83lb 11oz BARBIE JO CHOOSES SNACK OVER BIG BOILIE BLOWOUT

Big French girl prefers a pop-up

SCALING down rather than up for a French whacker gave Simon Harratt this monster 83-pounder.

The 83lb 11oz mirror, known as Barbie Jo, came during a weeklong session at Mar Peche.

Simon, from Leicestershire, had initially struggled to get through to the bigger fish, but a change of tactics soon reversed his fortunes.

The 32-year-old said: “Due to the size of the fish in the lake I’d sized up all my end tackle to better deal with the monsters that lurk beneath, but after a few lads had started to pick through the recently dropped-in stockies I decided to go back to what I know and ditch the large piles of bait, big hooks and big baits. Instead I reached for my trusty pot of pineapple pop-ups.

“Now all I needed was to wait for a showing fish. So just before dark they started and I dropped my favourite rig straight down after them and down with a donk it went.

“The following morning came and off it went with a 21lb common which got me off of a blank and I felt a lot more confident in my normal fishing style.

“The rod went straight back out on the very same spot and after a few beers with the lads off it went, screaming towards the middle of the lake.

“After a 20-minute scrap on my 2.75lb E-S-P Snipers the lake’s largest known resident was in the net. I was loving life, and everything after has been a blur!”