Leigh angler Wayne Gildart will never know the weight of this giant pike he caught while fishing a trout water with friends; but it bottomed out 25lb scales in an instant. 

He’d had a couple of trout when he hit something ‘solid’.

“I’d caught a couple then hooked into this monster,’ ” he said.

“It was as a proper battle, but managed to land it after about 15mins. I could not believe the size of it when we netted it, we weighed it but it bottomed  the scales out at 25lbl so it was heavier than that.

The fish is a new personal best pike for Wayne, but the general opinion from the fantastic pictures is that it’s certainly well over 30lb and could easily be over 35lb!