Durham-based specimen angler, Simon Ashton, recently spent the day afloat on a Midlands reservoir in search of a monster perch.

“I struggled in the morning, only landing one perch and a small pike, so I decided to move and fish close to a concrete structure. A couple of casts later and small bait fish started to scatter. It was only a matter of time before I would get a take,” explained Simon.

His boat partner Stephen was the first to receive a take, which resulted in an immaculate perch of 4lb 1oz! Then straight after Simon hooked into another quality perch which weighed 3lb 12oz.

After that it went quiet, and he changed over to a brighter Dropshot Lure and began to work it in the deeper water. About an hour later Simon landed his last fish of the day which nudged the scales to bang on 3lb.

Simon’s main setup consisted of a 5ft 6lb E-Sox Dropshot Fluorocarbon leader, to which he tied a size 6 Kamasan B983 hook using a palomar knot. An 8g E-Sox Dropshot Bomb Weight was attached to the tail end of the line about 8″ away from the hook.