Race is on to be master of the feeder!

The race is on to be crowned Europe’s best feeder angler! Next year sees the first-ever Feeder Master event, and this week details of the 20 qualifiers have been unveiled by the man behind the series.

Mick Vials, a member of  the all-conquering Preston Innovations Engand team from this year’s World Feeder Champs, also revealed that  qualifiers will take place in Holland and Ireland as well as England.

The Preston Innovations-sponsored competition will see eliminators in spring and summer 2016, culminating in the weekend final in late September on Kent’s Bough Beech Reservoir where a guaranteed prize pot of £25,000 will be up for grabs.

“This competition really gives anglers a chance to get into feeder fishing,” said Mick. “Qualification will be via 20-peg sections, giving plenty of opportunities to make the final. When it came to choosing qualifier venues, we’ve been open to suggestions and have picked waters with a good proven track record for feeder fishing”

It all begins in late April on Barston Lakes before famous venues including Larford Lakes, the River Trent and Ferry Meadows take their turn for the 60-peg matches. Those Irish events on Loughs Erne and Muckno and the Dutch match will see 90 anglers taking part. Three anglers from each qualifier will then progress to the two-day final on September 24 and 25.

“We were looking for a final venue that offered something special to the competition,” said event organiser Lee Kerry. “In Bough Beech Reservoir I believe we have found that. Having fished the water myself I know the potential it has to offer and following a recent visit we knew we had the right venue for the final. The final will be a two-day competition based on weight so it really is anyone’s to win!”

Entry for qualifiers will be via the Angling Trust website from January 1 2016.

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Match This 2015 Grand Final to air on Sky Sports

Sky Sports have confirmed this year's Maver Mega Match This Grand Final will be aired on Sky Sports 3 on Friday 9th October at 5:30pm.
Watch angling history being made again and see Middy's Peter Upperton receive a record-breaking £65,000 marking the conclusion of angling's richest and most prestigious final at Maver Larford Lakes. The programme will, once again, be presented by Rob Hughes, who also presents the BCAC and UK Champs events and appears as a reporter at Fish O Mania for Sky.
After yet another tense finale during which Peter Upperton and Preston’s Frankie Gianoncelli went head-to-head in a dramatic ninety minute two-horse sprint finish, Maver MD Philip Briscoe awarded the biggest prize in angling to the 32-year-old plasterer from Surrey, surpassing Chris Cameron’s £60,000 winner’s cheque in 2014 by a further £5,000. Peter now has a place in the Champions League of Angling’s ‘Hall of Fame’ along with previous winners Andy Power, Les Thompson, Zac Brown and Chris Cameron.
Such is the level of demand for tickets and increasing popularity of the event, the Mega Match This Grand Final now pays the winner £15,000 more than it did four years ago back in 2011 when then relatively unknown Somerset rod, Andy Power, scooped the first ever five-figure Match This winner’s purse.
Event Manager, Ben Hughes, commented: “there are, as yet, no further details regarding repeat showings of this year’s final, but we hope there will be additional showings over the rest of the Sky Sports network in the near future. We will also be releasing a feature length DVD showcasing events from the day very soon”.

Tidefest won with bream on the feeder

Andriks Lekstutis is the 2015 Thames TideFest champion. He beat the 46-strong field on the tidal river in London to take the 2015 trophy with a 31-13-0 net of big bream.
In a match held on the Strand on the Green and Barnes sections in the west of the capital, anglers shared £1,000 in prizes.
Sponsorship came from Thames Tideway Tunnel and Thames Water, and Andriks took most of that cash, £500 in total, as he fished the groundbait feeder with worm and maggot from his peg below Kew railway bridge, netting slabs to 7lb.
With the match running on a Continental-style payout, second overall and winning £250 was Hampshire tackle dealer Nigel Newport with 21-8-0 of bream and dace from the Barnes section, also on the feeder. Steve Edwards finished third due to having the second-best weight from the Strand with 31-6-0 of feeder-caught bream.
“The tidal Thames is already a good fishery but it will only get better once the new Tideway ‘Super Sewer’ is built and the water quality improves still further,” said Martin Salter of the Angling Trust.
“We took a bit of a gamble to use the rarely-fished section at Barnes but it came up trumps with some cracking roach and bream alongside the ever-present big shoals further upriver at Kew.”
Angling Times columnist and Thames legend Keith Arthur agreed – he landed four bream for 19lb on the day but didn’t win a penny, not that he was complaining.
“The match has really hit the spot for me with some superb fish caught, thousands of visitors maybe seeing angling and other activities for the first time on my home river and a terrific atmosphere,” he enthused.
“I can’t recall many Thames matches, even from back in the day, when I’ve weighed in 19lb and not won a bean but this was one of them and it’s testament to how good the fishing was. Roll on 2016!”

