond when he took part in a match with Cuddesdon Mill Village Anglers Association.
After losing a big barbel within 30 minutes of the beginning of the contest, he stepped up his tackle.
That proved to be the right move as his legered piece of meat was taken by the 16lb 7oz fish along with two chub of 4lb 14oz and 4lb 4oz, which combined to make a winning haul for Philip.

The Boss out at 52lb 12oz, joined by latest Fryerning 40lb carp

What better way to end a lake’s two-week fishless streak than with a 97lb brace?
That’s what Dave Cope did on the Main Lake at Essex’s Fryerning Fisheries where, as on many of the country’s carp waters in recent weeks, bites had been very hard to come by.
The 52-year-old quality engineer snared the Boss at 52lb 12oz, followed a few hours later by a new forty for the venue at 44lb 4oz.
“It was a catch of a lifetime, a fantastic fish from a fantastic fishery,” said the Milton Keynes angler who is on his first season at Fryerning.
Having found a slight shelf at 50 yards, Dave put out a “fair amount” of spod mix and presented Enterprise plastic hookbaits in small PVA bags.
He said: “My first carp came just into dark on the second evening. It was a decent take and the fish went on a few mad runs, rolling on the line a couple of times, but it didn’t manage to lose the barbless hook.
“Bailiff Carl Carlucci netted the fish and as we peered inside the net we both knew which fish it was – the Boss. After the fish was weighed and photographed, I just couldn’t fish.
“It was an amazing, fantastic, special fish – I was quite happy to sit there, drink tea and chill all night.”
After some encouragement from Carl, Dave sorted his rig and bait and cast out again. “For that I owe him,” said Dave, “as six hours later, around midnight, the same rod on the same spot went again.
“After another steady fight with the fish trying to venture round an island I managed to slip the net under the second fish at 44lb 4oz. It looks like it is a new forty for the lake and has not been out since August 2014.”

Big zander run in the family...

Catching big zander runs in the family for David Benfield, seen here with his latest fish of 14lb 3oz.
The brother of James, who banked a record 21lb 5oz zander back in 2007, tempted the giant on a legered bleak deadbait from the lower River Severn near his home.
The catch sets a new personal best for David, who had waited years to catch his first double after banking numerous fish to 8lb.
“I’ve tried to catch a double-figure zander ever since I was a kid, but I still have a way to go to beat my brother’s fish!” he said.

2lb farm pond roach is ‘such a special fish’

Leading specimen angler Dai Gribble went ‘back to his roots’ to land a 2lb 2oz roach from a local farm pond.
The Korum-backed angler had been invited to fish by the farmer, who had caught big roach from the tiny water but never weighed them.
Dai, who banked a string of huge tench to 14lb 13oz and a 20lb 10oz bream earlier this year, waded his way through vast numbers of small rudd and roach at the Staffordshire venue before striking gold as the sun went down.
“I can’t believe that I’ve travelled as far as Scotland to catch big roach, only to catch a fish like this from a tiny, local water,” he said.
“It was so enjoyable to relive the excitement and the feelings I used to get as a boy when I cast my float out, not really knowing what was going to take the bait next.”
Dai fed a combination of maggots and sweetcorn, and it was the latter bait, mounted on a size 14 hook tied to 3lb mainline on waggler gear, that saw him land the pristine 2lb redfin.
“It’s hard to put into words how rare fish like this are in my area,” Dai continued.
“My personal best for the species stands at 3lb 7oz, but on that occasion I knew exactly what I was fishing for.
“This latest 2lb 2oz fish almost means more to me than the three-pounder. It was a farm pond fish with a real sense of mystery surrounding it, and the catch really sums up what fishing is all about.”

Another amazing week for monster barbel!

