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Bizarre catch lands angling ace £1,000 prize!
Preston Innovations-backed ace Des Shipp left 100 fellow competitors open-mouthed, after taking victory in a big-money match today with the help of a 41lb arapaima – landed on the pole!

Des caught the bizarre fish from Gold Valley Lakes near Aldershot, and at first, had no idea what he had captured. He explained: “I've been having quite a lot of success over the last few weeks glugging my luncheon meat in Predator Plus liquid, and can only think that the red scent trail proved irresistible to the predator.”

Fishery manager, Will Raison was as surprised as Des at the capture: “It’s the first time we have ever had any predatory species like this show up here at Gold Valley. We did accept some fry from a local zoo a number of years ago, believing them to be carp, and all I can think is that the baby arapaima was mixed in with them. We did find a 2lb peacock bass dead in the margins of Bungalow Lake a couple of years ago, and I am now wondering whether this also came in with the fry from the zoo."

Roger Fox, head of marine science at the institute for the study of exotic species, added: “Although instances like this are extremely rare, it is possible for such fry to thrive in a freshwater environment. The fact is, a commercial fishery with its rich head of natural food and little predation, is the ideal place for arapaima to thrive and grow. If there were more fish like this mixed in with the fry, there could even be other, bigger predators present.”

Des concluded: “I have had some strange match wins in my time, but this must rank among the weirdest. After the match, I released the fish back into the lake – as ugly as it was, I couldn’t bear to see it killed.”