A trip to the Warwickshire Avon paid off in style for Gloucestershire angler James Benfield, who landed this 17lb 6oz fish alongside two other doubles.
Usually, James fishes the lower Severn – which is incidentally the venue he caught his 21lb 5oz British Record zander from – but on this occasion he fancied a change and spent a night on the Avon. With the river 18 inches up and hammering through, James used heavy 5oz leads to hold bottom, below which he presented a 10mm pellet hookbait. Over the course of the night he had seven bites, losing three fish, but the one he really wanted was safely landed after giving a savage bite in the early hours of the morning.
Well done James!