Is the all-round matchman gone forever?
Match angling has never been more specialised than it is now. From the days of having to be a jack of all trades, you can now focus on one type of angling and find plenty of events to take part in, whether that’s on a canal or commercial using a feeder rod or pole.
That’s not a bad thing, as it cuts down on the kit needed and allows you to focus on your chosen discipline and become very successful at it. The negative is that the all-round match angler, the sort that can win fishing for carp shallow one day and then use the feeder for bream on a tidal river the next, is dwindling.
We asked four top names in match angling: is the all-round match angler becoming a thing of the past?
Is the all-round match angler becoming a thing of the past?
“They aren’t needed” - Tommy Pickering
“There are two types of match angler – the silverfish river angler and the commercial angler. We’ve definitely seen the decline of the all-rounder and the rise of the specialist, people who have learned that they can’t compete on that venue or that venue, so I’ll stick to this venue. They fish a style at a fishery that they enjoy, understand and can do well on, and now there’s so much choice in terms of matches to fish that who can blame them?
“The actual true all-rounder who can do anything anywhere are few, and those who are about tend to be team anglers, who need all of the skills to tackle a range of waters. What we’re seeing now, certainly in my area in Yorkshire, is a development of specific ‘scenes’ based around types of fishery. The Mirfield AC club runs opens on the River Calder and Aire & Calder Canal and gets 70-odd on them, and then there’s Southfield Reservoirs, bream fishing on the feeder, where you can’t get a ticket for an open! That’s before we even get to the commercial fisheries. The all-rounder is still out there, but the reality is, you don’t need to turn your hand to everything any more.”
“The all-rounder is still out there, but the reality is, you don’t need to turn your hand to everything any more.”
”It’s all about the money” - Dave Roberts
“I’ve had success on commercials and rivers at a high level, but certainly I do feel that what I do is a bit different. On my local River Wye match circuit, the crossover of anglers who do both is minimal and I think a lot of this is to do with prize money. Even in river fishing, there are more and more events offering £4,000 here or £6,000 there, which is enough of a carrot dangling to mean you don’t have to bother fishing commercials or canals to try and win a good few quid.
“That’s why the number of all-round match anglers is quite low.
“That’s not to say that many of the people I fish against couldn’t compete on a range of venues. Too many people see the young lads who fish F1-dominated venues and say: ‘I’d like to see them catch on my river’. They’re brilliant anglers and they would empty the place, but they don’t need to because there’s enough to keep them happy doing what they’re most comfortable with.
“Why make the effort to slog a mountain of kit across muddy fields on the river when they can fish almost out of the back of the car on a commercial? I don’t mind the muddy walks, but I can understand why so many are turned off by rivers.”
“Why make the effort to slog a mountain of kit across muddy fields on the river when they can fish almost out of the back of the car on a commercial?”
“It’s too tricky” - Steve Hemingray
“If you are not a professional angler, then it’s hard to do everything. Only a select few can do this and, even for me, work and family come before fishing, so I can’t fish every event that I want to!
“You have to pick the type of matches that suit you, which in my case are based around natural waters. For other people that will be commercial carping.
“The problem with fishing the Thames one day and Larford Lakes the next is the changing over of kit, baits and practice time, especially if you’re fishing venues you’re not familiar with.
“It’d be great to have a crack at the lot, but you have to be realistic and fish to your strengths. There are still some great all-round anglers out there, but they will always struggle to compete against the people who have picked one type of fishing and stuck with it.”
“If you are not a professional angler, then it’s hard to do everything.”
“They’re back!” - Darren Cox
“The all-rounder was a dying breed, but they’ve had a renaissance in recent years owing to the increase in events to fish.
“Take a feeder angler on commercials – they can now fish things like FeederMasters knowing they have the skills to compete and it’s the same with floats. If you can catch roach on the waggler on a river, then you can catch carp on it on a commercial. The only difference is heavier tackle!
“Having an all-round skill set makes you a better angler and many of the people we see as the best started their match fishing doing very different things – William Raison, Andy Bennett and Steve Ringer are a few that spring to mind. They began on rivers and canals and still have those skills learned on natural waters. You never forget them.
“It’s still very difficult to flit between the types of fishing and be successful at it but, if you have experience under your belt, I think you can compete. Years ago, we used to have a National Superleague with rounds on rivers, natural lakes and big canals and that demanded that you had the skills to do the lot. That type of event has gone now, hence why people see so many successful anglers as ‘one trick ponies’, when the truth is that they’re actually not. Perhaps we need more of this type of event?”
“The all-rounder was a dying breed, but they’ve had a renaissance in recent years owing to the increase in events to fish.”
World Freestyle Feeder and Street Fishing matches set for autumn
TWO brand new fishing competitions are set to be launched this year to capitalise on rapidly growing arms within the sport… and England are hoping to send teams to both!
