Monster canal eel
An overnight trip to a local canal proved fruitful for Nick Duffy when this 5lb 4oz eel devoured his four-lobworm hookbait.
The 47-year-old, who is social officer for the National Anguilla Club, had previously caught eels to 4lb from this particular stretch of canal but had a feeling it could produce a much bigger one.
He told Angling Times: “The eel was 37 inches long with an 8.5ins girth and is my biggest of the season so far.
“I caught it on four lobworms mounted on a size 6 Ashima hook, which was part of a Dyson rig incorporating an anti-gut hook twig rig system.
“I also used my Chris Brown specialist eel net to land it – every serious eel angler should own one of these!
“I would like to thank my late brother Mark Duffy who taught me how to eel fish – he is the reason I do what I do today.”
3lb 8oz rudd falls in lake punt trip
Despite cloudier and cooler conditions it is still possible to catch this iconic surface-feeding summer species... the rudd.
Dan Gale proved that when he slipped the net under this 3lb 8oz specimen. He caught the beautiful golden-flanked fish from a Lincolnshire stillwater, where he and a friend fished from a punt using traditional waggler tactics.
Dan told Angling Times: “The rudd came out of the blue after a string of fish in the 6oz-12oz range. My boat partner and I were very active in adjusting our shotting patterns and feeding to try and catch the better fish more consistently, but we had long spells where it was impossible to even get the float to settle before a bite occurred.
“It seemed the faster we tried to get our baits through the shoals, the faster the fish would hit them.”
What Dan describes is classic behaviour of shoal species like rudd and roach, showing that perseverance and actively adjusting your set-up is key to getting through to the specimens in the shoal.
The three-and-a-half-pounder was backed up by rudd of 2lb and 1lb 14oz, all the bites coming from a clearing in the weed which Dan targeted on sweetcorn.
ROYAL PAIR OF PERCH ON LOBWORMS
The classic approach of floatfishing lobworms for perch paid off in fine style for Malcom Matthews, who slipped the net under this couple of beauties.
The pair weighed in at 2lb 9oz and 2lb 11oz, and were taken from the famous Royalty Fishery on the lower reaches of the Hampshire Avon.
Speaking to Angling Times, the Sutton Coldfield-based angler said: “The colours of these perch were really superb, and what a place to catch them!”
Big roach is fooled on a drop shot rig
Imagine Dan Eave’s delight when this specimen 2lb 2oz roach grabbed a worm on his drop shot rig.
The redfin equalled the predator fanatic’s personal best and was taken from a tributary of the RIver Thames.
Dan Told Angling Times: “After catching and weighing a 3lb 9oz perch I received another bite on a big lobworm.
“This felt like another decent fish – so you can guess my amazement when I saw this huge roach break the surface!
“It weighed 2lb 2oz, equalled my personal best, and is most certainly my biggest-ever from a river!
“All in all I was left very pleased with my morning’s work and arrived home by 10.30am, having caught two specimen fish of different species.”
Cracking week for crucians!
It's been a remarkable week for the shy-biting crucian, topped by what may well be the best haul ever by Korum-backed Gary Knowles.
During a recent session Gary netted an incredible 14 crucians, 10 of them over 2lb and four topping the magical 3lb barrier, topped by a personal-best giant of 3lb 14oz.
Gary explained to Angling Times how the session unfolded: “Fishing has been slow owing to the hot, dry weather but a change to a strong south-westerly wind and heavy rain meant I just knew I had to get out,” he said.
“I arrived at the Shropshire pool late evening and got set up ready for a morning assault. When I arrived I was the only angler on the pool and didn’t hesitate to set up in the face of the strong wind.
“Very little happed during the night, but some line bites encouraged me to make the decision to feed heavily throughout the morning, whether I was getting takes or not.
“At first light I had my first crucian, and a good one too at 3lb 3oz. From then on, with regular feeding of casters, corn and 2mm pellets, they kept coming.
