It was caught during a powerful storm from a southern gravel pit that’s been in good form for the species over recent seasons.

Before this catch, Neale had already been enjoying the season of his life, landing 16lb bream, 11lb tench, two 17lb barbel and a 3lb grayling. But he says that this roach is not only the highlight of his campaign, but the best fish he’s ever caught!

“My first roach trip here was in autumn, but there were still lots of carpers fishing then, so I didn’t stay for long!” Neale told us. “This time, in colder conditions, it was much quieter.” After locating a flat area where there was good depth around 12 wraps out, he introduced two spombs of hemp and casters, keen not to overfeed.

“Rig wise, I went for feeders and heli rigs incorporating short hooklinks of 3lb fluorocarbon. My hookbait was three maggots, flavoured with scopex.

“My plan was to cast regularly to keep a bit of bait going through the water, but I alternated between a maggot feeder and a window feeder, the latter of which I filled with groundbait and a bit of hemp, to avoid introducing too many maggots. Big roach feed for small windows, so I didn’t want too much bait on the spot.”

On the first night of his session, a brutal storm rolled in, soaking Neale’s kit and blowing his bivvy off its pegs at 2am. “I ended up sleeping in the van, and the next morning decided to stay another night to so I could dry my kit out,” he revealed. “The stars aligned, as it was that night that I caught the big ‘three’!” That fish came after he’d been ‘done’ by what he suspected was a big roach and had decided to fish with tight lines to aid the self-hooking properties of his set up.

“The change worked, and the next fish I hooked was clearly a big roach. After landing it, I called former Drennan Cup winner Lee McManus, who was also on the bank, and a friend of mine from Liverpool who was there too, to help with the pictures,” Neale revealed. “We stood looking at the roach in awe. I’m certainly having a bit of a purple patch!”

Well done Neale!