Super Trent barbel and carp double
The River Trent is well known for its barbel, but the carp sport it can offer is not to be sniffed at either.
Robert Bown proved that beyond doubt when he landed this sizeable 15lb 10oz barbel and coupled it with a carp weighing 27lb 8oz.
Both captures fish are personal bests for the Nottingham angler, who fished Redemption boilies presented alongside a PVA bag filled with free offerings.
And that wasn’t all. Robert, who is sponsored by 3 Foot Twitch Baits and used size 6 hooks to tame the two fish, caught another carp of 12lb 3oz and a second barbel at 13lb 6oz in the same productive session.
3lb 14oz roach is the biggest of the season
A slight temperature drop has sent shoals of big roach into a feeding frenzy in what has been a phenomenal week for catches.
Despite a combination of blustery winds and frosty conditions, ravenous redfins have been on the feed across the UK.
The largest roach banked fell to James Brown, the season’s best so far at 3lb 14oz.
It took a washed-out pink Moretakes Promatein Liver pop-up boilie presented on scaled-down carp tackle, proving that sometimes bigger baits are needed to get through to the larger roach. The NHS paramedic from Suffolk told Angling Times: “I had been enjoying a Friday afternoon to Monday morning carp session at Highbridge Fisheries in Norfolk, but by Sunday all I’d had was a low double.
“I noticed quite a few roach topping on the shelf line on Sunday morning where I had been baiting up all weekend, and decided that if it was a quiet night for carp I’d have a go.”
By Monday morning the roach could still be seen breaking the surface over James’ spot 25 yards from the bank, so after introducing more corn, pellets and Moretakes Promatein Liver boilies he cast out his free-running pop-up rig. “I spoke at length to one of the syndicate specimen roach hunters about my intention to get the feeders, maggots and quivertips out, but he suggested that boilies were more effective on a running lead for these fish,” James added.
“After following his instructions it wasn’t long before I had a twitchy take which I knew was a roach, but because I was using gear intended for 40lb carp the fight was fairly subdued.
“Considering I hadn’t initially planned on fishing for the roach I was very happy with the result.”
A huge piece of breadflake was key to the next roach capture – a chunky 2lb 10oz redfin for specimen hunter Simon Daley.
The 42-year-old roofer trotted the enticing bait along a far-bank crease on a stretch of the Hampshire Avon, and received a positive bite just before nightfall.
He said: “I had a take about 30 yards down the run and I knew when I set the hook that it was a big fish.
“It surfaced halfway up the run and my legs just turned to jelly.”
Arron Seder was next to cash in on the recent roach form with a 2lb 4oz specimen.
It was a new personal best for Arron, who targeted a southern chalk stream with maggots and hempseed.
A single white maggot proved to be the downfall of the fish, as well as a 5lb chub, a bag of grayling and two small perch.
Just a couple of weeks after catching a 3lb 2oz roach in the annual Avon Roach Project match, Mark Everard visited a stretch of the Bristol Avon to take another redfin, this time weighing 2lb 4oz.
Making the most of a tight 20-minute feeding window, Mark legered breadflake over liquidised bread to take the fine fish along with a string of others to 1lb 12oz.
Finally, Andy Childs rounded off the list of specimen roach catches when a 2lb 1oz fish picked up his hookbait during a crucian fishing session on Godalming AS’s Johnson’s Lake in Surrey.
Monster perch on the munch!
The perch season has exploded into action in one of the best weeks so far for this exciting species.
Last week we reported Matt Atkins’ phenomenal 5lb 6oz stripey... and now he’s followed it up with a stunning 5lb 5oz fish.
In the same session, the predator ace also landed one of 4lb 3oz and a couple of three-pounders.
Matt said: “It’s unbelievable really. I was happy to have caught the 4lb fish, but to catch this latest 5lb 5oz perch is incredible.”
Targeting the same Lea Valley venue as before, he put his faith in a feeder-fished lobworm.
