Big canal win for wigan pair

Canal Pairs Championships Final
Birmingham & Fazeley Canal, Minworth (51 pairs)

A six month campaign to find the most talented ‘cut’ anglers in the country came to an end as Wigan’s Kev Clarke and Dave Edgerley bagged the coveted Canal Pairs Champs title.
Qualifying for the prestigious event started in April and after 11 hard-fought heats, 51 pairs battled on the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal in Minworth.
At the end of the rain-soaked contest it was the Wigan MG duo who bagged the silverware and the £1,900 cash prize.
Both of the eventual winners would need to put in a sterling performance to see off a highly talented field of canal anglers and Kev certainly did that as he won the individual match with 4-120 of silverfish. Dave chipped in with sixth in his 51 man section.
Although the pair had limited experience of the venue, inside knowledge told them that their pegs were capable of producing the goods and Kev said: “We knew that if we stuck to what we are good at we had a chance.”
“I caught a few roach short on bread, switched to casters for some better roach before a 1lb tench turned up.”
“A decision to feed worm over my caster line brought another decent tench and that effectively won it for us.”
“We will certainly be back next year to have a shot at defending our title,” he added.
A separate junior event was also run and it was Tom Clark who took the honours here. The West Sussex angler made the long journey more than worthwhile with 1-210.
Organisers from the Angling Trust and Canal & River Trust were delighted with this year’s tournament and revealed that next year will see qualifiers in Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
Trust official Dave Kent said: “The demonstrated how passionate anglers are about their canal fishing. We knew there was a gap in the big match calendar and this event has filled it.”

Pairs result: K Clarke & D Edgerley, 96pts; 2 R Marlow & D Guest, 92; 3 P Laughton & A Webster, 90; 4 S Bird & D Trafford, 79; 5 S Preece & S Mottram, 78; 6 R Yates & M Ellement, 77.
Individual result: 1 K Clarke, Wigan MG, 4-120; 2 D Clayton, Leics, 3-750; 3 A Jagger, Tricast Rochdale, 3-440; 4 R Guest, Maver Midlands, 3-400; 5 A Marsden, Wigan MG, 3-330; 6 N Evans, Garbolino Blackmore Vale, 2-850.
Juniors: 1 T Clark, Storrington, 1-210; 2 J Holloway, Evesham, 0-930; 3 L Roberts, Swindon, 0-870; 4 H Nicholls, Walsall, 0-860.