Gary Knowles has achieved one of his long term angling ambitions by landing this magnificent 15lb 12 oz zander from the Lower Severn.

Gary picks up the story: “I took a trip down to the lower Severn with my long suffering boat partner Edward Matthews, it is a long trip but we both felt there may be a small window of opportunity as there had been no further rain forecast for a couple of days and the river was starting to drop a little.

“We’ve both been relatively successful on our previous trips and we always back ourselves to eek out a bite or two. The first day was a disaster, a really hard frost and a bone chilling easterly meant we finished the day without a single bite between us.

“However on the second morning we still felt confident, the river had dropped a couple of feet and the bright sun and East wind had been replaced by a warm westerly and a dark sky. We knew it still wouldn’t be easy but the confidence returned and we both fancied the big fish to feed.

“Mid afternoon Ed took a nice mid double figure pike then an absolute stunner of a river twenty followed, again to his rod. Soon after returning it I saw the tip of my rod pull round an inch or two, I quickly picked up the rod and pulled the line out of the clip. After a couple of taps the line tightened so I quickly hit it. The take had zander written all over it, and so did the fight. At first I thought it was a small fish but the nearer it came, the heavier it began to feel.

“A huge white belly rolled and a second later Ed had it in the net. We both knew it was 15lb+ before it saw the scales, and with me having tried for a river 15 for so long we were both equally elated. The scales said 15lb-12oz….a new PB by 10oz the big river fish I had wanted for so long.”