David Pearson's trips to a Scottish river in search of grayling have proved difficult in recent weeks, until on his latest session he landed a fish so special that it made him pack up early.
Part of the challenge he has found is avoiding the large numbers of trout fry present, which once again gave him very quick, hard-to-hit bites from the off.
“I started to feed maggots on an inside line that I wouldn’t fish," he told us.
"I hoped this would ‘contain’ the small fish as well as stimulating the bigger ones to take my bait, which would be a single trotted worm.
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“Just over an hour later the float buried and I hooked a heavy fish that moved away slowly but powerfully.
"I realised it was a special grayling and, once it was landed, it became obvious that the fish was huge.
“At 3lb 7oz, it was of such enormity that I had no interest in continuing to fish that afternoon.”
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