Chris West also got in on the big perch action with a 4lb 12oz fish from Kings Weir fishery on the River Lea. Chris told Angling Times: “I initially thought the fish was a pike, but my legs turned to jelly when I saw it turn and realised it was a perch.” The fish nailed a 7.5cm Fox Curly Tail soft plastic lure in a perch pattern, and is a personal best for the Herefordshire angler.
Edward Matthews added to the week’s perch haul with a 3lb 13oz specimen taken from a Midlands reservoir. He used a vibrantly coloured jig to bring the bite from an equally flamboyant golden fish.
Sam Witan continued the action with a cracking 3lb 11oz perch from Reading’s Wasing Estate Fishery. Using a lobworm on a jig head, Sam was twitching his bait along the deck when the striped specimen engulfed his bait.
A mobile approach was the key to success for Dan Eaves, who landed a 3lb 7oz perch alongside several other good fish. Targeting a Thames tributary in Surrey, Dan found a few pockets of fry and cast out a chartreuse Kopyto Shad. After a very subtle take, Dan hit into the fish, and after a few heavy head shakes he knew it was a quality specimen.
Simon Rumsey rounded the week off with an ancient-looking 3lb 5oz perch.
The fish, which is a new personal best for Simon, took a Savage Gear lure and fought hard for the safety of marginal snags.
After the capture, Simon said: “I was totally blown away and was pretty much in a daze the whole of the next day.”
7lb 9oz Stour chub from free stretch
Despite foggy and freezing cold conditions Paul Potter still managed to persuade this chunky 7lb 9oz chub to feed.
Targeting a free-to-fish stretch of the Dorset Stour at Longham, Paul fed a bed of hemp and cast a bolt rig with a Hinders Elips pellet hookbait mounted on a size 8 Drennan Specialist hook to help winkle out a bite.
“The fish came from a free stretch, and considering fishing can be an expensive game that some can’t afford – especially with the cost of some of the club books down south – I wish good luck to those who want to target this river and try and catch a new personal best like I did,” said Paul.
Biggest pike of the season hits bank at 39lb 3oz
The biggest pike of the season so far has been caught from Chew Reservoir – a 39lb 3oz monster.
The huge predator was banked by 46-year-old Paul Slade during a two-day session at the Bristol water. It’s the venue’s largest recorded pike of 2018 since its gates were opened to bait and lure anglers at the beginning of October.
Paul struck gold on the second day of the trip after the first provided very little – a lone jack pike providing the only sport for him and his fishing buddy.
Paul told Angling Times: “On day one we fished Walley Bank, and although my mate managed a jack, I didn’t have a single run all day.
“We decided on a new location for the next day and got to the bank for 6am.
“I dropped my gear at my chosen swim but a quick search with the torch suggested there might be too much weed directly in front of me, so reluctantly I moved further down the bank to try and avoid it.”
Once settled in his new swim and finding out it was clear of weed, he used a bait boat to deposit his deadbaits in an area with a depth of 9ft.
Come 9.30am and Paul’s bite alarm sprang into life – indicating something large had picked up his joey mackerel offering.
“My strike met with solid resistance and the fish almost immediately came to the surface and kited left – even at distance you could see it was big, but as it got closer it simply got bigger,” Paul explained.
“It gave a great account of itself and I was more than happy to let it do its own thing a bit further out, high in the water and away from the weed.
“That ploy worked a treat, and I took the opportunity to hopefully steer it past the weed into the waiting net.
“My fishing buddy Ralph netted it first time – no dramas, apart from the fact that I was staring at the back of a fish so wide you could ride on it!
“The rest of the day was a bit of a haze, but I managed a jack, a double and then a very hollow
27-pounder.
“I was over the moon with the day, especially seeing it’s been so tough on Chew this term.”
Sweet sixteens! amazing week of big barbel
A host of 16lb-plus barbel have been landed this week in the latest instalment of what’s turning out to be a bumper autumn for specimen anglers.
