HEAVY metal legend Adrian Smith smashed his PB tench with this 10 lb 8 oz tinca after a ten-year quest.
The Iron Maiden guitarist is a former Angler’s Mail front cover star but he doesn’t normally have the opportunities to target tench in late spring.
This year he made the most of some spare time when he slid the net under the huge tench..
The 62-year-old told Angler’s Mail: “It was caught on worm over caster, hemp, pellet and groundbait.
“It was my only bite of a three-day session on a lake in south Buckinghamshire.
“I’ve been trying to get a double for almost ten years, but don’t often get a chance to fish in the spring, as I’m usually preparing for a tour.
“Catching a double-figure tench has been a bit of an obsession.
“I recently spent a week trying to track down the big tench in Lac d’Orient in France, to no avail.
“It is 6,000 acres but I’ve heard stories of 17–pounders. The lake was high, right up in the forest.
“I had a small boat, and did a lot of looking among the trees. The water’s gin clear. I only saw tench on one occasion, plenty of carp though.”
Iron Maiden star’s angling pedigree
Adrian first caught the eye of the Angler’s Mail newsdesk nearly two decades ago when he sent in a picture and an old Fish of the Week form.
On the form, he noted his occupation as simply: guitarist (Iron Maiden).
He has impressed us with carp, and various other freshwater species too.
And Adrian’s current list of best catches ranks highly on the UK specialist angling scene, all coarse fish being targeted with specific tactics and very carefully returned.
Adrian revealed: “My PBs are barbel 15 lb 8 oz, chub 7 lb 14 oz, bream 13 lb 6 oz, carp 42 lb 12 oz, perch 3 lb and roach 2 lb.
“I’ll spend the next few weeks trying for barbel, and maybe tench also but then on tour again,” he added.
Adrian is in the middle of Iron Maiden’s two-year Legacy Of The Beast World Tour.
It involves an epic and gruelling stretch of 44 gigs in North and South America from July 18 to October 25.
The band’s legendary tours have helped Adrian gain many unique and memorable angling experiences.
Speaking to Angler’s Mail magazine back in 2009, he revealed: “I get to fish a lot of wild and wonderful places on tour.
“We used to keep worms in containers under the tour bus, and in summer they would get a bit savoury.
“I also seem to remember a maggot scare in a very plush hotel in Amsterdam when I was fishing in the canal there.
“They’re certainly not on the room service menu… but I think every angler has got a maggot story.”
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