“Eventually bites slowed down and I actually thought the session was over. My mate had just come up to photograph my new pb of 3lb 12oz, and with the fish returned I started to pack away when my last rod rattled off. This turned out to be another immaculate fish and another pb weighing in at 3lb 14oz, which capped off one of my most memorable sessions ever.”
Gary’s remarkable catch fell to a specialist approach incorporating a Preston Innovations Flat Dura Feeder, a 3ins hooklink of 4lb Powerline and a size 14 PR39 hook. For feed he used a 50/50 mix of 2mm Krill and Bloodworm pellets, a pint each of casters and red maggots, and half-a-tin of sweetcorn. He fished over the top of this with an 8mm Sonubaits Oozing Krill boilie.
Kevin Sanders has also been getting among the crucians. On a recent trip to Johnson’s Lake in Surrey the 41-year-old from Cambridge landed three crucians over 3lb. Topping the golden trio was a new personal best of 3lb 5oz.
Kev, too, adopted a Method feeder approach but began the session with a Dynamite F1 Durable Hooker pellet for bait, placed tight in the margins.
Kevin told Angling Times: “I introduced a sweet milky particle mix to try and get the fish feeding harder.
“Eventually they really switched on to the approach and I caught them on in-your-face baits such as 10mm Dynamite Pineapple and Banana fluro pop-ups.”
Johnson’s Lake delivered another superb catch to Andy Childs. Targeting the venue for two days with pal Mark Fox, the pair looked to break their personal bests. They did so in fine style, between them netting numbers of crucians topped by a 3lb 4oz bar of gold for Andy.
Once again the successful tactic was a flatbed Method feeder with either a small pellet or boilie as the hookbait. This approach definitely seems to be a winner for the species at the moment!
Patience key to huge eel
His 15th night on a lightly-fished water in the Colne Valley gave Dave Harman this 5lb 8oz eel.
“During the initial trips I had some strange bites that I couldn’t connect with so I felt encouraged to continue,” he said.
Dave eventually caught the fish by touch-legering over a raked spot with a Dyson rig, presenting lobworms 18ins off the bottom close to the bank. His tackle consisted of 13ft 3.5lb rods, 18lb Synchro XT mainline and a size 8 Korda Continental hook.
Ruby’s gem of a barbel
Ruby Terry fished a stretch of the River Trent at A1 pits in Newark and caught this immaculate, well-proportioned barbel of 14lb 2oz.
The fish follows the capture of an even bigger whisker for Ruby a month ago at 15lb 11oz.
She said: “I just can’t believe it, I feel so lucky. I have now had two fish-of-a-lifetime captures in the space of two months – both of them barbel, and the only ones I’ve ever caught!”
What a week for rudd!
It’s been another incredible week for big rudd captures, with a raft of fish over 3lb.
Fenland has long been a hotbed of big rudd action, and once again it proved a rich hunting ground for the enigmatic summer species.
Leading the way was Norfolk all-rounder Phil Spinks, who finally bagged his first Fen ‘three’ after countless near misses.
Phil told Angling Times: “Over the past few weeks I’ve banked 24 rudd over 2lb, including fish of 2lb 13oz, 2lb 14oz and 2lb 15oz. One evening session alone produced nine two-pounders, including the 2lb 15oz fish.
A 3lb 2oz rudd, Phil Spinks’ first three-pounder.
On my last trip, when the scales settled on 3lb 2oz, I was absolutely delighted – it made all the hard work worthwhile.”
While many species have proved hard to catch in the hot and muggy conditions, rudd have shown no such reluctance to feed on rivers and drains alike.
According to Phil, calm evenings often prove to be the best time to catch a specimen rudd, although he points out that tracking them down can be hard work.
“Big rudd are among the few fish that seem to love the hot sunny weather, so over the last couple of weeks I’ve walked many miles along different Fenland drains and rivers looking for a specimen, battling with stinging nettles, high temperatures and all manner of biting bugs along the way.”
Many anglers have been using a boat to track down their quarry, but Phil found a lot of his success fishing from the bank and underlined how important it is to adopt a mobile approach.