 

Result: 1 A Lekstutis, 31-13-0 (top weight from Strand on the Green); 2 N Newport, 21-8-0 (top weight from Barnes);
3 S Edwards, 31-6-0 (second-best weight from Strand on the Green); 4 G Bullock, 17-8-0 (second-best weight from Barnes).


Third title at Burton Angling Festival for Newark rod

Shakespeare Coors Burton Angling Three Day Festival (Tues – Thurs)
River Trent, Burton on Trent (78 pegs)

After three days excellent fishing and three all important section wins, Peter Salt is now the 2015 Burton Festival Champion. Incredibly, it’s his third win since its inception eight years ago!
A sell-out field for this year’s Burton Angling Festival enjoyed three days of great competition, with more than £9,000 to pay out, split into 95 cash prizes plus many great tackle items.
Top rod on Day 1 was Dennis Armstrong who drew peg 15 on Sherratt’s Farm and took a super 31-10-0 of waggler-caught roach.
Runner-up was eventual overall champion Peter Salt. He drew peg 5 on Broadholme Island and fished similar tactics for his 21-2-0 catch.
Day 2 was difficult due to the strong windy conditions, with Wayne Truman drawing the downstream end peg at Shardlow and fishing long pole with hemp and tares for 16-12-0 of roach. Pushing him all the way was runner-up Toby Bunting who fished the long pole on peg 1 at Bailey’s for 15-6-0 of roach.
Day 3 saw Dave Wray drawn on peg 3 at Shardlow where he fed six pints of hemp and caster fishing the straight lead netting three barbel for 35-13-0, the biggest fish weighing 13lb 7oz! Tony Marshall took second with roach caught on hemp at 16m to weigh in 29-10-0.

 

Results: Day 1: 1 D Armstrong, Matchman Supplies, 31-10-0; 2 P Salt, Newark, 21-2-0; 3 B Rigby, DH Angling, 16-3-0. Day 2: 1 W Truman, Matchman Supplies, 16-12-0; 2 T Bunting, Quorn, 15-6-0;
3 N Atkins, Chesterfield, 13-11-0. Day 3: 1 D Wray, Quorn AS, 35-13-0; 2 T Marshall, Shakespeare, 29-10-0; 3 P Salt, Newark, 22-8-0.
Overall: 1 P Salt, Newark, 3pts; 2 B Rigby, DH Angling, 4; 3 T Bunting, Quorn, 6; 4 W Truman, Matchman Supplies, 7; 5 R Quinn, Shakespeare, 8; 6 P Warren, Middy, 8.


Small fish dominate at Lough Muckno

IADA Irish Open Feeder Championships
Lough Muckno (90 pegs)

Manchester’s Lee Addy, fresh from the World Pairs event, took this two-day
festival on Muckno with a 23-310 tally to earn over 1,000 Euros in winnings.
The Bait-Tech/Drennan NW man weighed in 9-650 on Day 1 and 10-660 on Sunday to finish well clear of Dutch runner-up Leo Koot on 18-300.
Small fish were the order of the day, Lee netting hundreds of roach, plus the odd hybrid, on groundbait feeder and red maggot tactics over the weekend
Leo also employed the feeder for second, with third going to Michael Buchwalder, who totalled more than 600 roach across the two days for 17-560.

 

Result: 1 L Addy, Drennan NW/Bait-Tech, 23-310; 2 L Koot, Netherlands, 18-300; 3 M Buchwalder, Preston Innovations, 17-560;
4 B Hawkes, Sensas North, 17-000; 5 B Kelly, Tri-Cast, 16-740;
6 W Freeman, Preston Innovations, 16-000.


Derby angler edges Ivan Marks Memorial

Venue regular Dave Stokes topped a strong field of some of the country’s best feeder anglers at Cambridgeshire’s Ferry Meadows Lakes.
Held in memory of match legend Ivan Marks, the 80-pegger was a close-knit affair with only one decent bream separating the top three.
But it was the 67-year-old from Pinxton, Derbyshire, who took home the £300 winner’s purse and trophy with 44-5-0 from peg 122 on Overton Lake.
Said Dave: “It’s an area that has been consistent this season, although I’d rather have been a few pegs to my left.”
Casting regularly at 58 turns with a rocket feeder filled with groundbait and chopped worms, casters, chopped maggots and chopped corn, Dave waited 75 minutes for his first bite – a decent skimmer bream. He then took odd fish until an hour-and-a-half from the end, when he enjoyed a purple patch with six fish in as many casts.
He ended with three big bream to 6lb plus lots of skimmers on a variety of baits including worm, caster, fluorescent maggot and bronze maggot.
“I’d thought I’d blown my chances as I lost seven bream either in the weed in front of me or because the bait masked the hook, but thankfully I’d done enough,” he added.
Runner-up from peg 80 on Gunwade Lake was Leicester teenager Sam Collett, who used a small Method feeder with corn and maggot on the hook for 42-0-0.
The match was organised by Leicester Tackle Shop Match Catch and Ringer Baits, and raised £625 for Papworth Hospital and Macmillan Cancer Support.
Result: 1 D Stokes, Peg One Angling Centre, 44-5-0; 2 S Collett, Dynamite Baits/Match Catch, 42-0-0; 3 J O’Driscoll, Stalybridge Angling Centre, 40-10-0; 4 G Howie, Ringer Baits, 37-8-0; 5 I Didcote, Garbolino Bait-Tech, 32-0-0; 6 D Cooper, Sensas Mark One, 28-14-0. 


