Specimen hunter Daniel Woolcott had a huge surprise during a recent trip to a large 110-acre gravel pit, when he landed a personal-best perch of 4lb 1oz.
“I was targeting the venue’s roach and was fishing over a bed of groundbait around 60 yards out," he said.
"During the hours of darkness I was using artificial maggots to deter the lake’s crayfish population, but because I’ve caught some good perch from the venue in the past, during the day I switched to two real white maggots on the hook. It was these that the perch took.
“The big fish stayed deep during the fight, and it was only once it hit the surface that I realised the sheer size of the perch.
“From then on, I took it carefully!"
Daniel Woolcott – 4lb 1oz perch