5lb 3oz monster stripey landed

An East-Anglian river has produced one of the biggest perch of the season in the form of this impressive 5lb 3oz specimen. 

It fell to 35-year-old lure fanatic Ben Smith who tamed the beast on a pink, 9cm Spro Boobytrap Shad fished to likely features on the waterway at first light. 

Speaking to Angling Times, Ben described the session that he’ll never forget. 

He said: “I targeted the far bank of the river around dykes and moored boats, looking for any potential ambush point. 

“My fifth retrieve was met with a solid hit from one angry fish, but at first I thought it was a pike. When she popped up I couldn’t believe it. What an absolutely massive fish, I thought. 

“My previous best perch was 3lb 11oz and I was hoping that one day I could get to the magic 4lb mark – so to catch a 5lb river perch on a lure is just unbelievable, a true fish of a life time.”