Biggest pike of the season landed

The biggest pike of the season has been landed in the shape of this 44lb 12oz specimen.

Captor Brendan Guilar caught the giant predator – which he described as ‘the fish of a lifetime’ – after it devoured his herring deadbait at Ravensthorpe Reservoir in Northamptonshire.

To cover as much water as possible the 65-year-old suspended his hookbait under a drifter float which eventually buried from sight around 70 yards away from his boat. 

Speaking exclusively to Angling Times, Brendan described the heart-stopping moment when his float sailed away.

He said: “I’d already taken a couple of small jacks in the morning, but when I wound down into this fish I knew I’d hooked something completely different.

“This pike stayed deep from the off, then it went bananas – it piled continuous pressure on to my rod and made several long, deep runs. 

“After around 15 minutes it surfaced and I thought it was a good thirty. It wasn’t until I’d got it in the net 10 minutes later that I realised I’d caught a true monster.”

On the scales, the pike fell just 2lb 1oz short of the current UK record and obliterated his 26lb 8oz personal best for the species. 

Brendan added: “Once it went back I sat back in my chair and smoked a whole vape pen – I needed to calm myself down! It was the fish of a lifetime!”

Brendan used a Greys Prowler 2.75 test curve rod coupled with a reel loaded with 40lb Drennan Piker braid. 

His terminal tackle consisted of an Eddie Turner drifter float and a Drennan trace armed with size 4 treble hooks.