How Gerry's of Nottingham achieved a shock win in this year's Supercup

This year’s Angling Times/Bait-Tech Supercup has been like no other thanks to Covid-19, but it reached its climax last weekend on a sun-drenched Barston Lakes and Meadowlands Fishery complexes with the grand final – and a win for a team who thought they’d got no chance!

Gerry’s of Nottingham are the new champions, scoring 31pts for a clear win from fellow Midlanders Tackle Shack Gold and North West outfit Sixfields Warriors in third. Such was the shock to the winners, that two of their team had already headed home, thinking they’d come nowhere!

Gerry’s skipper Mick Ryan with the famous trophy.

At Barston, Gerry’s scored 9pts, with a section win from Chris Horobin and two fourths from Ben Dutton and skipper Mick Ryan. Meadowlands was harder, with Jake Hemmings sixth, Simon Cooke seventh and Aaron Braithwaite ninth in their sections.

“We’re just floating, we really are - this is a massive shock!” said captain Mick.

“We thought Tackle Shack had won, because the rumour was that they’d got three section wins. But our scores were more consistent.”

“This is our second year in the event. Last year we didn’t have a full team to pick from, so we made a vow to have a proper crack at it and put the time in,” he continued.

“The win is also a fitting way to show our appreciation to Gerry Woodcock, who has looked after us for years. The shop has been brought by Nathan Hughes and will soon be Nathan’s of Nottingham, so it’s a great last hurrah for a famous name in fishing.”

At Barston, Mick tackled peg 96 with 13lb of little skimmers on short pole and maggot plus a carp on the feeder. However, a phone call from Chris Horobin told him to get on the pellet waggler in the last 90 minutes. That worked a treat with two double figure carp and two big F1s to give him 47lb.

Chris was almost opposite on peg 50 and he had a similar story with only skimmers on the feeder and two F1s on bomb and pellet. A change to the pellet waggler with two hours to go was key, seeing him land six big carp for 68lb and that section win. Ben on peg 118 also used the waggler, catching the bulk of his 84lb net on it, backed up by a big carp on the long pole and feeder.

The Lambsdown Lake at Meadowlands was always going to be harder and Jake on peg 4 fished the Method feeder to trees on the opposite bank for 62lb. Simon’s match at peg 35 also stuck to the Method for the final few hours, picking off skimmers and carp for 42lb. The hardest match was endured by Arron on peg 68 with only 19lb to show for his efforts on a bomb and pellet.

Gerry’s of Nottingham were so shocked to win that two of their team had already gone home.