The UK coastline is home to many species that anglers and the general public are fully aware of, however one visitor to our shores that few know about are squid, and judging by the size of the ones landed by angler Louis Mearns, there are some giant specimens lurking in our waters.
Visiting the 18-mile long Chesil Beach in Dorset, Louis and his friend Kieran Mangan were using fish hookbaits to target species like rays and bass, when an unusual bite led to one of the most unusual captures the pair had seen.
"Conditions on the night weren't great for fishing, with a very slight north-easterly wind with extremely clear waters," Louis told us.
"Chesil Beach is the 'Beach of Broken Dreams' and any angler who has visited before will know that the fish sometimes just aren’t there."
"We had been fishing for a few hours with very little to show for it when, out of the blue, I felt a slow pulldown on the tip."
"I picked up the rod, and while at first I could feel some weight, it just felt like a big clump of weed," he recalled.
"As my rig neared the beach, I started getting some heavy thumps on my rod and realised something was attached."
"I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it was a huge squid! I’ve caught them before, but never this big!"
"Realizing the squid were out there, I quickly grabbed my trusty £40 mackerel rod, which has caught me more fish than any of my expensive rods, and attached a squid jig to it."
"To my amazement, on my second cast, I nearly had the rod pulled from my hands as a monster 4lb 4oz squid— even bigger than the first— came along," he explained.
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