Many rivers may still be running unseasonably low and clear, but that hasn’t stopped the species from feeding hard in many venues. As expected, the Rivers Trent and Thames are once again dominating proceedings.
The largest fish of the week – a 16lb 7oz beauty – fell to Bracknell, Berkshire angler Mike Taylor, who smashed his barbel personal best twice after making the 300-mile round trip to fish two nights on the Trent at Gunthorpe.
He told Angling Times: “I had three barbel averaging 6lb on the Friday afternoon, followed by an 11lb 12oz fish at 5.30pm.
“On the Saturday morning I managed a 12lb 10oz barbel, then a new personal best of 13lb 10oz.
“I was already over the moon with this, but the rod quickly lurched over again and I was into another really hard-fighting fish.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes when it topped in front of the net, and was mighty relieved when it was finally on the unhooking mat.
“Weighing in at 16lb 7oz, my good day had just turned into a great day with another Trent pb.
“I packed up at about 11am on Sunday morning without another bite, but no matter – I was a very happy bunny.”
Another angler making the most of the late-season feeding spree this week was Reading, Berkshire specimen hunter Richard Cottrell, who banked a superb barbel weighing 16lb 4oz.
Targeting his local stretch of the River Thames, Richard cast a Pallatrax Multiworm boilie hookbait hair-rigged to a size 6 Gripz hook into a deep hole in the hope of a quick bite.
He said: “It was a thrilling, screaming take in the dark, and I was unsure of the fish’s size until I lifted it from the water.
“I’ve only caught bream and chub from this stretch recently, so this barbel is a real turn-up for the books.”
Scarborough, North Yorkshire angler Duane McClymont also got in on the big-fish action with a thickset 16lb 1oz barbel from a tricky stretch of the River Trent. Duane fished boilies into the main flow on a 4oz running leger rig incorporating a 6ft fluorocarbon hooklink.
He told Angling Times: “Just after dark the bream moved over my bait and I had four in quick succession. A bit later, my alarm let out a single beep and I lifted into what I thought was another bream…. until it powered off!
“As it lay on the mat I was blown away by the sheer size of the fish.”
14lb bream falls for micro pellet
Brett Longthorne added to his recent run of impressive form when he scooped up this cracking 14lb 1oz bream during his latest session.
The Manchester-based angler targeted a Northern stillwater with a Method feeder approach with scalded micro pellets around the frame to tempt the fine fish into a feed. He used a 10mm 3FT wafter on the hook which proved too irresistible for the slab.
Brett said: “At 7.30am I had a take, and after a short fight I managed to net the bream, which is my third over the 14lb mark this season.”
Three stripeys for 14lb!
An angler targeting a Lee Valley water has produced one of the greatest hauls of perch ever recorded in the form of a trio of stripeys totalling more than 14lb in weight.
The phenomenal triple-catch was made by local angler Matt Satkins who made use of feeder-fished lobworm tactics to tempt specimens of 4lb 1oz, 4lb 10oz and 5lb 6oz to the net – in what he described as ‘the fishing session of a lifetime.’
Matt’s 5lb 6oz monster
The 41-year-old’s determination in catching a new personal best paid off in spades when he discovered the perch’s patrol route on his chosen water, but little did he know he was about to enter the record books with the capture of three huge sergeants – of which the largest is now the biggest recorded perch of the season so far.
Speaking to Angling Times, an elated Matt described his session.
He said: “I’m absolutely over the moon.
“The five-pounder is a new personal best and the catch of a lifetime – probably equal to catching a 3lb roach!
“I had fished this location last year but could only catch a 2lb perch but once I found their patrol route this year, bites started to come thick and fast.”
Targeting an area of thick weed, Matt enticed his quarry by used a running feeder rig which was loaded with chopped worm and dead maggots.
On the business end was a section of lobworm mounted on a big hook attached to a 6lb fluorocarbon hooklink.
