How Andy Bennett made history...
A rousing comeback in the second half of this year’s Fish O’Mania Final saw Andy Bennett become the first angler to secure back-to-back titles in the competition’s history, earning him that slice of history and the £50,000 winner’s cheque.
Andy Bennett become the first angler to secure back-to-back titles in the competition’s history
Fishing in autumnal conditions on the Island Lake at South Yorkshire’s Hayfield Lakes, Guru/Blake’s Bait man Andy, who qualified for the final automatically as defending champ, seemed out of it at the halfway stage. Then the carp turned up and a run of fish on the bomb helped him to make his move. The Manchester man finished with 40-100 from peg 10, enough to fend off runner-up Luke Sears on next-door peg 9, who took 33-850.
Strong winds made pole and waggler fishing all but impossible and many of the finalists, Andy among them, went down the quivertip and short pole route.
With two and a half hours gone, though, he seemed to be well out of the reckoning, with triple Fish O’ champion Jamie Hughes seemingly in control.
However, the fish vanished from Jamie’s peg and a group of big carp settled in front of Andy and Luke. The fourth hour turned into a golden 60 minutes, propelling last year’s champion into the lead, albeit a slender one of just a few kilos.
With Luke snapping at his heels and Andy’s peg suddenly seeming lifeless, he felt one more big carp would get the job done, and sure enough, with 15 minutes left the tip went around and the fish he desperately needed was in the bag, along with the title! Andy takes up the story...
Hours one and two
“In the opening two hours I caught seven kilos while the leaders were on 20-odd kilos, so I was well behind. Even though it was windy I could fish shallow on the long pole, but it was looking grim, bar a massive change. I needed some fish in front of me.”
Mid-match
“Until halfway through, the peg seemed dead. I managed a carassio on the waggler, but this was my only bite on the float. Luke to my right had been catching, so I began feeding more heavily to try and draw some of his fish towards me. I went from loosefeeding six 8mm pellets to double pouching 15 pellets at a time and finally I began to catch on two red eight-millers.”
A run of fish on the bomb helped him to make his move
Golden spell
“The next 90 minutes were really good, but I still felt I couldn’t catch the leaders up. Then my bank runner Paul Holland told me that a lot of the leaders had stopped catching, and that I was still in with a shout.”
A nervy end
“With an hour to go, I was three kilos ahead of Luke, then the peg died and I couldn’t buy a bite. Luke only needed one big fish to overtake me and he lost two in that final hour, a cause for panic on my part! I needed one more fish to put enough of a cushion between us. With 15 minutes to go, I got it.”
The final reckoning
“Even now, it surprises me that I won, because the peg had no form. It’s not a victory for patience or coolness, it’s more down to chance that the fish stayed where they did. Because my tactics were right, I felt that if I had a number of fish to work with, I was in with a chance, nothing more. To win back-to-back finals is a dream – I guess the next question is, can I make it a hat-trick? Who knows! As champion I won’t have to qualify next year, but at Hayfield any peg is capable of winning.”
“To win back-to-back finals is a dream”
Fish O'Mania final to be fished behind closed doors - will we see bumper weights?
SPECTATORS will not be allowed to be present at this year’s Fish O’Mania final following the Government’s decision to further limit crowd attendances at live sporting events.
The 2020 Fish O’ Mania final will be behind closed doors
It will be the first time in the competition’s 26-year history that the final will be fished without supporters, although the format for the match will remain unchanged – with 24 anglers still competing for the £50,000 first prize at Hayfield Lakes on Saturday, August 29.
Fish O’Mania NXTGEN (Next Generation) goes ahead as planned and eight young anglers will compete for a £2,500 winner’s cheque.
Losing the crowds is a double-edged sword, says the 2015 and 2017 Fish O’Mania winner, Jamie Hughes.
“I really feel for the new guys who won’t get to experience the amazing atmosphere I did,” he adds.
“The crowds make a huge difference and I’ve found the pressure from supporters encourages you to fish to the best of your ability.
“The lack of noise and activity will improve the fishing, though, so we could see some huge weights.”
There will be no scenes like this a Fish O’ this year!
Big match win confirmed on long drive home
Such are the effects of social distancing measures in match fishing that sometimes winning anglers don’t know they’ve won until an hour after leaving to go home. That’s what happened to Andy Power in a recent Fish O’Mania qualifier at Tunnel Barn Farm.
Rules state that anglers must pack up and leave immediately after weighing in, and after putting 238-6-0 on to the scales the Preston Innovations man did just that, thinking that he hadn’t won. A text 90 minutes into his journey back to Somerset told him he actually had!
“I had a bit of luck, as Luke Bamford went over the weight limit in one of his keepnets,” reveals Andy.
“He’d have won the match easily otherwise!”
Andy’s plan for his peg 5 on Extension Pool draw was based around casting shallow and then fishing tight across to the reeds on the island.
Three hours in on the shallow line at 6m using banded caster he’d caught really well, an estimated 150lb of F1s. When this slowed up, he went out to the reeds with banded 4mm pellet to take around 80lb of carp and F1s in the final two hours.
Andy Power (pictured) had no idea he had won the match until 90-minutes into his drive home.