He was fishing the Lure Angler’s Society Predator Cup, an event in which anglers competing are allowed to fish lures outside of Rutland’s typical lure season of 1 Sep – 31 Jan. While cruising over 25ft of water, he spotted a huge fish sat 19ft down on his sonar.

“It was the biggest pike I’ve seen, and I had to have a cast for it,” Alex told us. “Fishing a Miuras Mouse, I cast to the fish and had a lazy follow. To try and trigger the fish to strike, I increased the speed of the retrieve, and the fish smashed the lure. A hectic battle followed in which the fish went around the boat a number of times but, after a few hairy moments, my boat partner slipped the net under her. The fish was my fifth ‘thirty’ and a new PB by over 6lb. I followed it up with others of 27lb, 26lb and 24lb in what was a real red-letter day!”

Well done Alex!