A Kenninghall man caught the biggest fish of his life in the River Wensum in Norwich when he managed to reel in a pike weighing 27lbs.

Sam Smith, 24, was fishing with friends on Friday evening at New Mills Yard when he landed the giant fish.

Sam first became aware of the pike when it stole a fish his friend was attempting to catch and within five minutes he had got the pike on his line.

'I didn't have any bait left so I had to use live bait in the form of a smaller fish,' he said. 'I didn't have my net or anything ready so I borrowed a landing handle from a guy who was fishing which the pike managed to break but within 20 minutes of struggling I managed to bring it in.'

Sam weighed and checked the pike before putting it back in the water five minutes later. It was the biggest fish he had ever caught and one of the biggest he had heard of people catching in the city other then his friend who also caught one weighing the same.

He claims that the rivers in Norwich are a great place for fishing but otters are depleting some of the fish stocks.

'It is a fantastic place to fish as the river is now cleaner and has less rubbish in it but there are not as many fish as there used to be,' he said. 'One of the main causes of this is that otters keep killing off all of the bigger fish which is only going to get worse as no-one monitors them.'

• Have you caught a bigger fish? Send your photo to jessica.long@archant.co.uk