A MATCH angler trying his hand at specimen fishing has hit the jackpot with the capture of a 3lb 7oz roach from a venue without previous history for the species.

35-year-old Tim Dabrowa had his mind set on catching a huge redfin from his home county of Cambridgeshire and believed a carp syndicate would give him the best chance of achieving his goal.

He told Angling Times: “I joined an angling club earlier this year which has a carp water under its control and I just thought there would be a chance of it holding some roach.

“I’d fished it on and off since August and managed to catch them to 1lb 14oz which was fantastic, but I’d always knew there’d be a bigger fish.

“During my latest session I arrived at the lake for 7:30am but it was freezing cold, so it was no surprise that after two hours I’d not had a bite!”

Tim was close to calling it a day when he saw a big roach top 40 yards out and quickly positioned his helicopter maggot feeder rigs on the spot.

It was a move that proved to be successful just moments later…

“The bobbin started pulling upwards and I struck into what I knew was a big roach by the classic heavy plodding and headshakes,” Tim added.

“My heart started thumping as this giant silverfish made its way into my net.

“I quickly cast back out and added a 1lb 12oz fish before losing another on the next cast – it was a mental half-hour of fishing!

“I just have to go back and target a bigger one – I fell I’ve only just scratched the surface on this lake.”

Tim’s new personal best devoured red and white maggots dipped in Geranium oil.