Despite being only 14 years old, angler Jacob Cluskey already has an album most anglers with 50 years’ experience would envy, and while he enjoys catching a variety of species, his real passion lies in targeting the predatory fish that inhabit our waterways.
Although Jacob hasn’t been fishing as long as many seasoned anglers, he recently landed a brace of fish that must rank among the most unusual and rarest captures ever seen from a UK river.
Being a keen predator angler, Jacob and his dad decided to head down to the famous Royalty Fishery on the Hampshire Avon for the opening day of the pike season. This stretch is renowned for producing monster pike, but the pair were left stunned when Jacob instead landed an incredible brace of bass, with one fish tipping the scales at over 10lb!
HERE ARE 10 GREAT TIPS TO HELP YOU CATCH BIGGER PIKE...
"We were having quite a slow session on the river, so decided to move swims in the hope of finding some pike," Jacob told us.
"I found a new swim with a lovely, deep slack in the margins that looked really inviting, so I cast out two sardine deadbaits that were fished on a simple running leger setup," he added.
"The first bait I cast in was only in the river about 20 minutes before I had a really good take, and after a spirited fight I was amazed when a huge bass popped up with my sardine in its mouth."
TRY THIS DEADBAIT RIG IF YOU ARE TARGETING PIKE.
As Jacob was unhooking the bass, he could hear the other rod screaming off, which saw him hooked into another good fish that was powering up and down the river. Unbelievably, when the fish surfaced, the pair were greeted by an even bigger bass which was expertly netted by Jacob's dad. When you consider the Royalty is a good three miles upstream of the estuary, it is incredibly unusual to see fish normally found in saltwater happily feeding this far inland.
"I couldn't believe what had happened, to catch one bass was a shock, but two within minutes of each other was incredible," he recalled.
"We dealt with the fish and weighed them at 8lb and 11lb, before releasing them safely back into the river, it is a session I will ever forget!"
"My dad was so jealous! He’s been after a double-figure bass for ages, and there I was catching one from freshwater," Jacob joked!
"We did manage to catch a few pike after the brace of bass, but not the dream 20lb fish came for, so we will be back soon for that hopefully."
