Carp angler's shock at landing 30lb monster pike!
Carp angler Mike Lidell looks pretty pleased with this huge 30lb 4oz pike. It came as a complete surprise, though, as he was targeting carp at a fishery in South Wales. Incredibly, Mike had a pike weighing 24lb the week before on exactly the same tactics – a simple ‘snowman’ rig made from a pop-up and a normal boilie.
World champ lands huge pike on a feeder!
Five-times World Champion Alan Scotthorne had a big surprise when he landed this huge pike... on feeder gear!
The famous matchman was fishing Loco Pool at Lindholme Lakes when he hooked the predator, estimated to have weighed around the 30lb mark. He was fishing three maggots on a size 16 hook to a 2.6lb Drennan Supplex Fluorocarbon hooklink when the rod-tip arched round and he set the hook into the jaws of the fish at the day-ticket fishery near Doncaster.
“I struck at the bite and thought I’d hooked a massive bream, then this great crocodile broke the surface,” said Alan.
“Although I never weighed it I’m sure it was close to 30lb, if not more. I caught a 28lb pike when I was a lad, and this fish looked bigger than that.”
Alan with his massive pike at Lindholme
Huge 38lb pike landed on the Trent
Here is one of the biggest pike ever from the River Trent... and it was caught by an angler fishing from a kayak!
The colossal specimen, which tipped the scales at exactly 38lb, was caught by kayak fishing fanatic Jason Pardoe, who tempted it on a 10ins Sovereign Bass Harasser lure. The picture of the giant predator very nearly never surfaced, and was only brought to light following the Sheffield angler’s capture of a 17lb 2oz zander from the same waterway – reported last week.
Few anglers fish the Trent for pike but Jason’s, which he caught from a tidal stretch of the waterway earlier in the season, will no doubt whet the appetite of predator fishing fans across the country.
Monster pike landed on the Thames!
This 32lb 8oz pike is one of the best ever taken from the River Thames. It’s believed to be the third-biggest from England’s longest river and was landed by Berkshire rod Sam Meeuwissen. Prebaiting is often associated with species such as carp and bream, but the Gardner Tackle-backed specialist called on the help of a friend, who used the tactic to prime a few likely looking spots with chopped fish.
It proved to be a masterstroke, as the mint-conditioned fish took a floatfished mackerel within just 30 minutes of Sam arriving at the waterside. “My mate had been dripping in the feed for me, which really works well for predators,” said Sam.
“There were loads of tufted ducks diving over the spot, but a couple of days before my visit they wouldn’t go anywhere near the area that they’d been visiting for an easy meal.
“If there was something as big as this pike lurking around I don’t think I’d stick around either!” Sam positioned his bait at 20 yards close to a wooden platform in the water and used 30lb Gardner braid, a 35lb trace and size 4 trebles.
His catch smashes his previous pike personal best that stood at 27lb 10oz.“I knew it was big when it first broke the surface, but the air filled with a bit of choice language when I lifted the landing net out of the water and the pike just kept coming and coming,” he continued. “The sheer depth of the fish was jaw-dropping – it was at least a foot deep.
“There are loads of big pike in this river and this is just one of them. It’s the tip of the iceberg as far as its predator potential is concerned,” added Sam.
