IAN GREGORY thinks he got extremely close to the British ruffe record – but put it back quickly as he didn’t want to stress the fish.
Telford, Shropshire-based Ian quickly weighed the specimen at 5 oz which is just 4 dr below the official best.
The official 5 oz 4 dr best was caught way back in 1980 by R Jenkins from West View Farm in Cumbria.
And Ian was deliberately targetting the mini species on really scaled down drop shotting tactics from the Shropshire Union Canal in Staffordshire.
Lure tactics for ruffe
Ian told Angler’s Mail: “I caught a really big ruffe back in April so I knew the stretch held fish getting on for record proportions.
“I went back deliberately after them with a Rapture Water Shrimp in chartreuse on a 3 lb fluorocarbon leader, 1.5 gr jig head and size 8 hook.
“Tackle consists of an ultralight setup with the rod being in the casting range of 0.5-7 gr, a 1000 size reel with the lightest braid possible.”
Record ruffe possibilities
He added: “I weighed it on my Reuben Heaton Flyweight scales but they aren’t really accurate enough for the tiny species.
“You never know, the fish could have been bigger but I didn’t want to stress the fish out at all so it went back straight away.
“I was just pleased to catch such a good fish so I was happy but the canal definitely has potential for a British record ruffe,” concluded Ian.
His catch was featured on the hallowed Fish of the Week page of Angler’s Mail print magazine, also winning him £100 of top tackle from Korum via the magazine’s Korum Specimen Cup.
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