A COLOSSAL eel has been caught inadvertently by a carp fisherman using double boilie hookbait.
Andy Edwards tempted the biggest authenticated wriggler of the season – which was 44 inches long and weighed in at 9 lb 14 oz – with Sticky Baits Krill boilies. It came from Stoneacres Lake at Oxfordshire’s Linch Hill complex.
Chipping Sodbury, Bristol-based Andy, 62, explained: “It was a typical big carp take as it just hit the rod and stayed there. Given the amount of weed present this is not unusual.
“I did try to shift it with some steady winding but it refused to budge so I had to get the boat out and try to deal with it from above.
“I used the weight of the weed to get myself the 65 yards to where everything had stopped moving. I then had to resort to hand-lining the pile of weed and whatever was inside of it to the surface.”
Not your standard eel bait! This is what Andy used.
Andy continued: “I still at this point thought that I’d caught a carp. I eventually managed to bundle the weed into the net but could not understand why there was a bit hanging out and it was then that I saw it was a whopping great eel!
“As I was alone on the bank I didn’t have any means to get a decent self-take and couldn’t believe quite how big it was.”
Large specimens at Linch
Andy added: “Although I fish for carp, the lake is full of large specimens of other species, especially tench which seem particularly attracted to the Krill.
“In fact one carp angler had 60 out in a two day session. Some regard them as a nuisance but I’m happy to catch them as where there’s tench there’s carp,” he added.
The huge eel was caught by Andy Edwards, seen here with a giant bream from the same venue.
Andy is no stranger to landing other large fish as he had a 15 lb 4 oz PB bream from the lake earlier this year and his PB tench on it is 11 lb, although he has had a tinca of 12 lb from the fishery’s day ticket Willow Lake.
Stoneacres is a syndicate water but it is open for pike fishing only on day tickets from November 1 to March 1.
The current UK eel record on the official list has stood for 22 years at 11 lb 2 oz and was caught by Steve Terry from Kingfisher Lake, near Ringwood, Hampshire.
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