WHAT was supposed to be a pleasant day’s perch fishing with light tackle suddenly turned into a tug of war for Hayden Seabrook when his small soft plastic lure was engulfed by this 38lb catfish.
Fishing at Hintlesham Fisheries, Ipswich, Hayden was working his lure using a light rod with a casting rating of just 3g-14g when he had what he described as “the biggest bite I’ve ever had”.
He told us: “I was retrieving nice and slowly with pauses, trying to get the lure down deep. All of a sudden I had a huge whack on the lure. I’ve never felt a bite like it, and suspected it was a pike.”
However, it didn’t take Hayden long to realise he’d connected to something much larger. “My rod was bent triple!” he added. “The fish went on long runs, but after 12 minutes I managed to land it.”