Rivers across the UK continue to produce some of the best barbel of 2015, with a host of specimens hitting the bank.
The first, setting a new personal best for the species, fell to Nottingham’s Richard Easom who targeted the middle reaches of the River Trent and got what he was looking for – a 16lb 14oz specimen.
After a biteless four hours, a cast under a tree sent his rig, baited with an 18mm 3 Foot Twitch Dubby boilie, into a deeper hole than any of his previous casts had found.
This proved crucial, as the huge fish took his bait three hours later.
“I set up the camera ready for the pictures and I wasn’t overly excited as I thought it was around 10lb.
“But as I struggled up the bank I was gobsmacked by the sheer width of the fish. I could have put a saddle on her,” Richard said.
“There are rare moments that define you as a specialist angler, and this capture is certainly one of those for me.”
Shaun Harrison also targeted the river and topped a prolific spell with a 14lb 11oz barbel.
He returned to a stretch that hadn’t produced a single bite in two years, but proved why his Quest Baits Questrami boilies are the business when he topped a list of recently-caught doubles to 13lb with the fine specimen.
Moving up to the Severn, Dale Thomas had a session to remember when he set a new river pb.
The dairy herdsman from Hereford arrived at the river at midnight and, after introducing two handfuls of boilies around a snag, didn’t even get the chance to set up his tripod before a 5lb 2oz fish made its way to the net.
He landed a steady stream of fish, including chub, until he struck gold with a 13lb 7oz barbel on a 3 Foot Twitch 18mm boilie.
“I reached down to get the net and wasn’t prepared for this beauty that beat my previous best from the river that stood at 11lb 13oz,” said Dale.
Surrey’s Mike Lyddon had an old stick of Peperami to thank for the capture of his biggest-ever barbel from the Severn at 13lb 6oz.
He travelled to the river in search of zander, but after landing small fish he turned his attentions to barbel and used the popular supermarket offering to great effect with the help of 15lb braid, a braided 15lb hooklink and a size 8 hook.
“I chucked out a couple of single hookbaits and my first fish went 11lb 4oz. This was followed by the big one, and I finished off with a little scamp of 10lb 8oz,” said Mike.
The Hampshire Avon, long a favourite among barbel enthusiasts, saw Lee Chatfield get among the big fish and land a new personal best for the species.
He used a bait dropper to deposit a bed of Sonubaits pellets and broken boilies into a gravel hole between two weedbeds and netted the 13lb 6oz fish after it took a Code Red dumbell boilie.
Leicestershire’s Rob Thompson needed only four hours on a Midlands river to fool barbel weighing 13lb 4oz and 10lb 15oz.
The Korum-backed angler hair-rigged a crushed boilie and used pva bags full of pellets and crushed boilies. This is his fifth different fish over 13lb in a couple of months.

Two chub for close on 16lb!

One of the biggest chub braces ever – fish of 8lb 4oz 8dr and 7lb 10oz – has been banked by specimen angler Robert Young from a Christchurch AC stretch of the Dorset Stour.

The Bournemouth-based computer engineer visited the fast-flowing river every day for three months to introduce a handful of boilies.

“I had fed quite a few swims since the summer and knew there were big fish present, as I had already caught three chub to 7lb 5oz, but having not fished this particular swim before I wasn’t expecting a catch like this,” said Robert, who used 12lb mainline and a Drennan fluorocarbon hooklength tied to a size 8 hook.

“I used a PVA mesh bag of loose offerings, and wrapped another around the lead so as not to spook the fish when it hit the gravel.”

The rod-tip began twitching within minutes of his arrival and moments later he was netting a new personal best after the bigger of the two chub took his single hair-rigged boilie. He had to wait for over an hour for his second fish, the seven-pounder.

The ‘eight’ is a new club record, and a catch Chub Study Group secretary Iain Nairn believes will be remembered for a long time.

“This stretch of river is well capable of producing a big fish but to get two in a session from the same swim is incredible. This will go down as one of the best catches in chub fishing history,” he said.

Another angler to celebrate this week was Mark Jones, when his floatfished lobworm, intended for perch, brought a bite from a huge 8lb 1oz chub.

The Coventry-based man began his epic day on a stretch of the River Great Ouse controlled by Milton Keynes AA.

While the light held he fished for roach and dace, but once darkness fell and the venue’s resident big perch began to put in an appearance, the 49-year-old stepped up his tackle to incorporate a 3lb hooklink and a size 16 hook into his simple waggler rig, looking for a big stripey.

