Record-holder turns back on big carp weights
“I used to be all about big weights of carp, but record-breaking nets don’t interest me anymore –they’re not what fishing is about and the reason why I won’t overstock my lakes.”
These are the words of former five-hour UK match record holder Steve Gregory, who has realised his dream and is developing a five-lake complex in Lincolnshire, based on the ethos of ‘quality not quantity’.
Steve, who was a pioneer in the big-weight revolution at highly-stocked commercial stillwaters and held the five-hour match record on three separate occasions with a best of 414lb 14oz, is now of the opinion that many match and pleasure anglers no longer crave bulging nets of carp.
He told Angling Times that Miracle Baits Rushfield Lakes, will provide bites all day long thanks to a liberal stocking of F1 carp to compliment a variety of silverfish and bigger carp. But he insists that a carefully monitored stocking programme and a list of rules that includes a total ban of the use of luncheon meat, will ensure that his complex will become one of the most consistent and popular in the UK.
“Catching huge weights requires skill, but it becomes more about ‘catching’ than it does fishing and that’s not where the sport’s future should be heading. It’s certainly not what my fishery is going to be about,” Steve told Angling Times.
“The majority of match anglers love having to work at their peg and think about their fishing, so that’s what I’m going to give them.”
Steve is currently running matches on the Canal Lake and the remaining four lakes, which will offer species such as, bream, tench, roach, skimmers and specimen carp, are currently under development.
Neil Grantham, who owns the award-winning Lindholme Lakes near Doncaster has been offering help and advice to Steve to ensure that his new venture is a success.
“The fishery will be a hit because Steve’s a top angler and not just someone who knows nothing about the sport and wants to fill lakes full of fish for guys to pile in bait and haul out huge weights of carp,” said Neil.
To find out more about the fishery email Steve at: steve@miraclebaits.com or search for Miracle Baits Rushfield Lakes on Facebook.
Steve Ringer wins Bait-Tech festival at White Acres
This year’s Cornish festival campaign got off to an absolute flyer for Steve Ringer as the AT columnist reeled off four section wins to lift the Bait-Tech title at White Acres last week and add yet another big win to an already incredible match fishing CV.
No stranger to winning at White Acres, Steve put an opening day second in section behind him to take those four maximums, a score that left him tied on points with Mark Fox and Dan White, angler’s worst dropped results seeing Steve’s second on Monday better than Mark’s third and Dan’s fourth through the week and earning him over £3,000 in prize money and pools.
“Only 135 fished the festival but Parkdean still paid out the full amount despite this, which I think needs applauding,” Steve said. “The week didn’t get off to the best of starts with the second in section at Bolingey but I was only 4lb off winning it so it wasn’t as if I’d made some massive tactical blunder and fished badly!”
The Daiwa/Guru ace actually cracked the ton at peg 31, taking 114-0-0 of carp on meat fished at 8m but knew that from now on, only section wins would do and the first came on Tuesday with 67-0-0 from peg 2 on the Pollawyn Lake where he took six decent carp on meat fished tight to the island, feeding sparingly and around 15lb of silverfish on caster short.
A resounding 135-0-0 section and lake winner followed on day three as Steve drew peg 1 on the Jenny’s Pool and banked around 80lb of big skimmers on chopped worm and caster fished on his top kit and meat at 4m late on for a run of carp to 6lb. Trelawney Lake was next up and duly produced those valuable seven points as he banked 55-0-0 of mainly F1 hybrids plus a couple of carp on meat, the final 20 minutes of the match seeing Steve go from nowhere to section winner with around 18lb of fish.
“That left Porth Reservoir and there’s always the decision whether to fish safely for roach or go for some bream and win with ease to make,” he explained. “I drew peg 22 and was really hoping that no one in my section caught a bream as I went for small roach fishing maggot at 10m and feeding sloppy groundbait to catch over 250 fish for 10-3-0 and the lake win!”
Result: 1 S Ringer, Daiwa/Guru, 28pts (dropping 6); 2 M Fox, Matrix Dynamite Baits Trentmen, 28 (dropping 5); 3 D White, Bait-Tech Viaduct, 28 (dropping 3); 4 D Shipp, Preston Innovations, 27.
World Feeder Champs to set new record
Organisers of this year’s World Feeder Championships have revealed that they are on course to attract a record number of entrants for the tournament in Ireland.