Phil Ringer fishes on alone to seal World Pairs title

Brothers Steve and Phil Ringer finally got their hands on the coveted World Pairs trophy after two near misses in previous years. They won the £10,000 first prize by over seven kilos from Lee Addy and Paul Keeley – but they were lucky to even be alive after a motor accident on the way to their pegs on the final day that saw Steve sent to hospital and Phil decide to fish alone, despite being badly shaken.
However, a five-star performance by the Ringer Baits boss saw him take the biggest weight of the whole week with a superb 28-800 of roach from Maghoo Lake, a performance England Feeder team boss Tommy Pickering hailed as the best he’d ever seen. It was a weight that saw the Ringers out in front and with a happy ending to what had started off in horrific circumstances. Phil’s big weight also saw him leap from nowhere to win the individual Daiwa Cup and add another £1,000 to the kitty.
“I’ve still got a sore head and a bad neck and the van is a write-off but we’re well aware that it could have been a lot worse!” Steve said. “The fishing has been almost secondary after what happened and it should make all match anglers realise that life is short and although we all moan about bad pegs, bad fishing and so on, they just aren’t important compared to life itself. We’re all in one piece but I can’t lie and say we weren’t relieved to get home.”
Having been second in the past two years, Steve and Phil had earmarked the Pairs as one to win in 2015 and after a slow start, they began to click from around halfway to move up the leaderboard and sit just a few hundred grams off the leaders with the final day to fish. They also proved that despite doing so well in the past, there were always things to learn and improve on.
“I think we adapted better this year as in the past we’d been very regimented using short hooklengths and piling the bait in wherever we went, but we thought about it this time around and in the clearer water used longer hooklengths but also fed depending on the species that would dominate,” Steve explained. “If that was roach then we fed caster through the feeder, but if it was skimmers and hybrids, that changed to worms.”
“Patience was also important as the hybrids would feed for little spells then go absent for half-an-hour so casting regularly, every 90 seconds or so, to keep the bait going in was crucial as was fishing stronger hooklengths as many of the venues had ledges that would cut you off on lighter lines. We went from 0.15mm to 0.17mm because when the fish were a good stamp, but there weren’t lots of them, you had to make every hooked fish count.”
Day 1 saw Phil at Bunerky Lake where he took seven kilos of small fish on feeder, Steve replying with nin kilos on the pole and feeder from Blackley Lake, but the way the rotation of counties worked out, the brothers knew they would be on one of the more prolific sections on the final day so the early matches would be all about keeping in touch with the leaders.
“If we could hang in and get a weight on the last day we felt we’d be there or thereabouts,” Phil said. “We weren’t too concerned about what was happening as long as we were within six kilos of the leaders on Thursday night. We felt we could catch 20 kilos from Maghoo and Rock Island on the Friday and be in with a great shout.”
Connolly’s Shore on Lough Garradice saw Phil take 13 kilos of hybrids on the feeder while Steve bagged 12.5 kilos of skimmers on the tip from the Churches section on day 2 to really begin to motor. Relatively short chucks of 40m with three maggots on a long tail proving the most successful approach as so many fish were being caught just as the feeder settled.
“Things got better on Wednesday as we were off to Killedeas and Horse Island,” Phil recalled. “I drew a legend peg on the pontoon at Killedeas and had 12-900 of hybrids on the feeder and Steve won Horse Island with 16-800 of skimmers and hybrids. That moved us right into contention and although we had a low weight count the following day, we were right where we wanted to be.”
“The draw gave Steve Lough Scur, which is a pole venue and suited him and he had 15 kilos of roach and a few skimmers, which was a blinding performance,” Phil continued. “My target from Kiltybarden Lake was five kilos and I had just over six kilos on the feeder so that was job done. That put us second behind Rod Scott and Michael Buchwalder by around 300 grams and I was all set and fired up for the final day.”
The draw gave Phil a belter in end peg 13 on Maghoo while Steve had an average peg on Rock Island and they agreed that 15 kilos for Phil and five kilos for Steve should do it. But then it all went wrong!
“One minute I was talking to Steve about how to fish and the next we were in a hedge 40 yards further down the road,” Phil said. “The van was ruined, Steve had to go to hospital and plainly couldn’t fish and even I doubted I could make it as I was so shaken, but I was passed fit by the paramedics. The lads travelling behind us took my gear to the peg, the match was put back an hour and I wanted to fish so off I went.”
“Phil Bardell offered to step in and fish Steve’s peg and I want to thank him for that, but we decided that Phil’s weight shouldn’t count as it didn’t sit right with us – if we were going to win it, then we preferred it to be from our own performances, if we didn’t win then we didn’t - as simple as that,” Phil explained. “I got to the peg, still not right and chucked 40m with three red maggots on a window feeder and had a golden day with 131 roach up to 1lb, plus a bream for 28-880 and the best weight of the week across all the venues. It was amazing fishing.”
That weight surpassed the target set in the morning and saw the lads home for a popular victory, but while Phil was fishing, Steve could only wonder about what was happening and if their chances of winning were unravelling.
“I wanted to fish, but wasn’t allowed. I had to go to hospital and then the police station. All day I felt as though I had let Phil down,” Steve admitted. “I went to see him with around 15 minutes to go but daren’t ask him how we getting on. He saw me and said ‘I’ve got 131 roach – it’s solid!’ so I thought ‘right then, I’ll leave you to it’. He then caught a 4lb bream just to rub it in.”
Pairs result: 1 S Ringer and P Ringer, 123-055; 2 P Keeley and L Addy, 115-785; 3 R Scott and M Buchwalder, 111-890; 4 B Nudd and D Davies, 103-800; 5 W Freeman and A Leathers, 102-325; 6 G Miller and C Vandervleit, 101-685.
Daiwa Cup result: 1 P Ringer, 68-330; 2 R Scott, 60-850;
3 L Addy, 59-560; 4 G Miller, 57-225; 5 P Keeley, 56-225;
6 M Pollard, 55-670.