“I’ve been fishing for many different species all my life and I know that this won’t happen again. I really thought the chub was going to be over 7lb, but for it to be over 8lb is simply incredible. I had to check my scales three times just to make sure they were right,” he said.

Four forties to 49lb 10oz and six thirties in 48 hours

Three forties and a thirty in an hour gave Justin Greig an incredible 60-minute haul of 168lb – and his biggest fish was still to come.
Having blanked for two days at Cambridgeshire’s Holme Fen, Justin ended up with 10 carp averaging over 39lb in the final 48 hours of his stay.
In a manic morning spell Justin bagged mirrors of 45lb 2oz, 46lb 4oz, 41lb and 36lb 6oz. And 24 hours later, in the final hours of his four-night stay, he banked a 49lb 10oz mirror.
The Bank Bug-backed angler said: “I ended the session wet and cold but I was the happiest fisherman alive. Five thirties and five forties to 49lb 10oz – wow! A red-letter session I will never, ever forget.”
Justin, who was fishing from the Reeds swim, baited heavily with maggots seasoned with chilli and a liquid sweetener.
After two blank nights, the first bite came at 10.30am on the third day, but the fish promptly fell off.
A 33lb 8oz mirror followed almost immediately, but a second dropped fish made Justin swap his 360 rig, baited with a white pop-up and 12 maggots, for a multi rig.
“Something had to change,” said Justin.
“I needed a low-sitting pop-up rig like the 360 but one that I knew would nail them, so I came up with a multi rig using a size 6 Bank Bug Demon hook.”
A 30-pounder followed at dusk, but the real action kicked off the following morning as four carp occupied nets and slings at the same time.
“The first of the crazy four fish was what we thought to be the biggest and it turned out to be 45lb 2oz – a UK forty, I was buzzing!
“Next fish was the fatty, which on close inspection was deep and had big apple-slice scales. It weighed 46lb 4oz and was a stunner – it was like a dream, two UK forties in one session!
“Next fish – could it be? Yes! 41lb – three forties one after another and I still had a good fish in the net! I hoisted it up on the scales and it read 36lb 6oz.”
That evening, a 36lb 10oz mirror made it eight fish for the session before the biggest carp of the trip – at 49lb 10oz – arrived on the last morning. With just minutes left, a 41lb 8oz mirror made it a perfect ten.

Two sessions lead to two personal bests

Lightning struck twice for Paul Bennett when he broke his personal best for the second time in as many sessions at his Cambridgeshire syndicate water with this 43lb 8oz mirror carp.
The Stockport rod set up in the same swim where he took a 41lb 4oz pb on his last outing and laid down a good helping of Madbaits Pandemic and Nutz boilies over a large area at 140-150 yards.
Two rods were fished with pop-up hookbaits on IQ D-rigs and the third with a critically-balanced bait inside a solid PVA bag.
These tactics accounted for mirrors of 17lb 4oz, 26lb 8oz, 26lb 4oz and 43lb 8oz.
He said: “I’m still in angling heaven. To get one pb in a season is mega but to get two in a month – well, it just doesn’t get any better.”

Crab tempts 16lb 9oz Thames barbel

A ‘no-feed’ approach worked a treat for Ellis Forrester when he banked this giant 16lb 9oz barbel.
Fishing a stretch of the River Thames in Oxfordshire, the Abingdon angler decided against a heavy prebaiting campaign and instead fished just two Oxford Carp Baits GS Crab 18mm boilies wrapped in paste along with a PVA bag of chopped boilies.
This was attached to a simple 3oz lead rig consisting of 15lb ESP Syncro line and a 2ft-long 15lb ESP Strip Teaze hooklink.
The fish, which was taken during an overnight session on the waterway, set a new personal best for the 28-year-old heating engineer, and is just 1lb 9oz short of a river record for the species set by Guy Robb in 2005.

That’s no pike, Mark!

