A DOUBLE-FIGURE wild brown trout is the holy grail for UK anglers, and Damien Roberts just achieved that target using a dinky 4ft 6in rod!
The Manchester angler had the fish from the River Tame using a streamer pattern with a 2g weight added to get the lure down in the deeper water.
The fish took on his first cast in a new spot where Damien was fishing with a few mates and, initially, didn’t feel that big, he says.
“I managed to bring it to the surface where it went mental, suddenly realising it was hooked and going on a solid 30m run,” Damien told us. “I just watched and held on whilst it nearly spooled me. As I had waders on, I took chase and jumped in. But I went straight under, unable to touch the riverbed. After a crazy couple of seconds, the lads pulled me onto the bank and luckily the fish was still on.”
The trout continued running Damien around, and after five minutes of long lunges and acrobatics, it finally went into his mate’s net.
“To be honest, I wasn’t sure it was that big until I saw the mad look on his face,” Damien revealed. “I wandered over and was in absolute shock as to what was lying there. It still hasn’t really sunk in.”
On his unusual rod choice, Damien revealed that, due to the nature of the venues he fishes, a small rod is essential.
“These rivers are small and snaggy, with overhanging bushes and everything from bikes to microwaves in the river!” he explained. “A longer rod would make fishing these venues difficult, and I’ve had lots of good fish on these set-ups. It’s always great fun when you hook one, and a great battle to get them into the net.”
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