Historically, UK anglers have had to travel abroad to catch really big fish, especially sturgeon, with anglers heading to places like France or Canada to land real giants. However, there are now more truly enormous specimens in our waters, perhaps more than ever before.
Darryl Howes is one angler who can testify to this after a recent session at Mineral Lake near Bedford, where he landed numerous sturgeon, topped by a truly enormous fish that weighed 116lb.
It was fairly non-stop action for Darryl, who was using a luncheon meat hookbait to tempt all the fish he caught that day. However, a bait in the margins proved too much for the prehistoric beast to resist.
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"The day started with a lovely 36lb sturgeon, and after returning it, I received bites steadily all day," Darryl told us.
"Knowing the size of the fish the lake held, and after catching a lot of smaller fish, I decided to put on a huge piece of luncheon meat."
"The rig I used consisted of a Dark Matter QC Hybrid lead clip leader witha size 4 wide gape barbless hook," he said.
"I lowered it into the margin, hoping the smaller fish were out in the middle of the lake. Within 20 minutes, I got a blistering take."
"The fish took off like a train. It was completely different from anything I had hooked before; I just couldn't stop it."
"After around 30-40 minutes, the fish began thrashing on the surface. It was huge, and thankfully, it went into the net on the first try," he added.
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