Butler bags £1,000 payday at Rookery

Rookery Waters £1,000 Summer Final
Jay & Magpie Lakes (56 pegs)

After 33 qualifying rounds, anglers arrived at Rookery with £1,000 up for grabs to the winner.
That big-money prize went to Boston rod Gavin Butler, the Tackle & Bates man recording two section wins and totalling 251-8-0 to relegate Jimmy Brooks into second as he put together 199-0-0 across the weekend after also scoring two points.
Gavin started on Jay Lake peg 30 with 64-12-0 of carp to 5lb on long pole and pellet to win his section and the lake, before changing to the Magpie Lake on Day 2.
That saw him on peg 7, and pellet shallow at 16m and down the edge produced 186-10-0 of carp to again win the section and the lake!
Magpie Lake Day 1 result: 1 M Freeman, Decoy, 204-10-0; 2 T Edwards, Dynamite Baits/Maver Image, 150-2-0;
3 B Mason, Guru/Bag’em Baits, 130-8-0.
Jay Lake Day 1 result: 1 G Butler, Tackle & Bates, 64-12-0;
2 T Evans, Dynamite Baits, 47-4-0; 3 J Brooks, Middy/Bait-Tech, 46-10-0.
Magpie Lake Day 2 result: 1 G Butler, Tackle & Bates, 186-10-0; 2 J Brooks, Middy/Bait-Tech, 152-4-0;
3 S Bracey, Shimano/Dynamite Baits, 114-6-0.
Jay Lake Day 2 result: 1 M Pollard, Shimano/Stanjay Sports, 104-10-0; 2 T Edwards, Dynamite Baits/Maver Image, 85-10-0; 3 S Higginbottom, Tackle & Bates, 83-12-0.
Overall: 1 G Butler, Tackle & Bates, 2pts (251-8-0);
2 J Brooks, Middy/Bait-Tech, 2 (199-0-0); 3 T Edwards, Dynamite Baits/Maver Image, 3 (235-12-0); 4 M Pollard, Shimano/Stanjay Sports, 3 (222-8-0); jt5 S Higginbottom, Tackle & Bates and G Welton, Garbolino RAF, both 3 (both 203-4-0).


GALLERY: Angling Times Bait-Tech Supercup Final 2015

It was a case of fifth time lucky for Norfolk's Dersingham AC who claimed the title of Britain's best club side by winning the Angling Times Bait-Tech Supercup at the weekend.

Staged at the prolific Barston Lakes, 15 teams from across the country battled with each other - and the bream and carp of the Main and Match lakes - in what was one of the closest finals in the event's 15-year history.

Here are some pictures from the day.