“In the morning I caught the two 4lb fish and I was already over the moon with this result,” Matt added. “Later that day I received another take and I knew from the off it was a much bigger fish.
“The classic headshakes followed and I had to play it hard to steer it away from the dense weedbed. “The moment it went over the net cord was one of sheer relief – it really was the fish of a lifetime.” Matt used two light barbel rods coupled with light bobbins to help catch all three.
Paste fools monster chub
A PASTE-wrapped Sticky Krill dumbbell boilie has helped Alex Warren put this chunky 7lb 4oz chub in the back of the net.
The West Sussex-based angler targeted the prolific Throop Fishery on the Dorset Stour to claim the fine chevin, which beat his personal best by exactly 2lb.
He told Angling Times: “The pictured fish was caught an hour before sunset, after trickle-feeding boilies and resting the swim for a couple of hours.
“I had barely put the rod on the rest when it knocked once and whacked round. “After a short but intense fight, I scooped the net under a massive, weed covered fish.”
Season's biggest roach landed.
An adapted inline maggot feeder rig has accounted for the biggest roach of the season –this 3lb 2oz beauty.
It was caught by Hampshire-specimen ace Dan Gale from a tidal stretch of Dorset’s River Frome and is a fish that he described as being ‘at the top of the list of all the catches that he’s ever made.’
Speaking exclusively to Angling Times, the 35-year-old discussed his session and the capture of such a rare and special roach.
He said: “The bite came during a short evening trip when the tide was a couple of hours into the ebb.
“After a fruitless 30 minutes in one swim, I moved downstream into an area with deeper water, and used a small baitdropper to deposit a couple of pinches of hempseed.
“I then cast my adapted inline maggot feeder with a short hooklink onto the spot, and another just downstream of this into the middle channel.”
For a hookbait, Dan threaded a fake maggot onto the shank of a size 14 barbed hook. No live maggots were used on the hook to help him avoid catching smaller ‘nuisance’ roach.
Dan added: “The bite came on the downstream rod after just a couple of minutes, and straight away I knew it was a special fish. It rolled mid-river early in the fight, and I was under no illusion that I had hooked a monster.
“After a really dogged scrap, the fish finally came to the landing net and I was able to take in its true dimensions.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to catch some really special fish over the last couple of years, but I think a river ‘three-pounder’ might just be top of the list!
“It is a new personal best and one that I do not envisage breaking any time soon! I think this fish is up on a pedestal, compared to the other fish that I’ve caught.”
Dan wins a weekly Drennan Cup award for the catch, his third of the season so far.
Perch deadbait does the trick for 14lb zander
A FRESH perch deadbait helped Andrew Stacey put his new personal best zander in the back of the net.
It weighed 14lb 9oz and came from a stretch of the lower River Severn during a three-day session on the waterway.
The 39-year-old told Angling Times: “This fish is by far my best catch this year.
“It fell to a small freshly-killed perch which I fished at the bottom of the marginal shelf.
“The bite came at around 1am, and was followed by another three takes that brought me another couple of smaller zander.”
Avon roach project thriving with 3lb 2oz beauty
This year’s Avon Roach Project annual fundraising match has been a massive success, highlighted by the capture of a spectacular 3lb 2oz redfin.
The specimen was caught by Dr Mark Everard from a stretch at Winkton Fishery, on the Lower Hampshire Avon, and secured victory for the lifelong roach enthusiast in the ‘friendly’ match.
Mark said: “‘Match’ is perhaps too strong a word, as these much-anticipated occasions are really a meeting of old friends and roach ‘obsessives’.
“I was stood on an exposed bank trotting all day. The pain was worth it, both for a fantastic catch and to support the great cause.
“The big roach sank the float decisively and, like most good roach, rolled straight away. I had to navigate it through two weedbeds before finally bringing it to net. It looked enormous!”
Mark trotted breadflake under a 5g Avon float and fed liquidised bread, a tactic that accounted for a further seven roach to 1lb 1oz.