Teams from across the globe will travel to Inniscarra Lake near Cork in the south of the country this summer in their quest to win gold in what will be fourth time it has been staged since its creation.
Former champions Holland, Russia, South Africa are once again set to turn out but there will also be several debutants including USA and Latvia that will help take the total number of squads on show past the previous best of 21 that fished last year.
Work has also started on turning the venue into one suitable for holding a major event, with contractors currently in the early stages of a 12 week project that is set to cost over £400,000 to complete.
By its conclusion, the fish-filled water will have 200 proper pegs installed over a 3km length and a road running behind them to improve access.
NCFFI International Events Committee member Jack Tisdall believes the nation is on track to host the most successful World Feeder Championships to date. He told Angling Times: “Inniscarra Lake is stuffed full of bream, hybrids and roach and if the conditions are right we will see fantastic catches all along the length.
“Ireland is renowned for its incredible fishing and hospitality and when we hosted the Lure Fishing World Championships last year we had some fantastic feedback that helped boost visitor numbers,” he added.
Work is also going on behind the scenes to secure other elite tournaments in the future. Jack said: “We intend to bid for one major international event each year from now on and we are hopeful that we can attract the European Championships to our shores.”
For more details on the event visit www.ncffi.ie/wffc
RiverFest selling out fast!
“Get in quick if you want to fish RiverFest!”
That’s the message from its organiser Dave Harrell after a staggering nine qualifiers sold out in the opening two days of entries for the running water competition last week. Anglers were quick to secure their places in a bid to make the event’s £29,000 final on the River Wye in November, following the resounding success of its pilot year in 2013.
“The response has been overwhelming,” said Dave. “I’m not that surprised as so many people have been talking about it and I’ve had lots of emails and messages over the past few months. If we sell out every match we can pay the overall winner £12,000 and split another £17,000 between the others in the main frame. And I’m still hopeful we might find a main title sponsor so we can make RiverFest even bigger!” he said.
Three matches on the Trent, three on the Severn, one on the Wye, one on the Warwickshire Avon and one on the Bristol Avon have all been swiftly fully-subscribed and reserve lists have been started. At the time of going to press there is still space on the rivers Swale, Calder, Weaver, Soar, Yare, Tees, Don, Great Ouse, Thames, Yorks Ouse and Old Nene.
To enter River Fest, visit www.anglingtrust.net/competitions to download a form.
Angling Trust Riverfest venues are revealed
The full list of qualifiers for this year’s River Fest event has been announced by the Angling Trust and alongside eight new qualifiers, as exclusively revealed by Angling Times a fortnight ago, the prize money has grown with the winner receiving a mouth-watering £12,000!
Taking in 20 matches stretching from opening weeks of the river season in June right through into November, anglers will be able to fish every match if they wish thanks to some careful scheduling that sees no weekend having more than one match, culminating in the two day final on Hereford’s River Wye in mid-November.
That saw Welsh star Andrew ‘Spud’ Murphy crowned the inaugural champion and he’ll be going all-out to make it two in a row, especially as his favourite venue, the Wye is one of those hosting a qualifier in September. With a good spread of rivers around the country however, organisers are hopeful of giving river anglers throughout the UK an equal chance of making it to Hereford and putting them in with a shout of that big prize.
“2013’s event couldn’t have gone better if we’d had wished it!” said event creator and AT columnist Dave Harrell. “I’m truly, truly excited about this year as we’ve got brilliant new venues, more prize money and more importantly, people have seen how the match works, word has spread and interest levels have rocketed.”
“As I said a few weeks ago, the eight new matches are the pick of the many that were put forward but we always review qualifiers at the end of the year and are always interested in new rivers to keep things fresh,” Dave continued. “This year’s calendar offers a wide range of river fishing, different ways of catching fish and different species. I just need to get my act together and qualify this time!”
The entry process remains the same at last year with forms available from the Angling Trust or printed in Angling Times each week from Tuesday March 18. The full list of qualifiers is printed on the back page on this week’s AT to get yourself a comfy chair and you diary and start planning your 2014 River Fest campaign.
