Monster zander falls ounces short of British record

A zander just 2oz short of the current British record has been landed by a lure angler from an undisclosed Midlands river.

The monster 21lb 3oz predator was caught by Kieran Roche, who was left stunned when after a switch to a smaller lure the big fish struck.

Kieran’s Zander is one of the biggest ever caught in the UK

He told Angling Times:

“After spending the morning fishing a Midlands river with large 12cm lures, but getting nothing but delicate touches, I scaled down to a smaller 7cm shad. It proved to be a great switch, as on my very next cast something big hit the lure.
“Instantly I knew it was a good fish, and I shouted to my mates: ‘This is heavy!’ It fought hard for over five minutes and initially I thought it might have been a pike, so when a huge zander surfaced my legs went to jelly! It dived deep and tormented me during the fight, before finally going into the net.
“I don’t normally weigh my fish, but I had to with this one. When the scales spun round to over 20lb I was in dreamland. It’s incredible to think that if this fish had eaten a bigger breakfast, I would have been holding a new British record!

“I used an 8ft spinning rod, and a reel loaded with 20lb braid and a 14lb fluorocarbon leader. I landed a few other zander on the session too, but nothing in the same league as this monster!”

The giant fish took a 7cm realisticshad roach

To follow more of Kieran’s lure fishing adventures, be sure to check him out on -

Facebook = @kieranslurefishing

Instagram = @kierans_lure_fishing_