Last-gasp section win bags Jon Arthur third title

Drennan star Jon Arthur has won his third Old Ghost UK Angling Championships title, earning the £4,000 top prize.
The Oxford angler won the event twice a few years back, but left it until the last minute to lift this year’s silver claret jug, earning a section win at the death to be confirmed champion as the competition ended in dramatic style at Barston Lakes.
Needing a section win to take the title, Jon obliged with a 32-225 net of carp, F1s and skimmers off peg 28 on the river bank of the Main Lake. That matched the score of Myles Levy, who had also won his section to finish on six points. Unfortunately for the Daiwa Dorking man, he didn’t have the aggregate weight to beat Jon.
Going into the match, Jon, Myles and Adam Wakelin all stood on five points, with a clutch of names behind ready to capitalise on any slip-ups. As the match progressed, it became apparent that Adam’s draw meant he would have little chance of chalking up a section win, but Jon and Myles both looked like being the winners.
Myles started strongly at peg 52, fishing the PVA teabag and pellet approach with a couple of double-figure carp in the first hour to take control of his section.
Jon’s match was slightly slower, and the early stages saw him lying around second or third in section. He went for a Method feeder and mini boilie attack, but a big carp, estimated at around 12lb, was lost at the net after a 20-minute battle, which knocked his confidence a little.
News also filtered down that Nick Speed and Chris Bailey, further up the section, were challenging.
The latter stages of a match on a commercial fishery can always change drastically, and so it proved as Jon and Myles slugged it out as the carp started to play ball. Both men caught well, with Myles weighing in 48-550 to win his section and take third place overall on the day.
Being last to weigh in,  and with both Nick and Chris taking 24kg, Jon knew what he needed to win the section. Having landed a big carp in the dying stages, the question was how crucial would that fish be? The crowds gathered and, with bated breath, a weight of 32-225 was announced. Jon had done it by just under 6kg, that big carp indeed proving vital.
“I could cry,” was all an emotional Jon could say at the end, and rightly so. The UK Champs is a marathon fished across several months at fisheries that demand a range of skills to do well, making Jon a worthy winner.
Although the title race was out of many anglers grasp, there was still the matter of the £1,000 up for grabs for the individual winner on the day.
Peg 124 was always a favourite, and Jamie Grainger had a tough start from there, but picked up carp from midway to amass 52-225, but it wasn’t enough for the overall win!
That honour went to Ady Hull, who fished a steady match from peg 16 using long-range bomb with PVA pellet tea bag tactics to record 58-900 at the scales.
Jamie settled for second with Myles Levy claiming third on 48-550.
Result: 1 A Hull, Dynamite Baits, 58-900; 2 J Grainger, Preston Innovations Delcac, 52-225; 3 M Levy, Daiwa Dorking, 48-550.
Overall: 1 J Arthur, Drennan, 6pts (339-755); 2 M Levy, Daiwa Dorking, 6 (200-630); 3 A Power, Preston Innovations Thatcher’s, 8 (258-0050); 4 R Taylor, Daiwa Dorking, 8 (216-780); 5 P Wrighting, Daiwa/Guru/Bag’em Baits, 10 (257-605); 6 R Wootton, Shimano/Dynamite Baits, 10 (217-715).


Near perfect day for Rick Yates

Angling Trust/Canals & Rivers Trust Canal Pairs Championships Qualifier
Rochdale Canal, Heywood (46 pegs)

An impressive 98 points out of 100 saw Dean Turner and Paul Smith end the day as the top pair, followed just a point behind by Rick Yates and Marc Ellement.
Rick also won the overall individual honours with a level 10-000 from peg 25. The Ted Carter Preston man took around 4lb of roach on breadpunch before looking on his chopped worm line at 14.5m to net three skimmers and a 12lb carp on lobworm!
Runner-up Paul Andrews fished peg 16 with breadpunch and caster at 14m to weigh in 8-600 of bream and skimmers.


Higgins tops Maver British Pole Champs

Merseyside man Matt Higgins is this year’s Maver British Pole Champs winner. The Neptune Angling man weighed in 153-1-0 from peg 30 on the Specimen Lake to win the 82-peg match fished by qualifiers from Maver Mega Match This eliminators that have taken place throughout the spring and summer.
A finalist in the forthcoming Match This final, Matt ended up well clear of runner-up Pete Upperton, another angler who will be fishing for £50,000 in a few weeks’ time in the final, the Middy rod recording 112-6-0 from peg 52 on the same lake.
In fact, it turned out to be a good weekend for Pete as, the day before, he teamed up with his mate Robbie Taylor to win the 86-peg Maver Pairs match, the two men both winning their sections to post a perfect two points, Perry Stone and Rob Hitchens taking second on five points.
Individual glory was also there in abundance for the winners as Robbie took second and Pete fourth, Kieron Rich winning overall with 133-2-0 from the Specimen Lake.
The main focus though, was on the Pole Champs and, being pole-only, there was no place for the feeder or pellet waggler on what turned out to be a blustery day at Maver Larford Lakes.
Matt began his match by fishing pellet shallow at 13m to take carp and a few skimmers, before changing to the margins with the same bait to locate some of the lake’s famed big carp up to 17lb.
It was a similar story for Surrey man Pete on the opposite bank of the lake as he started shallow but took the bulk of his weight from the margins on meat.
The day before, Middy-backed Kieron was taking the individual honours from peg 22 as he fished pellet on the deck at 14.5m and later shallow to find carp and skimmers, finishing the day on meat in the edge for some big carp. Robbie, on peg 44 of the Specimen Lake, found his carp on the pellet waggler and then pellet down the side to register 131-1-0 at the scales to just miss out.
However, there was plenty of consolation on the pairs front as, combined with Pete Upperton’s 91-4-0 section winner on the Match Lake, no other pairing were a match for them as they won the title in comfort to pocket the well-earned £1,000 top prize.