Angling Trust River Fest Dates
Sunday June 22 – River Calder, Mirfield
Saturday June 28 – River Swale, Morton
Saturday July 5 – River Severn, Lower Lode
Sunday July 13 – Bristol Avon, Newbridge
Saturday July 19 – River Trent, Newark Dyke
Sunday July 27 – River Trent, South Clifton – Laughterton
Saturday August 2 – River Weaver, Northwich
Sunday August 10 - River Soar, Sutton Bonnington
Sunday August 17 – River Yare, Beauchamp Arms
Saturday August 23 – River Tees, Bowesfield
Saturday August 30 – River Don, Sprotbrough
Sunday September 7 – River Great Ouse, Littleport
Sunday September 14 – River Wye, Breinton – Eign
Saturday September 20 – River Severn, Bridgenorth
Sunday September 28 – River Trent, Burton-on-Trent
Saturday October 4 – River Thames, Medley
Saturday October 11 – River Severn, Upton-on-Severn
Saturday October 18 – Warks Avon, Evesham
Saturday October 25 – Yorkshire Ouse, Hunter’s Lodge – Linton
Saturday November 1 – Old River Nene, March
England's fishing teams need you
Match fishing legend Dick Clegg is spearheading a campaign to raise £30,000 to send the England squads to this year’s world championships.
The nation’s international teams have experienced record levels of success in recent years but there are fears that the gold rush will come to a halt after the disabled, ladies and veterans sides failed to attract a sponsor to help fund the trip.
Calculations have revealed that each outfit will need funding to the tune of at least £10,000 and Dick is now appealing for potential investors to come forward and pledge their support. He said: “It saddens me that we are the most successful country in the world when it comes to angling yet the government won’t finance our efforts to keep it going. They are willing to throw millions of pounds at athletes competing in minority sports at the Winter Olympics but despite the popularity of fishing in this country they won’t give us the additional help we need.
“Other nations that we are competing against are given the necessary backing while our disabled, ladies and veterans have to arrange fundraising initiatives during time that could be used for practicing. In my eyes, this makes our achievements to date even more remarkable,” added Dick.
The battle to reach the target begins this weekend at the Big One angling show in Farnborough where the teams will be raffling off a huge array of items. Major companies including Drennan, Preston Innovations, Garbolino and Matrix have all donated hundreds of pounds worth of tackle for the event and Dick concluded: “I’m extremely grateful to all the members of the trade of who have donated equipment and I’m confident this will be the start of a successful fundraising drive.”
Anyone wishing to back the campaign should call Dick on 07534 267512.
Record applications for 2014 Fish O'Mania qualifiers
The popularity of Fish O’Mania has once again been highlighted after organisers revealed that a record number of entries have been received for this year’s tournament.
Match anglers across the country have been clamouring for tickets to take part in the 16 qualifiers and bosses at the Angling Trust and Matchroom Sport have now published statistics that show more applications than ever before were made for the 2014 event.
Just short of 5,700 bids were made for 2,450 places, with Makins Fishery, Tunnel Barn Farm and Larford Lakes among the most popular choices.
The winner of each heat will go into the big final – which is expected to be once again held at Staffordshire’s Cudmore Fisheries on July 12 - where the overall champion will be handed £30,000 and the prestigious trophy.
Trust Competitions and Events Manager Sandra Drew is unsurprised at its meteoric rise and she told Angling Times: “It was apparent from day one of the application period that all the qualifying venues were going to be heavily oversubscribed.
“There were more places available this year but, yet again, demand has drastically exceeded what was available.
“It is widely considered as the FA Cup of fishing and anglers travel from all over the country to enjoy the prestige of taking part in this magnificent event. We are all looking forward to qualifying getting underway and seeing who makes it to the final,” she added.
Current champion Jamie Hughes is set to launch the defence of his title in the coming weeks and believes that the news highlights the importance of the tournament. He said: “Everybody wants to be involved and thousands of anglers plan their season around this competition. It takes priority over everything else and I can only see it going from strength to strength in the coming years.”
Angling Trust RiverFest 2014 qualifiers announced
The Angling Trust has announced the 20 qualifying venues for this year’s RiverFest competition.
The qualifiers will begin earlier than 2013 with the first match taking place on the River Calder, Mirfield on Sunday June 22. The qualifiers will then continue on a weekly basis through to the last qualifier for 2014 on Saturday November 1 on the River Nene, March. Three anglers from each qualifier will progress to the grand final on the Wye in Hereford on November 15 and 16.
Angling Trust’s RiverFest enters its second year and once again will carry the biggest ever individual prize for a river match, a whopping £12,000 going to the winner of the grand final, an increase of £2,000 on the 2013 first prize.
