Poole harbour, on the Dorset coast, is popular with saltwater anglers – but Len Griffin recently landed the roach of a lifetime just a few hundred yards upstream.
He caught the 3lb 6oz redfin from the Dorset Frome, just up from where it spills into the harbour, which is filled with flatfish, sea bream and bass.
He was fishing with roach angling legend, Alan Storey, off the back of a boat.
“I’d caught over 20 small roach from the main flow, but Len was laying on by the reeds, fishing and feeding maggots,” Alan said.
“Things had gone quiet before his float sailed away and he hooked what he reckoned was a big trout.
“He was a bit gung-ho playing it, but when I saw it was a big roach, I told him to take it easy! It looked huge – every bit of 4lb.”
