AFTER landing eels of 6lb 10oz and 6lb 11oz already this season, Justin Stoddart raised the bar yet again last weekend after banking another giant that pulled the needle on his scales round to 7lb 2oz.
The fish tops a run of form that any eel angler would envy, and the fact that he’s targeting a water near his home in Nottinghamshire – far from the big eel ‘hotspots’ of Southern England – makes his achievements all the more impressive.
Unsurprisingly, he was delighted with his latest capture, which is the culmination of a 25-year obsession with the species.
Rudd sections fished hard on the deck proved to be the winning hookbait, and Justin revealed that from the moment he struck, he knew he’d hooked into something special, such was the fish’s raw power during the fight.
He also added another eel weighing exactly 5lb in the same session – completing a remarkable brace of what’s widely regarded to be one of the hardest specimen fish to target in Britain.