“It’s a style of fishing I really enjoy,” he said. “Sometimes I fish from the boat, while at other times a more stealthy approach is needed from the bank. Having very little kit and keeping mobile is the key. Nearly all my recent fish – 23 out of the 24 bigger rudd – have been caught on floating breadcrust fished alongside a float, with a 4lb mainline straight through to a size 10 hook.
“Location is everything,” Phil added. “Big rudd are very greedy fish and once you’ve found them they can soon be persuaded to take floating crust. I hate to think how many miles I’ve driven recently on my days off work, and I’ve put the legwork in too. Effort definitely equals reward, but it’s all been worth it in the end.”
Another angler to land ‘the fish of a lifetime’ was Dave Horton, who broke his personal best with a fish weighing a smidge over 3lb, again taken on breadcrust.
Dave Horton’s rudd weighed a touch over 3lb.
The predator fanatic is no stranger to specimen rudd either, and said: “I started to enjoy rudd fishing in the Fens back in 2011 and have had multiple catches of two-pounders along the way, but the mythical ‘three’ kept eluding me. I recently missed the mark by less than an ounce but having discovered a little pocket of fish I was desperate to get back.
“The mad rush 50-odd miles across country, through the rush-hour traffic, paid off when I bagged a couple of 3lb-plus fish as well as one of 2lbs 12oz! The biggest was my 60th over 2lb and my 17th over 2lb 8oz!”
Yet another angler to land the rudd of his dreams this week was Dave Spence, who smashed his pb twice on his first serious session after the species. The Dynamite Baits employee began with fish of 2lb 7oz, 2lb 9oz, 2lb 10oz, but then, at last knockings, a ‘final cast’ in the fading light produced a monster of 3lb 1oz 5dr.
A 3lb 1oz 1dr rudd for David Spence.
Dave told Angling Times: “The session far surpassed my wildest expectations – I ended up with half-a-dozen fish over 2lb… topped by the three!”
7lb avon chub on a boilie as night falls
A late-evening session proved productive for Jason Edney when he bagged this 7lb chub.
It was caught from a stretch of the lower Warwickshire Avon and fell to a 20mm The Source boilie presented alongside a PVA bag of 15mm boilies and 6mm bloodworm pellets from the same company.
Jason told Angling Times: “I was well chuffed to catch the fish. It’s now my second 7lb-plus chub from the stretch, the previous one being a 7lb 2oz fish back in 2015.”
3lb 9oz perch follows a rig switch
Dan Eaves landed this specimen perch of 3lb 9oz from an undisclosed southern stillwater, where he put his success down to a variety of lure fishing tactics.
Arriving early in the morning, Dan cast large 7ins Hothead jig which generated a number of follows from large perch.
But not until a clever switch to a dropshot rig was made did a twitched Savage Gear Dying Minnow lure provoke a bite from the specimen stripey.
The same tactic then produced four more fish for Dan, highlighting how successful drop shotting can be on the day.
Rare eel a new best
A lake with little history for producing big eels has produced this 5lb 3oz monster to Darren Clarke.
Darren only decided to target eels on his Lincolnshire syndicate water after the weather scuppered his plans to target other fish.
He said: “I did fish it several years ago and had a 4lb 4oz eel – the only one known to have come out the lake.
“This time the night was quiet until 3am, when one of my homemade drop-off indicators fell to the floor and line began to peel off the spool.
“I picked up the rod quickly to avoid deep hooking and felt the unmistakable zig-zagging fight of a specimen eel.
“A few minutes of drama getting it in the net in the dark and the fight was won.
“The scales read 5lb 3oz and I had a new personal best by 3oz. Happy is an understatement!”
Darren’s eel fell to a simple running rig incorporating a size 6 Korda Wide Gape hook attached to an 18ins, 50lb Korda Armacord braided hooklink .
His hookbait was the head of a small roach.
10lb 4oz tench from distant raked swim
A CASTABLE weed rake helped Rich Hall net this stunning 10lb 4oz tench during a session on a southern gravel pit.
The Northampton Specimen Group and Tenchfishers member found a plateau 45 yards out from the bank, but he needed to use the rake to help clear a prolific weedbed that covered it.
