Schoolboys bank the eel of a lifetime!

TWO schoolboys have underlined the sheer unpredictability that fishing can bring with the capture of this impressive 9lb 8oz eel while fishing a day-ticket lake for carp. 

Frankie Moody and his friend Lee Chandler were targeting the margins of an undisclosed Hertfordshire water when they connected with something big – although according to Frankie’s dad Terry, a giant eel was never on their minds.

He told us:

“Frankie and Lee had just cast out a size 8 hook baited with six maggots when a bite registered on the rod and Frankie struck into a powerful fish, but a carp is all they’d ever thought it would be. 

“You can imagine how shocked they were then when this monstrous eel came to the surface – It was certainly the last thing they had expected!”

Frankie and Lee’s remarkable catch is the second largest eel reported to Angling Times this season – falling just 10oz short of Steve Pitts’ 10lb 2oz specimen. 

Frankie Moody (right) and Lee Chandler with the 9lb 8oz eel.