“IT WAS like hooking the back of a car” – those were the words Oliver Cullingford used to describe the power he faced after hooking the UK’s biggest-ever fly-caught catfish weighing a whopping 66lb 8oz.
Fishing the Burton Springs complex in Somerset, the 45-year-old battled his prize for 20 minutes on the venue’s Kingfisher Lake.
“I love the challenge of trying to catch catfish on the fly,” he said.
“It’s an uncluttered and active method that gets you totally immersed, because it’s all in your fingertips.”
“Despite their size, some of the takes are just small plucks as you’re stripping back the line, but with this one everything just went solid on the bite, before it charged off like a train!”
The impressive fish fell to a pattern developed by fellow catfishing fly enthusiast Stuart Watson and was landed on a 12-weight rod and a 50lb leader.
