Alsager, Stoke on Trent angler Dave Colclough, 53, fished the river Ribble above Preston to take a magnificent chub of 6lb 5oz. Dave, a computer technician, used punched bread flake on a 10’s hook to 6lb fluorocarbon line to take the fish from a 5ft deep swim above a gravel run.

He took the fish, along with two smaller ones of 4lb and 2lb, at 4pm on a bright day, and then couldn’t get a bite from dusk till 10.30pm when he packed for the night.

Dave fished a cage feeder filled with bread mash and used a total of about three loaves over the whole session.

The big chub is Dave’s second 6-pounder. His first, at 6lb 4oz, was caught from the river Severn above Welshpool some 30 years ago! Dave said, ‘I’ve waited a long time for another 6-pounder, but it was well worth the wait. There are not many fish like that around in rivers within 100 miles or so of where I live.’