It was a decision that proved fruitful for Rich when the tactic accounted for the fine double, as well as two other tench at 9lb 5oz and 9lb 1oz.
He told Angling Times: “The pit is large and very low stock, so to catch three in a session was a real personal achievement (there are probably only around 30-40 tench in the lake).”
A combination of Drennan inline feeders and helicopter rigs was used to help catch the tench.
barbel pb is obliterated
Simon Walker smashed his barbel personal best with this 16lb 8oz specimen – taken on just his fourth session targeting the species on the River Trent.
The site supervisor’s previous best was set on a guiding trip with the late great Jan Porter back in 2001, and stood at just 3lb 8oz.
Simon fished meat close in with a 4oz feeder loaded with Marukyu EFG151 groundbait and 2mm pellet. The barbel fell in the early hours of the morning.
Biggest barbel of the season landed!
A SINGLE Monster Crab and Chilli boilie has accounted for the biggest barbel of the season at 17lb 2oz.
It came from an undisclosed southern river and equals Roman Vann's pb for the species.
Roman said: “I fished pellet alongside my hookbait but had to feed a lot to keep other species at bay. Everything seems ravenous this year – I was plagued by roach on 15mm boilies in this particular swim!
“The frame of this barbel was truly amazing, and I’m sure it will grow on to be a proper whale!”
Roman’s rig comprised a size 8 Gardener Talon Tip hook and Thnking Anglers components.
River Cam produces amazing rudd session
AN EIGHT-mile walk along the River Cam ended in success for Paul Faint in the shape of this 3lb 6oz rudd.
It was a new personal best for the 46-year-old, who said: “I started off by walking a section of the Cam, only to find the area that I fancied was privately owned, with no access for fishing.
“This was a long hike for nothing, so I decided to return to the beginning of the section and make my way across the river over a footbridge and fish it from the opposite bank.
“By this time I had been on the bank a few hours – I must have walked eight miles and still not wetted a line.”
After eventually locating some fish, Paul flicked out a few pieces of bread crust which were soon snapped up by a shoal of hungry Fenland rudd.
Without hesitation he cast out his rig, and a floating crust hookbait was devoured almost instantly.
“Half way through the fight I could see the golden flank of the fish and knew it was a rudd, and a big rudd at that,” Paul added.
“Carefully retrieving it back to the net amid the lily pads and rushes I knew it was going to be a pb – beating my long-standing best of just over 2lb.”
Paul’s session also produced other rudd of 1lb 15oz, 1lb 4oz and 1lb 3oz.
All fell to floating crust fished on a size 8 Kamasan hook, with a 3lb Drennan hooklink tied to 5lb mainline under a thick-topped Drennan waggler float.
Season's best roach landed!
A 3lb roach is considered by many as the pinnacle of achievement in any angler’s career, and this dream became a reality for Mark Woodage during a recent session on a southern gravel pit.
The angler from Swindon, Wiltshire, had spent three months targeting the venue’s redfins before success finally came knocking at his door.
He told Angling Times: “I decided to target the roach in a large gravel pit after hearing that the carp anglers had caught a couple by accident. After numerous visits over nearly three months I had caught only tench and perch, with absolutely no sign of a roach – although during the first week of June, for the very first time, I saw what I was convinced was a big roach roll.
“A couple of hours later, after chopping and changing methods, my float went under and soon my landing net was graced by a stunning redfin that weighed 2lb 12oz – a new personal best.
I was over the moon.”
After returning a number of times to the venue with helicopter maggot feeder tactics, Mark was able to put other roach of 2lb 10oz and 2lb 9oz in the net – although it was during his most recent visit that he struck gold.
“It was very noticeable that I received all my bites on the rod supporting a Drennan buoyant bloodworm maggot hookbait,” Mark added.
“The winning combination was one fake and one live maggot, and on this session I was fortunate enough to land an awesome fish weighing 3lb 1oz. I’ve just about stopped turning cartwheels, but I’m still beaming from ear to ear!”