The fundraiser took in matches on other stretches of the Avon and raised £5,500 for the Avon Roach Project to help continue its work of replenishing roach stocks and habitats along the river.
The project’s Trevor Harrop said: “In the early years of the event roach never featured in catch returns. Now they are doing so in increasing numbers each year. Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together?”
Trevor also revealed how the project plans to build on its success. “As well as growing on roach, habitat improvement continues with the excavation of a huge fry bay at Sopley, on the lower Avon,” he said. “We’ll also be spearheading an initiative to increase the effectiveness of gravel spawning sites in the Avon in partnership with the EA.”
Incredible week for Autumn perch
The capture of a host of specimen perch this week proves that now is the perfect time to target these popular predators.
A superb 3lb 12oz stripey tops the list of big ‘threes’ reported to Angling Times this past week, and it was banked by Korum-backed ace Rob Thompson during a recent excursion to a Midlands river.
To help tempt a big perch into the swim Rob drip-fed maggots to attract shoals of bait fish – a tactic that didn’t take long to prove its effectiveness.
Rob told Angling Times: “I’d just nipped out for a quick session and fancied one particular swim where I’d had a big perch snatch a dace off the hook a month or two back. Unfortunately, someone was already there so I had to try somewhere completely new.
“The swim was fairly pacey, so I introduced the maggots and some chopped worm just off the main flow.
“I cast out my lobworm hookbait and soon after I received a powerful take.
“This was the biggest perch I’ve had for quite a few years, and probably the hardest-fighting example of the species I’ve ever caught.
“It shot straight across the river to the far bank and then kited upstream, just missing a tangle of branches.”
Rob’s perch-crunching tackle consisted of a Korum Neoteric tip rod, 6lb Xpert reel line to a 4lb 12oz hooklink and a size 6 Korum Xpert hook.
Further south, and just a week after banking a pair of perch weighing 3lb 5oz and 3lb 7oz,
Phil Askew returned to his favourite stretch of river in Suffolk to bank a 3lb 6oz beauty.
The perch fanatic used a bait dropper to introduce a bed of chopped worm into his swim, and started to receive regular bites 30 minutes later.
He said: “I caught this perch on my last cast of the morning, and thought at first that a jack pike had grabbed my lobworm hookbait.
“It wasn’t until I saw it on the surface that I realised it was another giant perch, so I was relieved to see it hit the landing net cord shortly afterwards.”
Meanwhile, on the Thames, a budget rod set-up enabled Brandon Rich to bag a 3lb perch.
Targeting his local stretch of river at Caversham Lock, the 18-year-old joiner from Reading worked a 7cm lure close to the bank to bring the take.
His tactic also produced other, smaller perch as well as a pike and a chub.
Similarly to Rob and Phil’s catches, avid Angling Times reader Robin Piper had worms to thank for the capture of a cracking 3lb 4oz perch.
The angler from Kent targeted a bed of lily pads on his local club water, and didn’t have to wait long for a take.
He said: “I cast next to the pads, thinking a perch would be lurking there, and my hunch paid off five minutes later when the tip arched over.”
Robin’s tactics, which incorporated a running leger rig and a size 12 hook tipped with four dendrobaena worms, also helped him hook an even bigger perch which was sadly lost in a tangle of lily tubers.
Shock roach tops 2lb mark
After landing two nice perch, Frank Partington was ‘over the moon’ when he realised he was connected to this stunning 2lb 10oz roach.
The fish was caught from a Leigh and District AA water, and is a new personal best for Frank, who fished a groundbait feeder with a bunch of maggots on the hook.
Biggest fish ever to be caught on a pole?
GIGANTIC 200lb-plus catfish has been caught – on the pole!
This is the eye-opening image of possibly the biggest fish caught on the tactic – it certainly sets a new personal best for captor Sebastian Nash.
