Schoolboy lures top catch22 perch

Teenager Jake Ball has caught one of the biggest perch of the season so far, kicking off his Angling Times Catch22 reader challenge in style.

Jake (14), from Huddersfield, was fishing an early-morning session on a stretch of the River Don when he spotted the 3lb 8oz specimen attacking smaller fish in the clear water.

Casting a Z-Man Finesse TRD lure to the showing fish, it didn’t take long for it to take the bait.

“I saw the perch smashing little fry on top of the water, so I cast out and my TRD didn’t even touch bottom before the perch screamed off towards the far side.

“When I was bringing it in I noticed a lot of similar perch that followed it right to the side as we got it in the net,” revealed Jake, who added several two-pounders to his tally during the trip.

The perch is the biggest of its kind to be entered into our exclusive Angling Times Catch22 competition so far.

Earlier this year we launched a brilliant new event where we challenged our readers to catch 22 different types of fish before the end of the season.

Open to all anglers whatever their age and ability, the Catch22 Challenge is designed to inspire anglers to try new tactics and catch as many fish species as they can from every type of water.

The list includes some of fishing’s favourite species such as roach, carp, bream and tench, as well as some tougher challenges guaranteed to stretch your angling abilities to the max.

Angling Times Editor-in-Chief, Steve Fitzpatrick, said: “Catch22 has really captured the imagination of the UK’s anglers and thousands of readers have already chalked off more than a dozen different species.

“As we move into autumn, there are lots more species which become easy targets, and any angler who can catch all 22 target fish before the end of the season can truly call themselves a top all-rounder – good luck!”