Lincolnshire Piker Dave Newman won a weekly Drennan Award in Angling Times last week for this fabulous 30lb 14oz fish! 

Dave tells us he actually packed in pike fishing two seasons ago and sold all his tackle – but got the bug back in Autumn last year and started fishing again with renewed enthusiasm on his local Lincolnshire pits, with lots of success.

He enjoyed an action packed November, taking a string of doubles to 18lb 13oz, and continued in the same vein through December with more quality fish to 19lb. Then on Boxing Day he beat his 19lb 5oz PB with his first ‘twenty’ – the handsome fish below weighing 20lb 9oz.

January 2013 proved to be another memorable month, as Dave became a sporting world record holder, having broken the world record singles Darts marathon, raising over £1100 for a cancer charity. This good work was rewarded when a change of venue led to what Dave rightly describes as ‘the fish of a lifetime’ – with the thirty, which we have to say is really beautifully photographed.

Successful tactics for the ‘croc’ were to floatfish a smelt on the bottom, and then twitch it back now and again to evoke some movement. Dave used a ready-made Drennan Deadbait Rig, constructed from size 6 Trebles and 7 Strand Wire to 18lb mainline. For full details on these rigs, click here.