The 36-year-old from Parcieux, France, hooked into the beast, along with a string of giant sturgeon to 190lb and koi to 40lb, during an adrenaline-fuelled seven-day trip at a private lake in Italy.
The Colmic-backed angler told Angling Times what it was like to catch monsters on a method usually associated with taming fish under 20lb.
He said: “It’s absolutely exhilarating – for me there isn’t a bigger adrenaline rush than playing a big fish on the pole.
“The fight of the biggest sturgeon (190lb) was mental, as it took me 90 minutes to tire out and bring to the bank.
“It nearly snapped me off twice as it swam round a big rock in the water!”
To cope with the powerful surges from every giant hooked, Seb had to step up his gear, and fitted his 13m Colmic Karper pole with 5mm solid latex elastic – which he quadrupled in his top kit to help fight against the power-packed predators.
His mainline was braid with a breaking strain of more than 165lb, and this was attached to a large hook carrying herring, sardine or anchovy deadbaits.
“I caught steadily throughout the week, but found that mornings were the most productive, so I planned to be up extra-early for the last couple of days,” Seb added.
“That next morning I had a very positive take, followed by a mad 30-minute fight when the fish took me all over the swim and stayed deep.
“When I finally got it to the bank I had to call my friend over to help me hoist this monster on to two large unhooking mats – a monster that turned out to be a new personal-best catfish measuring nearly three meters in length.
“I couldn’t believe it.
“Later that day I hooked a smaller catfish which eventually broke my pole!
“I think that was a clear sign that I’d caught too many big fish that week,” he added.
Pristine pair of river perch
Phil Askew took advantage of favourable conditions to land these two beautiful perch weighing 3lb 7oz and 3lb 5oz from a Suffolk river.
He told Angling Times: “It was a good session which saw me catch fish right from the start. Normally it takes a bit more feeding to draw the fish in.”
The cracking stripeys were caught on quivertipped lobworm presented on a size 6 Drennan Specialist wide gape hook.
Old barbel rod stands the test
A 12-year old rod was put to the test when Wayne Nunn latched into this 14lb 12oz barbel.
Wayne caught the cracking fish while fishing a swim on the River Colne he had been prebaiting for two weeks.
The painter and decorator from Hillingdon told Angling Times: “I didn’t even have to wait till dark as the rod tore off after just 15 minutes. As a result I went home early and celebrated with a glass of wine!
“I bought the rod more than 12 years ago so I thought I’d give it a dust off. It was obviously a good luck charm.”
Wayne used an 8mm pellet wrapped in Sticky Krill paste to induce the bite from the big bertie.
Crucian gold among the silvers
John Lewis was left shaking after putting this colossal 3lb 12oz crucian in the net.
John was fishing a southern club water with his son, and was catching plenty of bream and roach before the large bar of gold put in an appearance.
He told Angling Times: “It was the biggest crucian I’ve ever caught – I’m still shaking now at the thought of it!”
The fish was lured on three red maggots fished on a size 14 hook over a bed of bloodworm groundbait.
Go after big chub after species has an incredible week
The season’s best chub of 8lb 5oz tops a bumper list of fish caught in a fantastic week for the species.
Backing-up the mid-8lb fish were a pair of seven-pounders alongside several more of 6lb-plus to round off a tremendous run of form on southern rivers.
The 8lb 5oz fish was landed by southern specimen angler Matthew Hartshorne, who connected with his prize on a night fishing session.
At the time of Angling Times going to press, Matthew was unavailable to provide additional details of his catch, although it was banked from a section of the River Thames in Maidenhead.
This massive fish was followed by a thumping 7lb 2oz chub caught by Leighton McDonnell.
Targeting the River Great Ouse, Leighton fished with paste wrapped around a cork ball suspended 18ins off the bottom.
Speaking of his capture, Leighton said: “I fed 50 pieces of paste across two swims after hearing the fish splashing as it searched for fry in the margins.
“It was on my third cast when I hooked this very fat chub that spewed out fry in the net!”
