Bag’em matchbaits & Middy backed Marc Rodger Wins UK Champs!

Marc from Grimsby won £5,650. The result comes after a tense final round at Barston Lakes on Wed.19th Sept 2012, where more than 20 of the country’s top anglers still had a chance of taking the title.

Marc said: “I still cant believe that I have actually won this competition. It really is a dream come true. Before I went to bed last night, I put the trophy on my dresser, so I knew that when I woke up it would be the first thing I would see. Even this morning, it still hadn’t quite sunk in though – I had to nip myself just to make sure that I wasn’t dreaming!”

Results:

1 Marc Rodger (Middy/Bag'em matchbaits) 8pts- 199.082 Kg
2 Simon Fry (Garbolino/Bag'em) 8pts- 166.990 Kg
3 Grant Albutt (Garbolino/ Bait Tech) 10pts- 152.624 Kg
4 Luke Sears (Daiwa/Marukyu) 11pts- 147.257 Kg
5 Lee Kerry (Preston Innovations/Sonubaits) 11pts- 136.376Kg
6 Pemb Wrighting (Bag'em matchbaits /Maver) 11pts- 117.193 Kg
7 Rob Wootton (Shimano/Dynamite) 12pts- 200.068 Kg
8 Joe Carass (Match Fishing) 12pts- 158.262 Kg
9 Mark Pollard (Shimano/Dynamite) 13pts- 195.364 Kg
10 Andy Kinder (Maver/Marukyu) 13pts-149.477Kg

How The UK Champs Was Won

The first round of the competition was held at Garbolino Lindholme Lakes near Epworth, a venue where Marc has a fair bit of experience. After drawing peg four on Laurels Pool, he decided to base his attack around fishing pellets up in the water. His 170lb net of F1s and carp proved enough to not only gain him maximum section points, but also a match win and a cool £1,000.

After this, the competition shifted to Viaduct Fishery in Somerset, a four hour drive from his Grimsby home. A good draw of peg 119 on Cambell Pool saw Marc very confident. He caught over 20 carp on straight lead tactics for a second consecutive section win and 2nd on the match overall adding a further £500 in prize money to his purse. More importantly, a second consecutive section win saw him stay at the top of the leader board.

The third round at Stourport’s Maver Larford Lakes proved to be his only hiccup. After drawing peg 29 on Specimen Lake, Marc caught 30lb of skimmers on method feeder, and three big carp short to finish with just short of 60lb, leaving him 5th in section.

Fortunately, most of the other top names had a similarly tough result, and he managed to cling on to top spot going into the final round.

Mark explained; “There were actually three of us tied on seven points, with a further four people on eight points, and four people on nine points, so I knew it was going to be a tight finish. I managed to put a method in practice that proved the key to victory on the day.

It revolved around feeding tiny nuggets of Bag'ems XP groundbait on the pole line, and fishing a 4mm Bag'em easy xpander pellet over the top. After a few early fish on the feeder I switched to this and managed to bag quality skimmers that accounted for the bulk of my weight.

I weighed in with 20kg, which was enough to win the section. When I realised I had won overall, I was overcome with emotion, it is by far my proudest angling moment, and a memory I will treasure for ever.” .

I must admit though, being consistently high up in events is one thing and winning them is another- and it feels so nice to finally go all the way.”

Near Miss For Fry

For runner up, Simon Fry, this years UK Championship was a case of what might have been. After going into the final round leading on points along with eventual winner Marc Rodger, and Tommy Hiller, the Garbolino/Bag'em backed ace felt a section win would give him a great chance of clinching the title.

He explained: “In the back of my mind, I knew that even a section win might not be enough given Marc’s weight advantage, and was hopeful that someone would beat him and allow me to sneak a point or two in front.

I felt I fished well from a poor area on the day, and was delighted to win my section from where I was. When I heard that Marc had won his, I knew that I hadn’t done enough though. My only consolation was I didn’t feel I could have done anymore, and Marc is a very worthy and deserving winner. He was obviously very nervous going into the last round, and he held it together well, and performed on the day, so a massive well done to him.”