Huge river pike is a "fitting reward" - Leigh Laffar
“I headed to a spot on my local river at sunrise and baited close to the near-bank snags with chopped sprats before casting out my floatfished roach deadbait over the top.
“By 4pm I’d not had a take, so I nicked on a fresh bait and cast it next to one of the snags. The float buried within seconds.
“Straight away this heavy weight charged downriver on a savage run. After 10 minutes of steady pressure I started to gain line and drew the pike to the surface, where I could see it was only lightly hooked on the bottom treble.
“Thankfully it went into the net on the first scoop, and at 29lb 4oz it was one of the proper ones, a rich and fitting reward for all those blanks I’ve endured this winter.”
Leigh Laffar – 29lb 4oz pike
Second-ever pike breaks the landing net! - Matt King
“NOT having fished since my teens, I decided to take it up again and target barbel.
“As it got colder the fishing became harder, so I headed to a local stretch of the Trent to see if I could catch what would be only my second-ever pike.
“A few hours in I’d not had a bite so I moved to a point swim where I’d seen some lure anglers fishing earlier on.
“Out went my legered lamprey and half-mackerel deadbaits… and I only had to wait 10 minutes before something huge took off with the latter offering!
“This pike fought just like a barbel and took me all over the swim for 15 minutes before it surfaced at the net. It was the biggest fish I’d ever seen and as I scooped it up the net handle snapped as I shuffled it back!
“Thankfully, I was able to grab the net frame and pull it up the bank and on to my unhooking mat. It turned out that my second-ever pike went 28lb 7oz on the scales – I’m still giggling like a schoolboy now!”
Matt King and his 28lb 7oz pike
Could this be Britain's largest ever lure-caught pike?
A PREDATOR angler has banked what’s thought to be one of the largest UK pike ever to fall to a lure.
The impressive 45lb 11oz specimen was landed by Dan Hill (29) during a session with his friend Steve at a private stillwater.
Dan Hill and his 45lb 11oz lure-caught pike
The pair had taken several big fish from the venue over the past four years, but nothing to compare with Dan’s new 127cm-long personal best, which falls just over 1lb short of the current British record.
Dan said:
“After a bad day at work I planned to meet Steve down at the lake for 3.30pm and couldn’t wait to chuck some lures about. After clipping on my favourite white mouse lure, I cast it around 40 yards out, let it sink for 10 seconds, and it was taken instantly by this huge fish... which pulled me two feet closer to the water when I set the hooks!
“The lake is crystal clear, so we could both see it was massive from the off and Steve just kept telling me to take my time. When it finally folded into the bottom of the net I was a trembling mess.”
The Doncaster angler owes the success of his catch to his trusty mouse lure, which has since been encased with a plaque to commemorate the achievement!
Following the capture, Dan ‘retired’ his favourite white Miuras Mouse lure
Lure smashed by dream pike
CASTING his lure tight to a far-bank reedbed was the winning approach for Stephen Ayres’ dream 36lb 5oz pike.
The fine specimen set a personal best for the Norfolk predator enthusiast, who struck into ‘the fish of a lifetime’ during a roving session at a local lake.
He added:
“Just a few winds after casting out to the reedbed the lure was smashed into, but it was only when it surfaced that I realised just how special this pike was.”
Stephen Ayres – 36lb 5oz pike
Second-ever pike is 30lb-plus giant!
MOST newcomers to predator fishing start with a small jack, so imagine Calum Lonsdale’s shock when his second-ever catch resulted in this 33lb 11oz fish!
Having caught a small pike on a trip to the Norfolk Broads, the 24-year-old from Derbyshire was eager to try his local reservoir.
He said:
“The fish hit my Salmo lure close to the bank and over the next 15 minutes my heart was racing!”
Calum Lonsdale and his 33lb 11oz pike
Angler brought to tears by dream pike catch
LEE Wilson shed tears of joy when he banked his first 30lb-plus pike after a 20-minute battle.
Lee Wilson and his 33lb 2oz pike
The angler, from Dumfries and Galloway, struck into the 33lb 2oz pike on his local loch when his mackerel hookbait was engulfed from a deep spot 50yds from the bank.
Lee said:
“When I looked down at what I’d caught, the tears started coming as I realised I’d had my first ‘thirty’ after six years.”
This huge pike brought the captor to tears