The Match Lake record at Larford Lakes came within 6lb of being beaten by England international Des Shipp during the first Maver Pairs qualifier.

Des took a colossal 266-5-0 from peg 8 in a match that produced over 5000lb of fish at a man average of 83lb, after getting the venue’s F1s feeding ravenously up in the water.

In fact Des started cautiously with pellet on the bottom, and it was only in the last two hours that he really bagged up on fish averaging 1lb 8oz, catching them as shallow as 4in deep.
Des kicked off at 11.5m fishing 4mm expander on the deck and feeding via a Kinder pot.
However, he kept flicking in hard pellets via a catty, and when he started to get line bites, picked up his shallow rig.
He started off catching 12in deep but by the end the fish were so competitive he was catching 4in deep.
Des, who said he didn’t realise he was so close to the venue record, ended up with around 190 F1s in his net. He qualified for the final alongside partner Steve Mayo.