Bumper week for perch with this Ouse monster topping the bill!
Perfect weather conditions this week have seen huge perch go on the feed, with big catches and huge individual specimens landed in an incredible week for stripeys. The biggest fish reported to Angling Times was this mint-conditioned 4lb 6oz perch, part of an impressive haul taken on a lure by former Drennan cup champion Jamie Cartwright.
He visited a stretch of his beloved Great Ouse and used a light jigging outfit to put together a catch that included fish of 3lb 1oz, 2lb 15oz, two at 2lb 14oz and 2lb 6oz. The Northamptonshire Specimen Group member’s biggest fish is a new lure-caught personal best and falls just 3oz short of his overall perch pb.
“My eyes were truly opened to the effectiveness of lure fishing when I caught 15 perch from a swim I’d been struggling to get bites from on conventional tactics and baits,” Jamie told Angling Times. “I had worms and maggots with me but I didn’t even take the lids off the tubs.” Jamie used a 9.5cm Savage Gear shad presented on a 7g jig head teamed with a size 2/0 hook.
Lure fishing ace Sam Edmonds also got in on the big perch action with a stunning 4lb 2oz specimen from a southern river. The Abu Garcia-sponsored angler also reached a personal milestone, because the capture was his 100th perch over 3lb caught from the UK. His latest fish took a Texas-rigged Berkley Havoc Rocket Craw in Green Chartreuse.
He said: “Unbelievably, this was the only bite I had all afternoon. I was hoping to reach the milestone of 100 three-pounders before the season ended, so to do it with a perch of 4lb 2oz is more than I could have dreamed of.”
A long-term campaign in search of a new personal best ended in fine style for Matt Fernandez when he took a fin-perfect 4lb fish from a southern stillwater. The Cygnet Tackle and Dynamite Baits-backed angler had spent several years in search of a huge perch, and struck gold with a link-legered king prawn hookbait. He said: “Landing a 4lb perch has been a top priority of mine for years, and I’m delighted to have finally got there.” Two more fish weighing 2lb 6oz and 2lb 10oz capped off a memorable hat-trick for the Southampton all-rounder.
It’s not just dedicated specimen anglers that have been getting in on the perch sport – England capped matchman Callum Dicks bagged over 50lb of the species from the River Wye.Fishing peg 89 in Hereford, the Maver-sponsored star worked with long pole and worm hookbait to find several perch over 3lb, with the best of the bunch going 3lb 12oz. Callum said: “The Wye perch fishing rarely gets the credit it deserves. Hopefully, this will show people just how big these fish grow in the venue.”
16lb barbel falls to angler fishing the River Ouse
Alan Lawrence had homemade boilies and paste to thank for this pristine 16lb 2oz barbel taken on his latest trip to the Great Ouse.
The Vauxhall Angling Club regular fished a popular stretch of the river in Northamptonshire and fed just five boilies each into several likely-looking swims before circling back round to fish them.
After the first few spots failed to produce, Alan settled next to a high reed bed, cast his paste-wrapped boilie into a crease in the flow and the fish was on.
River Great Ouse chub record smashed with monster 8lb 8oz specimen
The River Great Ouse chub record has been broken with the capture of a colossal 8lb 8oz specimen.
The monster fish, which is believed to have beaten the former waterway record by a mere 4oz, was landed by specimen angler Gary Hickling from a Vauxhall Angling Club stretch of the waterway near Bedford.
Gary Hickling with his huge 8lb 8oz River Great Ouse Chub
Gary tempted the fish, which was witnessed and weighed by a club official, using a hair-rigged spicy crab flavoured boilie wrapped in halibut paste. The catch beat the former Vauxhall AC record for the species which he held himself with a 7lb 10oz fish he caught earlier in the season.
The London angler arrived at the venue to find an extra few foot of water on the river and with this in mind, decided to target some slack water created by an overhanging tree using a 2oz lead rig with a 8lb Drennan Sinklink hooklength and size 6 Drennan Super Specialist hook. Around half an hour after introducing a few broken boilies into his swim, the tip arched round as the huge beast took off with his hookbait.
As well as Gary's fish, the waterway has been producing some monster chub this season and we could see a national record for the species at some point in the future. Chub Study Group secretary Iain Nairn told AT: "The fish in the Ouse seem to be getting bigger every season thanks to anglers baits and the huge population of crayfish making them fatter. I wouldnt be surprised if it produced a new record in the coming seasons."