‘I thought it was a snag. Then it started to move’

Lewis Porter admitted to being ‘on cloud nine’ after boating this new personal best 31lb 8oz pike during a session afloat on a large Fenland gravel pit. 

Fishing alongside boat partner Matt Rand on the 100-acre venue, the pair caught more than 30 pike during an action-packed day, all of which fell to lure tactics.

Lewis, who lives in Lincolnshire and works for tackle giant Fox, said: “When the fish hit the lure everything just went solid. To be honest I thought I had hooked a snag…but then it started moving! 

“After a few minutes it rose up in the water next to the boat and Matt said ‘That’s the biggest pike I’ve ever seen’, which certainly got my knees knocking. We didn’t see the fish again for 10minutes as it proceeded to pull the boat around, and I was a bag of nerves the whole time because I was using a lure with only one set of trebles. Thankfully everything held firm and we soon had the beast in the net.” 

Lewis used a 14cm-long Fox Rage Pro Shad Natural Classic lure in Super Natural Perch colours to tempt the huge predator, which beat his old personal best by 20z. 

Another piker celebrating a pb this week is Stewart McCandlish, who slipped his net under a huge 36lb 2oz fish five hours into a day session on an undisclosed venue in the Lake District. 

The 26-year-old, from Sedbergh in Cumbria, legered a popped-up herring at 40yds to beat his old best for the species by more than 17lb. He mounted his baits on size 6 trebles and a 40lb wire trace.