3lb cod wins angler a brand new car

FOR MANY anglers a 3lb fish isn’t exactly a catch of a lifetime but to Karl Wiepcke, the 3lb 7oz cod that he caught in last week’s European Open Beach Championship was the most memorable fish he will ever land…because it won him a brand new car and a pocketful of cash!

Karl took the modest fish during the three-day event, held on a wind and rain battered Yorkshire coast around Hornsea, where it was enough to beat more than 100 other anglers and scoop the first prize of a Peugeot 107, as well as nearly £3,000 in cash.

Fishing a mark at Aldborough, the 34-year-old mechanic from Goxhill in East Yorkshire knew that his only chance of banking a decent fish was to wait until high tide. Accordingly, he didn’t start fishing until 2pm, at which point he cast out a Pennel rig sporting a size 3/0 hook baited with a black lug and white rag cocktail.

Karl told Angling Times of the agonising 24-hour wait before he was announced the winner: “In a competition such as this, run over three days where anglers are allowed to rove the coast, it is hard to tell what is going on and I never dreamed I would still be ahead by the end of the last day. I’m over the moon” he said.