Mark’s winning helicopter rig included a size 18 Drennan Wide gape hook attached to a 3ins hooklink of 6lb X-Tough mono.
Trio of 7lb chub from the trent!
No fewer than three chub over 7lb have been landed from the River Trent in another fantastic week for the species .
First of the trio fell to specimen hunter Alfie Naylor, who latched into a 7lb 2oz beauty (below) during a session with his friend Brian Skoyles.
Alfie told Angling Times: “We both introduced a steady flow of bait during the evening, hoping to build up our swim, but the river is still far from easy due to being very low and clear.
“The action was slow and I only had two bites into late evening – but they were from good fish.
“The first was a lovely 7lb 2oz chub, the second a double-figure barbel at 10lb 8oz.”
Alfie tempted both on a running rig incorporating a 5ft hooklink and a Premier Baits wafter hookbait over scatterings of the same.
Jay Elliot was next in line to enjoy Trent chub success when he slipped the net under another 7lb 2oz specimen.
The fish was a new personal best for the Vortex Baits-backed angler, and the biggest of several caught during a five-hour evening session on a section of the middle river.
Martin Allen completed the hat-trick of specimen chub when he hooked into a 7lb beauty from another middle Trent stretch.
Martin, another angler who is sponsored by Vortex Baits, targeted the inside of a crease with pellets and Vortex Baits Squid Liver chops to get the fish feeding.
A running hair rig with a boilie wrapped in paste and a small PVA bag attached to the lead was the route chosen by Martin to get the all-important bite.
This approach also worked for another chub of 6lb 1oz and an 11lb barbel to complete a memorable session.
Boilie lures in specimen roach.
Big roach love boilies, as carp angler Simon Price proved with this stunning 3lb specimen.
The 49-year-old from Suffolk hooked into the colossal redfin during a 48-hour session at syndicate complex, Highfield Fisheries.
It fell to a trimmed-down 18mm Nash Scopex wafter hookbait fished over a bed of 15mm Scopex Squid boilies in 25ft of water.
River Thames barbel hits 15lb 1oz
The River Thames is the new kid on the block where specimen barbel fishing is concerned – as Justin Beale proved with this beauty of 15lb 1oz.
The Bait-Tech and Kodex-backed angler reverted to traditional barbel tactics to fool the fine double-figure fish.
Meat rolled through a well-oxygenated stretch of the river brought the all-important bite.
He told Angling Times: “I caught the barbel early evening at around 7pm, so it was a rare yet thrilling sight to see such a big barbel in daylight.”
He added: “The catch was extra-special because it was my twentieth Thames barbel over the 15lb barrier.”
Huge 4lb 4oz crucian landed
The UK’s longest heatwave for years hasn’t stopped crucians from enjoying a feeding spree with numerous specimens banked topped by a 4lb 4oz monster.
While many of the country’s anglers have been struggling to catch during in the hot weather, those who have been fishing for crucians have been enjoying red-hot sport.
One of them is 26-year-old Scott Walker, who hooked into a rare 4lb 4oz beauty during a recent session at Lizard Fisheries in West Drayton, London.
He told Angling Times: “I’m a carp angler at heart but when the lakes were busy on this particular day I decided to switch to targeting perch on the float instead.
“I’m a bailiff for this water, so I know there’s a good head of perch in here, but I also know that there’s a stock of big crucians – although they very rarely show.”
Fishing the margins using his 13ft Drennan Float rod, centrepin and pole-float rig with two red maggots on the hook, it wasn’t long before Scott received a number of dips on the float.
“I’d been feeding maggots and 2mm Mad Baits pellets over the top and started to catch quickly,” added Scott.
“Within a short space of time I’d caught a number of bream, plus by two proper carp to 23lb 8oz, but my next bite was altogether different.
“The fight felt somewhere between a small carp and a bream, so when the fish rolled on the surface and I saw it was a big, proper crucian, I was ecstatic.
“It was my first-ever crucian and one that I don’t think I’ll beat for a while – it was the perfect session.
“I didn’t bother recasting after I’d slipped her back, I just sat back in my chair in shock.”