Angling Times features editor Mark Parker got the surprise of his angling life when he hit into this 12lb-plus brown trout on a drop shot rod while perch fishing.
Mark caught it during a perch fishing feature at Blithfield Reservoir in Staffordshire.
 “The fish had the light drop shot rod bent double and it didn’t surface for at least 10 minutes or so,” said Mark. “My boat partner Ian and I thought it was a huge pike, but a brief break in the fight saw the fish surface and it was then that we realised it was a huge brownie.”
He beat the trout on a braided mainline and 8lb fluorocarbon leader, and the lure was a Savage Gear 8cm Cannibal Shad on an 8g jig head.
“Due to the constant rocking of the boat, the precise weight could not be recorded,” said Mark.
“Still, it was a pb trout that could potentially have been the new fishery record for the species.”

Orion falls to Adam Penning at 43lb 2oz

“The one I really wanted!” That’s how Adam Penning described this 43lb 2oz mirror carp which brought a successful conclusion to his autumn campaign on the Quarry in Essex.
The well known angling coach has been targeting the 22-acre venue for the last six weeks, and after photographing the fish known as Orion for one his clients last summer he set his sights on catching it.
He said: “My client, Sam Croft, caught it at a spawned-out weight of 31lb and it was one of the most impressive carp I had ever seen.
“Orion’s last capture was in April, and with that being its only visit to the bank this year we all had a feeling he could be big and even break the 40lb barrier for the first time.”
Following a string of captures, including a few repeats, Adam’s perseverance was finally rewarded.
“I was beginning to wonder what I had to do to get one of the lake’s real units – the answer was, of course to keep going, keep catching and it would come.
“At 6am Friday morning, the planets aligned and the incredible fish rested, beaten in my net. Orion weighed 43lb 2oz and was my 40th fish from the lake. Not only was it a forty-pounder, but also the most desirable carp I have seen in a long time – perfect tail, sloping head and an underslung mouth.
“I was, and still am, totally stupefied. Thank you, carp gods!” he added.

Three twenties mark piker’s return to rivers

Dilip Sarkar showed no signs of rustiness after a seven-month break from angling when two sessions resulted in three 20lb-plus pike topped by this superb 22lb 8oz specimen.
The Angling Trust fisheries enforcement manager waited until October to make his first cast of the season on a local river, where he banked the biggest of his three fish on a  paternostered deadbait.
Things got even better a week later when a trip to the River Severn resulted in the capture of a stunning pair weighing 20lb and 21lb 7oz.
Dilip’s book, River Pike, is still available to buy from Harper Angling Books.
Visit: www.harperanglingbooks.co.uk/RiverPike

First-ever zander a ‘13’

Ronny Hawkes’ first ever zander will be one he will never forget, with the fish tipping the scales at a whopping 13lb 12oz.
The giant was taken on a roach deadbait during an evening session spent on a tidal section of the River Trent.
After making the two-hour journey to the waterway from his home in Darlington, the 28-year-old bus driver had to wait only 20 minutes before his rod was wrapping round and the huge predator was battling against his 20lb Daiwa Sensor mainline and size 8 Drennan carbon treble hooks.

8-year wait for 46lb 10oz carp

After eight years of trying, Ted Bryan broke his carp personal best with this 46lb 10oz mirror from a southern stillwater.
The Sydenham-based big-fish hunter and former Drennan Cup Champion arrived on the Sunday afternoon to find the lake packed with anglers, so he had to drop into one of the few remaining free pegs.
The night passed without event, so when the crowds had thinned out the next day he upped sticks to try a different spot.
“Once I had got set up I went off to work on the lakes, cutting out swims,” Ted told Angling Times.
“I was working through the day and fishing at night, and because the clocks had gone back I was struggling to get my rods out before dark.”
He eventually had three rods positioned 40 yards out with 20 Nash Bait TG boilies over each one.
“I could hear fish crashing out all night in my swim, and at 4am I received the fastest take I’ve ever had. I picked up the rod and the line just continued to spill off the reel. Even when I tried to stop it, it just carried on going!
“I kept the pressure on but whenever I gained any line the fish stripped more off. It took over 10 minutes to get it in front of me and I thought it was going to be a small fish because of how fast it was. But when I pulled the net in it was huge – I even struggled to hold it for the photos.”
He added. “At 46lb 10oz it beat my previous personal best by 2oz.”
Ted’s successful presentation consisted of a double 15mm Nash Bait TG Active boilie hookbait mounted on a size 8 Fang X hook, and a 15lb Hardcore hooklink with a 2oz inline lead.

