Blithfield’s top trials pike at 27lb 10oz

GARY Knowles has taken the biggest pike of the Blithfield predator trials at 27lb 10oz.

The Korum-backed angler targeted the 780-acre Staffordshire water with lures from a boat, but it seemed the elements were against him.

He said: “It had been a tough day – I’d taken a jack and a fish of 18lb earlier but I’m quite a stubborn angler and nearly always the last off the water.

“With the light fading I decided on one last troll along the causeway wall, where I received an incredibly gentle take on a Quantum YOLO shad with a 50g jig head and stinger.

“In the net I could see its immense girth and thought it might be a ‘thirty’, but I was very happy to settle for 27lb 10oz.”