Karl Gleese took the 400-mile round trip to Northamptonshire in search of big reservoir perch and was well rewarded for his efforts.

My personal best before this trip was only 1lb 14oz, so after speaking to my good friend Simon Ashton, we decided to make the trip down to the Midlands in search of a few specimens.

The weather was bright, not really ideal for perch. After a couple of hours dropshotting using various lures I tried a one of the new orange E-Sox Dropshot Holographic Lures in the Paddle Tail version. After four or five casts I was into what felt like a big perch.

It took me about five minutes to get the fish to the surface. I had never seen such a big perch and from the sheer size of it I knew it had easily beaten my 2lb target. I carefully placed the fish into the weigh sling with shaking hands and lifted the scales. The needle swung around to 3lb 8oz and confirmed a new personal best by 1lb 10oz!

After drifting across various spots on the reservoir for the rest of the day, we managed to net a further eight big perch to 3lb 3oz. As the light started to dip we moored up and settled in for the night, eagerly awaiting dawn for round two.

Saturday morning we were out onto the water, hoping for another day to remember. After another slow start, we found a sunken island and decided to fish over the top. This time I opted for a larger lure and rigged up with a 5in E-Sox Curly Worm. After watching Simon reel in three 3lb perch within the space of a few drifts over the spot, I thought I must have been doing something wrong.

I pressed on and, about 20 minutes before our cut off point, my rod hooped over and I knew it was another big fish. After a short but intense fight, she slid over the net. Another beauty. This time she weighed in at 3lb 12oz, which meant a second personal best in two days!

What a weekend, a real red letter trip and one that I shall remember for a long time!