Mighty sturgeon tops 11ft and weighs 700lb

This enormous prehistoric-looking head belongs to one of the biggest sturgeon ever landed.
The huge specimen, more than 11ft long and estimated at 700lb-plus, was caught on Canada’s mighty Fraser River near Chilliwack in British Columbia.
It’s one of the largest fish ever to be recorded during a 15-year study of the species carried out by the Fraser River Sturgeon Conservation Society (FRSCS), and gave Dan Lallier, of Onoway, Alberta, a day he will never forget.
“I set the hook and I watched the fish jump clear of the water and my stunned expression soon turned into ecstatic screams as my adventure played out,” said Dan.
The sturgeon took a fish bait and battled for just over an hour before coming to the side of the boat.
“I knew that white sturgeons on the Fraser can grow to immense sizes, but I still found the experience hard to believe,” Dan continued.
His realised his fishing dreams thanks to his guide, Yves Bisson of the BC Sport Fishing Group (BCSFG), located in the Harrison Hot Springs Resort & Spa on the shores of Harrison Lake.
“What a beautiful, healthy fish – my congratulations to Dan, whose encounter is a great example of the world-class fishery we are privileged to engage in and protect through conservation measures,” said BCSFG boss Tony Nootebos.
The group used recognised International Game Fish Association (IGFA) standard protocols to measure and tag the white sturgeon, that will now be included in the research database used to track and monitor the species.

3lb 8oz Broads roach biggest of the year

The biggest roach of 2015 and a handful of huge river specimens have kick-started the season for one of the nation’s favourite species.
This 3lb 8oz example was caught from the prolific Broads system by carp angler Jake Baxter.
He had the surprise of his life when the only bite following eight gruelling sessions on Oulton Broad in Lowestoft, Suffolk, produced the huge specimen. It took a liking to a snowman rig baited with a trimmed-down 18mm bottom bait tipped with a smaller pop-up.
It was an offering intended to deter any roach or bream, but the 26-year-old local angler certainly wasn’t complaining when he slipped the new personal best on to the scales.
“I had a few small bleeps and pulls and then the rod screamed off.
I thought it might be a bream but it seemed to be to going too fast, then I saw the red fins, thought ‘whoa!’ and realised it was a true roach,” Jake told Angling Times.
“A couple of pike anglers came over to help me photograph it and confirmed what it was. This was a really solid fish like a chub and it was 2ins-3ins wide. Laid down on the net next to my arm it was double the length of my hand and reached more than halfway up my forearm!”.
Jake used 14lb mainline, a 15lb coated braid hooklink and a size 8 hook with a running lead set-up.
The theme of shock captures continued as a 2lb 6oz roach fell to a barbel angler on the River Ribble.
Lee Hitchon used a 15mm Source boilie to set a new personal best on the tidal section of the North West venue. It was the only bite of the day for the 30-year-old from Preston.
“The rod-tip started bouncing and I thought I had a small chub on, but then this massive roach came up. I’ve had them to 1lb 8oz before on the Ribble, but nothing like this.
“I was using a PVA bag full of micro pellets which must have attracted the roach,” said Lee.
Fishing-mad Labour MP Jon Cruddas, who is part of the All Party Parliamentary Angling Group and a supporter of the Angling Trust joined the list of anglers netting big roach when he spent a day on a chalk stream in Hampshire.
Alternating maggot and corn hookbaits, the biggest specimen of the day at 2lb 7oz fell to his fishing pal Vaughan Lewis, of Thames Water, while Jon set a new pb with a redfin tipping the scales at 2lb 2oz.
 “It was a really special day – not only did I catch my first fish on a centrepin, but I was fortunate enough to catch what most coarse anglers consider to be a fish of a lifetime,” said Jon.