In any normal week David Gaskin’s incredible 42lb 8oz pike from Chew Valley Lake would be the ‘fish of the week’, but if you’re going to lose out, it may as well be to a British record!
David was fishing with boat partner Ed Wade in rough conditions, and they had caught nothing just an hour before they were due to return to the jetty.
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Having joked to his friend that if either of them got a bite now ‘it would be from a monster’, 10 minutes later David’s float slid away and he struck into what he knew was a huge fish right from the outset, such was the sheer weight on the other end.
David said that when it surfaced, he and Ed looked at each other in awe at the sheer size of the truly special fish.
A herring deadbait was the winning offering.
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Another angler sampling the spoils from a remarkable week on Chew Valley Lake was Shaun Dixon, who fished from the bank at the Somerset venue to land pike of 34lb 11oz and 38lb 11oz in two consecutive days!
Having made the mammoth journey down from his home in Cumbria and sleeping in his car the night before fishing (something he says he won’t be doing again in a hurry!), Shaun was greeted by a sharp frost the next morning.
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But the chill didn’t put the pike off and, after a few early fish, Shaun hooked what turned out to be his first ‘thirty’, weighing 34lb 11oz.
The morning after, Shaun woke up at 4am (this time having stayed in a BnB!) and, still on a high from the previous day, wasn’t expecting too much from the session.
However, towards the end of the afternoon he had another run and struck into what turned out to be the 38lb 11oz fish, perfectly capping a trip he says he’ll never forget.
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