A RECORD trout, the biggest of any kind caught in Britain, has fallen to the humble maggot.... offered by a novice angler who describes himself as ‘Eddie The Eagle of fishing’.
The record trout – a rainbow – fell to Micky Mitchell and scaled a monster 34 lb 12 oz. It came while boat fishing on Loch Earn on the borders of Perth and Kinross and Sterling. Micky could soon get onto the official British record fish list.
In a catch that will make some fly-fishing purists cringe, Micky magicked his record trout up from the depths by using four maggots presented on a size 14 hook on 10 lb line!
The 52-year-old self-employed painter and decorator told Angler’s Mail: “I’m very much an amateur angler and the biggest trout I had caught before was a couple of pounds.
“We had mainly gone up to the loch to collect our boat for the winter but decided to have a fish.
“I was with my brother-in-law Ian Devine and we had been trawling, but stopped to have some lunch, and put on a bubble float with some maggots while we did so.
“I caught a very small brownie which we returned and then the monster struck.
“It nearly took the rod in and I just managed to grab it before it did so.
“The trout took about 15 minutes to land and broke both our landing nets trying to get it into the boat, but somehow we managed it.
“Our scales only went up to 20 lb but I could tell it must have been 30.
“The loch has a policy of removing rainbow trout anyway so we returned to land where a number of tourists photographed me like a celebrity.
“We took it to Airdrie Angling Centre where it was weighed and put in the freezer while I claim the record,” concluded Micky, from Coatbridge, near Glasgow.
This is just a short version of the full story that appeared in Angler’s Mail printed magazine. Get the magazine every week for top tips, big news, best products, and venues that are in form.
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