Stewart Barnes also had a sensational session, landing a 7lb 6oz chub alongside a 10lb 1oz barbel. Targeting a gravelly spot behind streamer weed on the River Great Ouse above Bedford, Stuart legered two 10mm boilies wrapped in paste alongside just four boilies fed in a PVA bag.
The third ‘seven’ fell to Paul Restall in the shape of a 7lb beauty. He hooked into the fish from a stretch of the Hampshire Avon, but Paul believes there were even bigger fish in his peg.
“I spotted a shoal of large chub, and I’m sure some of these were even bigger than the fish I landed!” he said. He legered an 8mm halibut pellet over 4mm and 6mm feed alongside crushed hemp and halibut groundbait to tempt the impressive specimen.
Patience was key for Andrew Tredgett, who landed a cracking 6lb 13oz River Lea chub on his latest outing.
He said: “I located a shoal of big chub and barbel under a bush and fed them pellets for a week before casting a 15mm boilie on a short hooklink to nail the fish.”
To round off a sensational week, Derren Burr scooped a stunning pair of chub including a monster of 6lb 15oz and a smaller one of 5lb 10oz. Fishing the River Great Ouse, the angler from Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire made the most of a quick evening session and landed his fish in consecutive casts using 8mm halibut pellets alongside PVA bags filled with 3mm samples.
FIVE record sharks... one amazing trip
These images depict one of the greatest shark catches in UK history, when four anglers boated six record-breaking six-gilled sharks in just 48 hours.
One remained unweighed, but the other five giants scaled 204lb, 237lb, 242lb, 320lb and 512lb – all of these eclipsing the official British record that was taken way back in 1976.
Adrenaline junkies Phil Riley and John Owen, along with Sea Angler magazine’s Dave Lewis, had boarded Liverpool charter boat ‘Size Matters’ in search of the record-breaking sharks.
The trip was conceived months ago by skipper Kevin McKie after a local commercial fisherman told him of a mark where giant six-gills had been spotted.
Kevin said: “It was fantastic to witness history being made and prove beyond doubt that there’s a healthy population of six-gills in British waters.
“I’m especially proud I’ve pioneered the fishing for them, as no-one has done that before.
“My boat is twice the size of your average charter vessel and one just of a handful in the UK with a deck big enough to bring a big shark aboard. It’s fitted with a harness to assist this, as some of these sharks can weigh over 1,000lb.
“It was the only way we could accurately measure them all to determine their weight.
“The trip demanded a lot of dedication. The mark was in the region of 60 miles west of the Isles of Scilly near the Continental Shelf, more than 100 miles from the port of Plymouth.
“It was a long steam out but it was certainly worth the wait.”
Once on location it was a matter of whose rod would be in action first – and the four anglers didn’t have long to wait as conger eels, blue sharks, blue whiting, cod and the rare blue skate were pulled from the depths.
But six huge six-gilled sharks also found the party’s mackerel hookbaits irresistible. The first, at 204lb, fell to Phil, followed by a fish of 242lb for John, and then a 237-pounder for Dave.
Kevin was next to score with a six-gill that went unweighed, before Phil smashed the record with a 512lb fish.
John ended the proceedings with a 320lb shark.
“Every six-gill we caught was a new record, but we just seemed to better it every time the rod went off,” an elated Phil told Angling Times.
“I’ve caught 1,000lb six-gill sharks off the Ascension Islands before, but nothing beats the feeling of knowing you’ve caught a British record.
“You’re playing a big shark in around 400ft of water with nothing but a belt harness and your rod, so the experience is incredible.
“At that depth the fight is fairly subdued, but once they can see the lights of the boat they begin to scrap in a more dogged manner.
“I’ve usually only caught them at night, but we’ve had them during the day here – maybe it has something to do with the fact these sharks are juveniles?
“Our waters are getting warmer each year, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we start seeing bill fish soon - that will be my next challenge!” added Phil.