A 50-YEAR-OLD angling club record was smashed over the Christmas holidays, with Wimborne and District Angling Club head bailiff Steve Neale catching a pike weighing a whopping 28lbs 8oz.
Neale’s river haul broke the previous club record for a pike of 26lbs, which was set by A.W. Parrish in 1974.
The heaviest recorded pike caught in the U.K was 46lbs 13oz, snagged by Roy Lewis in 1992 at the Llandegfedd reservoir in South Wales.
A press release from the angling club read: ''Over the Christmas break, Steve Neale, the Head Bailiff of Wimborne and District Angling Club took time off from his volunteer duties to fish the Dorset Stour on a Club stretch and caught a terrific pike of 28lbs 8oz.
“The fish took a float rigged sardine bait on a circle hook and after a powerful fight was returned and swam away strongly despite its tail having been nipped by an otter at some time in the past.
“The fish was the best of a catch of several big fish made on the 23 December when the river was fining down between floods!
“It was reported to the Club’s January 2024 Committee meeting and ratified as a new Club record.''
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