LONG-STANDING PB FINALLY BEATEN
WHEN he was just 12 Duncan Hayward caught a 21lb 4oz pike on a lure, and it remained his PB for many years.
But following a recent tough campaign on the Thames, during which he endured cold and muddy banks, plus countless blanks, he finally beat it with this fine fish of 30lb 3oz.
Duncan caught what he describes as “the pike he’s dreamed of for nearly 30 years” using a roach livebait, fished in the margins. He added that his float was ‘going mad’ for 10 minutes before signalling the take, and reckoned the pike was stalking his bait during that time.
EIGHT-HOUR ROUND TRIP REWARDED
THE THAMES is one of Britain’s premier barbel rivers, and anglers travel from far and wide to fish it. One man who made a long journey to the venue lately is Chris Mutton. He lives in North Wales, meaning the waterway is an eight-hour round trip from his home, but his efforts were rewarded with this 16lb 5oz specimen.
Finding the river back within its banks after recent floods, Chris presented a paste-wrapped boilie hookbait alongside a PVA bag filled with broken boilies to tempt the fish.
WARKS AVON WHOPPER!
SOME rivers hold one big fish that gets caught more often than it probably should.
That’s been the case on the Warwickshire Avon over recent seasons, where one very large barbel has hit the bank on multiple occasions. But Craig Colston’s 18lb 7oz specimen, despite its size, isn’t the famous ‘big ’un’.
The river had been carrying around 9ft of extra water prior to his session but had dropped by 6ft the day before. However, heavy rain that night saw it rise again as he fished, creating conditions that can be excellent for barbel.
Using a Spam hookbait, Craig landed four barbel, weighing 6lb, 8lb and 11lb 6oz, plus the specimen at 18lb 7oz – a fish he believes to be the second-biggest of the species ever caught from the river.
PIKE QUEST COMPLETED... WITH ASPLASH!
OVER past winters, Oxford angler Paul Scowen has had his sights set firmly on catching a pike weighing over 35lb, and his wish finally came true on a recent session when he landed this 37lb 1oz giant.
He was fishing from the bank at Somerset’s Chew Valley Lake – the venue that’s just produced a new British Record. Using a smelt deadbait which he’d positioned over the back of a weed bed, Paul received a steady take around lunchtime and wound down into what was clearly a good fish.
It kited left, taking line repeatedly as it neared the bank, wiping out his other rod in the process. After wading out to land the fish, Paul found
