Lee Wilson finally ended his 6 year search for a 30lb pike when he landed this impressive 33lb 2oz pike.

He told us “Three years ago I caught a 28lb 2oz pike from a Scottish Loch in Dumphries and Galloway but I’ve been a bit disheartened since as I’ve not caught any pike of note. That all changed at the weekend though when a trip to a different loch produced this massive 33lb 2oz personal best. I only went down to the loch for a couple of hours as I’d found out some carp had been stocked and I wanted to see if I could spot any, whilst I did a bit of pike fishing.

I had two rods – one with a chunk of bluey on a kebab rig and the other with a whole joey mackerel and I cast both of these to a deep mark around 50 yards out. After a short while the kebab rod was away but I lost that fish soon after I struck. I was absolutely gutted but decided to fish on. After rebaiting both rigs with fresh bait, I cast them back out and around half an hour later, the line pulled out from the clip on my mackerel rod and I watched the line zip off the reel.

I gave it a couple of seconds before striking into the fish and I knew straight away it was one of the big pike in the loch. There’s two noted big fish, one at 28lb and the other just over 30, so I got really excited at the prospect of landing a specimen. Excitement had to turn into focus though as this pike was in total control and stayed out at the 50 yard distance for ages, zig-zagging from left to right.

Eventually I began to gain line and got it near the bank, but as soon as I got the net in position it bolted and tail-walked out of the water and away from me. Over the next 10 minutes it came to the net four times but on each she just spooked and turned away. This was a pike I didn’t want to lose so I bit the bullet and waded out into the margin in my wellies so I could net the pike in deeper water – thinking it wouldn’t be spooked by the marginal slope.

I wasn’t concentrating on where I was walking and the water poured into my wellies but I didn’t care. I managed the ease this pike towards me and finally into the net. I’m not ashamed to say I burst into tears when I looked into my net and saw it was definitely the thirty pounder and the biggest pike in the loch. I’ve been searching for a thirty for the last 6 years and although I’ve had a few 20’s, this was by far the cream of the crop.”