Last two places for Match This qualifiers decided

The final two places in next month’s Maver Mega Match This event were settled at the weekend.
Both West Midlands waters Tunnel Barn Farm and Maver Larford Lakes hosted qualifiers, with Les Marshall and Jon Whincup claiming the places for a shot at UK match angling’s biggest prize!
They’ll join a star-studded field Whincup and Marshall head for the Maver Match This final at Larford on Saturday, September 5 to do battle across five hours for the guaranteed £50,000 winner’s purse after making in through from the two 100-plus peg matches, Les winning at Tunnel and Jon at Larford.
First up was Les, the Barnsley angler sneaking through by just 9oz on Saturday as he weighed in 155-0-0 from peg 22 on the Club Pool, where pellet and caster fished shallow at 5m saw him take a net of carp and F1s.
Norfolk’s Jimmy Brooks was the man to miss out in agonising fashion by one F1 as he took 154-7-0 from peg 5 on the same lake, catching on caster shallow on the long pole.
Attention then switched to Larford on Sunday with a sell-out 120-peg match. While many expected the Match Lake, which will host next month’s final, to produce the winner, it was Specimen Lake peg 80 on the chalet bank that saw Frenzee/Bait-Tech-backed Jon prevail with 150-15-0 to go through with ease.
The Peterborough postman fished the pellet waggler with banded 8mm hard pellet to bank some of the lake’s famed big carp up to 14lb.
John Bassett – on Match Lake peg 42 – was the only one to get remotely close to the winner as he took 104-13-0 of carp and F1s fishing pellet and meat in the margins.


Junior fishing match aid a success

The second Junior Match Aid Festival to be held at Partridge Lakes in as many years was hailed a massive success, with all young anglers catching plenty of fish and benefiting from some top coaching.

Preston consultants Des Shipp, Lee Kerry and Andy Findlay were on hand to give the participants tips and advice over the three days, plus hand over plenty of generous tackle and bait prizes from the sponsors Preston Innovations.

Junior Match Aid is split into an overall prize board plus two different age groups of 16 to 18, and 15 and under.

The overall winner of the event was Jordan Holloway with a perfect three-point score and a total weight of 93kg 030g, picking up over £500 for his efforts.

Runner-up was Liam Miller, again with a three-point score but a smaller weight. Lewis Turner completed the top three, one of four anglers with a perfect score.

Prizes down to 10th place were awarded, and there was also a friendly team competition, won by the team headed by Lee Kerry.

Match Aid is growing all the time with the help of its team of dedicated volunteers. For more information on the charity, please visit www.matchaid.org.uk.

Overall: 1 J Holloway 3 (93-030); 2 L Miller 3 (86-650); 3 L Turner 3 (80-800); 4 W McCranor 3(55-820);
5 S Claydon 4.
15 and under: 1 R Swan 3; 2 Y Sephton 5 (54-980);
3 J Powell 5 (47-990)
16 – 18: 1 J Allen 4; 2 A Harmen 5 (76-650); 3 H Munro
5 (65-750)


Dorking clinch national glory in Angling Trust Division 1 Nationals

The star-studded Daiwa Dorking added yet another title to their overflowing trophy cabinet as they claimed a resounding win in the Angling Trust Division 1 National.

Bright sunshine and high temperatures provided tricky conditions for the 44 teams competing on the Gloucester Canal, but the champions once again showed their skill and ended up recording a 354-point total, which was over 50 points better than the nearest chasers.

Team members referred to their draw as only ‘average’, but they turned on the style from the off, and all but one member of the squad – which included stars such as William Raison, Michael Buchwalder and Simon Willsmore - managed to come in the top 10 of their 44-peg sections.

Over two months of practice had helped them come up with what proved to be an unbeatable plan, and Dorking ace Des Shipp told Angling Times: “It is a phenomenal feeling to once again win the Division 1 National. We’ve put in a lot of effort to make sure we got our hands on the trophy, and it is all the sweeter when you consider the high calibre of opponents we had to fish against.

