THIS WEEK
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW FROM THE WORLD OF FISHING
Seven-pound perch tops stellar session on ‘off the scale’ water in the Netherlands
THE BIGGEST perch ever caught by an Englishman has been boated by Rob Hughes, who slipped his net under this true giant scaling 7lb.
It was the result of a short yet spectacular session, during which he also landed numerous ‘fours’ and ‘fives’, plus another huge stripey weighing 6lb 1oz.
Rob was fishing The Netherlands’ mighty Haringvliet – the delta of the Rivers Rhine and Meuse – the globe’s undisputed big-perch Mecca measuring 26 miles long and three miles wide.
“I teamed up with local expert Toon Von Ham for a day-and-a-half, and things looked promising from the start as Toon landed a ‘six’ early on,” Rob revealed. But, from then on, things proved tricky. Strong winds battered the boat as Rob got to grips with fishing the Carolina Rig – an ‘ultra-finesse’ lure presentation. “Later that first day I got the hang of it and landed an upper ‘four’ on a Westin Cre Craw – a pattern that proved successful throughout the trip,” he told us.
“Soon after, the rod was hit hard by a fish of 6lb 1oz. I was buzzing with that, especially after the effort that went into it. I thought, ‘That’s me done’.” But the next morning, the sport soared to an altogether different level. The pair had already had a few fish before Toon suggested stopping at a little spot he fancied.
“First cast he had another ‘six’, and from there we took it in turns catching huge perch, one after the other,” Rob said. “It was nearly time to go when I felt an almighty thump on the rod. It felt enormous and stripped line, so we reckoned it was a pike. So when a perch surfaced, we both went to bits!”
Once in the net, Toon revealed it was the biggest perch that he’d ev
