236lb nile perch in amazing battle

Tim Webb described the capture of this enormous 236lb Nile perch during a spectacular action-packed trip to Uganda as ‘the greatest angling achievement of my life.” 

The 59-year-old was fishing beneath the dramatic Murchison Falls, on the Victoria Nile, when the huge predator took his livebait offering in the gorge immediately below the white water.

Tim, who did battle with the fish for 40 minutes, told Angling Times: “Once I hooked the perch we had to follow it downstream in the boat for 1km, through rapids, in order to find water slow enough to land it safely. The river was very high, and that made fishing conditions more challenging.” 

The Crawley, West Sussex rod banked another giant perch of 117lb as well as a 72lb semutundu catfish during his trip. All the fish fell to 8oz-10oz livebaits which were bounced along the rocky river bottom with 1oz leads attached in order to hold them down in the flow. 

Tim used Rovex Masterline/Walker John Wilson Monster Tamer rods, Shimano Stella 1800 SW reels loaded with 80lb Rovex Braid, 100lb Black Magic leaders and two-hook rigs comprising a size 19 Gamakatsu single and an Owner ST66 2/0 treble.

Tim is no stranger to doing battle with massive fish overseas. The Nile perch is the fifth freshwater fish species weighing over 200lb that he has landed down the years, the others being giant freshwater stingrays to 620lb, Siamese carp to 222lb, arapaima to 465lb and Mekong catfish to 410lb.

In spite of this, he ranks this latest heavyweight as the highlight of his impressive big-fish career. He added: “I consider this to be my greatest angling achievement, and it came on my very first visit to the Victoria Nile.

“It was a remarkable trip, and we saw lots of big game while fishing, including elephants, giraffes, hartebeest, buffalo, crocodiles, hippos, waterbucks, warthogs, goliath herons, egrets and fish eagles.”

The magnitude of Tim’s latest catch was not lost on angling legend John Wilson, himself no stranger to globetrotting for huge foreign species.

He said: “Having fished Murchison Falls many times in the past, I know what an incredible feat it is to land a beast of this size.

“It’s a remarkable fish, and hats off to Tim.”