“The boiling-hot conditions on the day made the venue fish differently to what we had seen in practice, with a lot more colour in the water than we’d previously seen.

“We made a plan which relied upon starting on the feeder for a bonus fish or two, and then finding 10ft of water on the pole line and fishing for everything that fed.

“It was an attack that was based around putting fish in the net on a regular basis, and the result shows that we definitely made the right decision.”

Team-mate Ian Didcote lives only a stone’s throw from the venue and played a key part in putting together the winning formula, and he revealed that they were almost forced to fish with nine anglers instead of 10.

“Lee Edwards’s other half is due to have a baby any day now and it was touch and go as to whether he would be able to compete,” Ian said. “Thankfully, he was able to play his part, otherwise we had no stand in and we’d have been a man light. Our plan has worked a treat, and to win against such a talented field is a fantastic feeling.”

With the likes of Drennan Barnsley Blacks, Shakespeare Superteam and Kamasan Starlets also taking part, it was anyone’s guess who would secure the runners-up slot, but many were left surprised as Maver Image racked up a 298-point tally to bag the spot.

Captain Steve Clark was delighted at the result, but wasn’t as shocked at their achievement as others might have been. He said: “We’ve finished second on four occasions in recent years, and we have, once again, done ourselves proud.”

“With the likes of Simon Colclough and Pete Vasey in the squad we always knew we had the quality to match up with the best in the business. We’ve had no practice and worked on the basic information that we had to work out a plan.”

“We fed a 10m line with balls of groundbait packed with worms, casters and dead pinkies and kept fish going into the net and picked up an odd bonus along the way.”

Drennan Barnsley Blacks put up a brave fight to defend the title which they won on the River Trent in 2014, but managed to console themselves with the final place on the podium and a bronze medal.

Planning has already got underway for next year’s contest, and Angling Trust staff revealed at the presentation that the Tidal Trent would be the host for the 2016 effort on August 20.

The Division 2 National is likely to be run on the Fazeley Canal in Birmingham, although the deal is yet to be signed off.

Team result: 1 Daiwa Dorking, 354pts; 2 Maver Image, 298;
3 Drennan Barnsley Blacks, 291; 4 Kamasan Starlets, 287;
5 Shakespeare Superteam, 281; 6 Ted Carter Preston, 279;
7 Garbolino Blackmore Vale MG, 273; 8 Browning Hot Rods, 272; 9 Sensas Mark One, 265; 10 Bridgnorth AS, 258.

 


Opinion divided over mammoth five-hour haul from Arran’s Lake in Essex

The British five-hour match record has been smashed with a colossal 1,140lb haul of carp.

Burt Baits boss Tony Wynnick achieved the feat at Arran’s Lake in Essex, the same water where Nick Darke last year set the previous record with 936lb.

That catch was blown out of the water, though, when Tony took more than 140 carp averaging 8lb each.

He told Angling Times: “It was one of those days when everything fell into place – it was the right peg with a big stamp of fish in it.

“All matches at Arran’s are split in half with a midway weigh-in and in the first part I landed 519lb and then 621lb for a 1,140lb total.

“I broke limits on a couple of nets and I was knocked back 150lb for that. All the fish were caught on a banded pellet presented shallow in the margins over red Burt Baits Glow groundbait slop.”

The mammoth weight has divided opinion, with some anglers claiming that such extreme catches are ruining match fishing and painting the sport in a bad light. Tony doesn’t share that view.

“As soon as you raise the bar someone will try to shoot you down. If someone catches 200 small F1s it is seen as an achievement, but when they catch 143 fish for a much bigger weight they get hammered,” he said. “The owners take steps to protect their fish and I see no problem with the big weights Arran’s is capable of.”

Leading fisheries consultant Andrew Ellis is one of many who warn of caution when it comes to waters that are capable of producing such giant catches.

The AE Fisheries boss said: “There is no problem with waters that can produce weights like this, but they need very careful management or there’s a disaster waiting to happen.

“If a certain percentage of fish aren’t removed from time to time to make extra room, then it can cause problems and a fishery can be wiped out by one big fish kill.

“Anglers might think that these venues are stuffed with fish, but sometimes 75 per cent of the stock will get caught in a match just because they are so hungry.”

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Fishery limits matchmen’s margin time

A popular fishery has restricted margin fishing during matches after competitors complained that fishing at the venue had become ‘too easy’.

Mick Martin, match organiser at Kingfisher Pools in Bulkington, Warwickshire, has enforced the new rule after recent competitions saw venue records tumble, with anglers recording 300lb-plus mixed nets solely by fishing down the edge.