Angling Trust Ambassador, Dave Harrell, the man behind the original concept of the competition said, “We have worked closely with different clubs and associations and introduced eight new venues to the list for this year. We have also planned things so that there is only one qualifier for each of the first 20 weekends of the season. This will give anglers the chance to plan their matches more easily, and also give clubs and associations the opportunity to run practice opens in the lead up to the qualifying matches.”
Ben Thompson, Senior Competitions Manager stated “We were absolutely delighted with how RiverFest was received by match anglers in its first year and it is an excellent addition to the calendar. Building on that success was very important and in addition to eight new venues, we are delighted to be able to increase the total prize money on offer for RiverFest 2014 to £29,000, with the winner taking home a very impressive £12,000. The prize money is subject to sell outs during the qualifiers and retaining the level of sponsorship from 2013. We received overwhelming support from clubs and associations offering their venues for this year’s qualifiers and we would like to thank everyone who has come forward offering their support.”
The format for the competition will be the same as last year and entry forms to apply for the qualifying matches will be in the Angling Times from Tuesday March 18. Further details will also be available on the Angling Trust website at www.anglingtrust.net
Dates and venues for Angling Trust RiverFest qualifiers 2014
1. Sunday 22nd June - River Calder at Mirfield.
2. Saturday 28th June – River Swale at Morton.
3. Saturday 5th July – River Severn at Lower Lode.
4. Sunday 13th July –Bristol Avon at Newbridge.
5. Saturday 19th July – River Trent at Newark Dyke.
6. Sunday 27th July – River Trent at South Clifton, North Clifton, Laughterton.
7. Saturday 2nd August - River Weaver at Northwich.
8. Sunday 10th August – River Soar at Sutton Bonnington.
9. Sunday 17th August – River Yare at Beauchamp Arms.
10. Saturday 23rd August - River Tees at Bowesfield, Yarm.
11. Saturday 30th August - River Don at Sprotborough.
12. Sunday 7th September – Great Ouse at Littleport.
13. Sunday 14th September – River Wye at Breinton, Bartonsham, Eign.
14. Saturday 20th September - River Severn at Bridgnorth.
15. Sunday 28th September River Trent at Burton.
16. Saturday 4th October – River Thames at Oxford.
17. Saturday 11th October – River Severn at Worcester, Upton.
18. Saturday 18th October - Warwickshire Avon at Evesham.
19. Saturday 25th October – Yorkshire Ouse at Hunters Lodge, Linton-on-Ouse.
20. Saturday 1st November – River Nene at March.
GRAND FINAL 15/16 November – River Wye at Hereford
Seven new venues for Riverfest 2014
Angling Trust River Fest 2014 will have seven new venues to host qualifiers as the race for the £10,000 top prize begins next week.
The final touches are being applied to the 20 matches for this year’s campaign and co-organiser Dave Harrell has exclusively revealed the new faces for the coming summer which are sure to please river anglers around the country and swell the already growing stature of the event.
And Dave has also told AT that with more time to stage matches this year, no weekend will see two eliminators on the same day or days meaning anglers will be able to focus their efforts on one match at a time without missing out on a potential qualification spot. This move should also mean bigger attendances and more revenue for clubs hosting the match.
“A lot of clubs and anglers have come forward with new venues but nothing is cast in stone with the selection process and some make it, some don’t” said Dave. “I try to work closely with venues that are used on a regular basis and have a good pedigree to ensure everyone has a day’s fishing. Sadly, I can only choose 20 rivers but I’d urge anyone who may have applied but not got a qualifier to apply again for 2015 and beyond. We’re always reviewing thins, listening to anglers and doing what’s best for them.”
New venues include the River Severn at Lower Loade in Gloucestershire, a powerful tidal river plus the River Trent’s Newark Dyke in July, The Rivers Weaver, Don and Soar in August, the Wye below Hereford in September and the mighty Yorkshire Ouse and tiny Old River Nene at March for mid to late October.
“Each venue needs different skill sets with a range of fish species and method needed and I’m confident that on that list of 20 matches is a river to suit everyone from shallow, fast-flowing water for chub and barbel to deep slow rivers where bream dominate,” Dave added.
“The full list of matches and how to enter will be released next week but we’re confident of another great response from river anglers once again. Interest is already high and the new venues help to keep things fresh and to attract new anglers.”
