‘If you knew what was lurking in the water you’d keep an eye on your dogs’ - Angler’s warning as he pulls monster fish from West Midlands river

The 40-year-old said he was fishing behind Shrewsbury Sports Village in Sundorne Road on Friday when he caught a monster pike.

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“It is the biggest I’ve caught,” he said. “I heard of one somebody caught that was bigger a few years ago but I’m 40 this year and have been fishing along the River Severn in Shrewsbury since I was 15 and probably caught a 1,000 pike but I’ve never seen anything like this one.”

The battery technician said he managed to not only weigh and measure the fish, but also got a photograph to prove to people it was not the one that got away.

“It was 23.5lb and is 1.2 metres - about four feet. The head alone was about a foot long. Luckily at the time there was a fellow angler I know who was there to take a picture.

“It didn’t take too long to land, around ten minutes, but they tend to fight in short sharp bursts. They are really powerful.”

He said for bait he was using tinned “sardines from Morrisons”. 

“They’ll eat anything,” he said. “Only the females grow this big and I estimate she is a good 20 or 30 years old.”

He added that the fish was safely released back into the river soon after he landed it.

“I was so lucky to catch it. The odds of getting a fish that big are so remote - I’ve been trying 25 years,” he said. “But they will go for anything up to their own size and can even choke themselves to death by eating other pike that are too big. 

“I know of pikes have taken ducks and other birds but I often speak to dog walkers and they don’t realise what is lurking in there. 

“I often jokingly warn them that their small little pooches may never return from a peaceful paddle if they encounter one of these resident river crocs.”