In response the fishery decided to limit fishing in the margins to after the first two-and-a-half hours of competition following complaints from regulars who said that the fishing on the venue’s 52-peg Kingfisher Lake was becoming one-dimensional.

Mick, who now uses a whistle to notify when competitors can move shorter than four pole sections out into the lake, explained his decision.

“Attendances to the matches were starting to drop and the lake has become so prolific it’s now far too easy to catch,” he said. “I thought I would make anglers work a bit harder for their fish and try other methods to make up the weights.

“I’ve had nothing but positive feedback since the change and anglers are now returning, so I am going to stick with it,” he said.

Big weights often dominate matchfishing at this time of year, with some venues seeing individual weights soar as high as 800lb. 

One of those is Arran’s Lake in Essex. Arran’s bailiff Glen Smith said there had been few complaints from anglers visiting his venue and that they would not be following in the footsteps of Kingfisher Pools in changing the rules to make catching big weights more difficult.

 “Match anglers love bagging up with tonnes of fish – it’s what they come here for,” he said.

“No-one ever complains about being tired from catching so many fish, so we won’t be changing anything,” he said.

Fish O'Mania increases prize money to £50,000

Fish O’Mania is to undergo the biggest revamp in its history after organisers revealed new plans that will see the winner scoop £50,000.

Every element of match fishing’s premier event – now in its 23rd year – is set to be transformed, but a change in the format of the final is arguably the most significant of them all.

Next year, a semi-final on the Friday will see 32 qualifiers fish against each other, with the top 16 going through to the final the day after to compete for a first prize that has been increased from £30,000 to a massive £50,000.

And in a bold move, the traditional final draw will be replaced by a rover format with the semi-final winner getting first choice of pegs, the runner-up second choice, and so on.

Organisers the Angling Trust has also announced that 28 heats will be held at fisheries throughout the UK in 2016, with 32 qualifying anglers going through to a ‘finals weekend’.

The increase in qualifiers will have a big impact on the number of spaces available, with 4,380 tickets being put on sale – an increase of almost 80 per cent compared to the 2,450 up for grabs this year.

Every applicant looks set to be guaranteed at least one ticket, with the Angling Trust currently working on a system to make that possible.

Matchroom Sport own Fish O’, and its boss Barry Hearn has played a major part in the changes. He said: “The number of applications that Fish O’Mania receives each year keeps going up and in the current format that leads to a lot of disappointed people who don’t get a ticket.

“But the new system will drastically increase every angler’s chances of getting on to a qualifier and having a shot at reaching finals weekend.

“The new finals weekend will increase the excitement for both competitors and spectators, with the £50,000 first prize helping cement Fish O’Mania as match fishing’s number one tournament for decades to come,” he added.

No announcement has yet been made about where the qualifiers will be staged, although a spokesperson revealed that they would ‘provide variety and choice’ which has led to suggestions that rivers and canals could be used for some heats.

Over 220,000 viewers watched this year’s final on Sky Sports and the broadcaster is set to show all the action live again, with Staffordshire’s Cudmore Fisheries expected to host finals weekend.

Discussions are ongoing to determine whether the semi-final will be screened, with a highlights package show the likely outcome.

The new-look format has been welcomed by anglers across the country and current champion Jamie Hughes is among those who believe the overhaul will enhance the tournament. He said: “I’m very impressed with the changes. I think the revamp has come at the right time.

“The increase in tickets and qualifiers is fantastic, as it will guarantee everybody who applies an opportunity to compete.

“Everybody I have spoken to is excited by the new format. I cannot wait for things to get under way next year and have a shot at becoming the first man to win the tournament three times.”

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Weight limits nearly cost Maver Mega Match This qualifier

Maver Mega Match This Qualifier
Colman’s Cottage Fishery (98 pegs)

This was something of a traumatic day for qualifier Sam Brown as, at the scales, one of his nets was 3lb over the limit and knocked back – and on his third net he was just 1lb away from having the whole net discounted!

As it turned out he topped a strong field with 172-0-0 from peg 21 on the Pathfield Lake. The Maver-backed rod started on the short pole line with pellet, but with so many fish cruising close to the top he was inevitably drawn to them and dobbed with a long line and 6mm pellet.

Late in the match he caught a few bonus fish on corn and maggot to see him through to the grand final just a few weeks away.

Runner-up from Wood Lake peg 1 was Jason Collins, who also caught a lot of the fish that were cruising in his peg, with a few fish late on from the margins with maggot to finish on 150-8-0.

Result: 1 S Brown, Maver, 172-0-0; 2 J Collins, Preston Innovations Delcac, 150-8-0; 3 W Martin, Matrix/Van Den Eynde, 114-0-0; 4 J Gallagher, Berkshire, 110-12-0;
5 J Blavins, GOT Baits, 110-4-0; 6 J Whincup, Frenzee/Bait-Tech, 99-8-0.