The inaugural Freestyle Feeder Championships, which is scheduled to take place in Hungary in September, will break new ground as competitors will be allowed to use just about any combination of feeder, hooklink and loosefeed, unlike the more established traditional feeder fishing competitions.
The new feeder event will take an ‘anything goes’ approach
Also set to debut in 2021 is the Street Fishing World Championships, an urban lure fishing contest that’s sure to be popular with the nation’s army of predator fanatics.
England Manager Mark Downes is on the FIPS committee organising the Freestyle Feeder Champs and is hopeful that England will competing come the autumn.
“While we still have to wait for everything to be finalised and for the Angling Trust to grant us permission to enter, this new event is an exciting prospect” he told us.
“As the name suggests, there will be fewer restrictions on competitors, meaning that short hooklengths, Method feeders and pellets can be used, unlike in the classic feeder champs, where rules force competitors to use more traditional tactics.”
Meanwhile, the Street Fishing World Champs is scheduled to be hosted in Amsterdam later this year, and will bring a new dimension to the international match angling circuit.
“There was a trial event in 2020 in which 600 pairs entered,” Mark told us,
“so this event has the potential to be something really special. Lure fishing is incredibly popular on the Continent, and while England still need permission from the Trust to enter, it’s one to look forward to.”
The Street Fishing World Champs is scheduled to be hosted in Amsterdam later this year
Legal threat to club that broke lockdown
MATCH anglers who held a competition during the current lockdown period have been warned they will lose their fishing rights if they do it again.
HanKat Angling Society flouted the rules on organised sporting events by staging a nine-peg event on the Dudley Canal on November 7.
The club advertised a follow-upmatch, before the Canal & Rivers Trust (CRT) warned them that the matches breach Covid restrictions. The CRT told the club
“Should you go ahead and organise further events we will escalate the matter to our legal team to see what the Trust would need to do in order to ensure compliance with law, including the termination of your club’s angling agreement.
This is something we hope we can avoid, as it would not put angling in a good light at this time and undo the work the fisheries team have been doing behind the scenes in fighting the case for angling to be allowed to continue.”
Jamie Cook, the CEO of the Angling Trust, said:
“It is vital that anglers continue to fish safely, locally and responsibly throughout this pandemic. The last thing we need to see is irresponsible actions like this that brings angling into disrepute and endangers the hard-won concessions we have achieved for us to keep fishing through the lockdown.”
HanKat Angling Society flouted the rules on organised sporting events by staging a nine-peg event on the Dudley Canal
Tributes roll in for Britain’s oldest matchman
Frank Posiak, Britain’s oldest match angler, has died at the age of 94 after a short illness.
Having fished around 10,000 matches, Frank was loved by his fellow anglers and tributes have poured in from all corners of the angling community.
Members of Long Eaton Angling Federation, of which Frank was a life member, shared some of their stories.
“My favourite Frank Posiak moment was when he won a match on the ponds with 27lb,” said Pete Allwood.
“He was stood on the bank behind peg 8 with his hands on his hips and a massive smile on his face. Me and Alan Wright stopped to ask him if he had caught carp. ‘Yes’ he responded. Tench? ‘Yes.’ Bream? ‘Yes.’ Big perch.... ‘YES! Can you lift my net out, please, I might fall in!’ RIP Frank, your smile will be sadly missed.”
Club member Daz Lewis added:
“It’s so sad that another one of our great family of anglers has gone. He was a true gentleman of our sport.”
Frank still fished well into his nineties
Ringer brothers win pairs final with Hybrid feeder masterclass
The Ringer Baits Boddington Reservoir Pairs series began with a bang for brothers Phil and Steve Ringer, who made it two wins out of two at the sprawling Northamptonshire water to pocket the £500 prize.
Fishing against 27 other pairs, the two England Feeder men cast in excess of 70m to keep in touch with Boddy’s famed big carp. Scoring two section wins, Phil and Steve triumphed over Jason and Graham Morris who also won their sections.
Finishing first and third individually, it didn’t take long to work out who had topped the shop, the 205-9-0 of the winners easily eclipsing the Morris’ 136-9-0. Phil, top man on the day, had 109-1-0 from peg 10 on the sailing club bank to make the win sweeter.
“After taking second overall last week, I fancied going one better,” Phil said.
“The mild weather means there are still carp to be caught off every peg. I set myself a target of seven or eight fish, which average 10lb apiece, and finished with eleven.”
In the clear water, Phil relied on a washed out yellow 8mm wafter, casting a Hybrid feeder 60m and only going out to 75m when bites stopped. A blank opening hour gave way to much better sport, four carp in four casts getting him off the mark in hour two.
“Cast times were 10 to 15 minutes max as the fish were feeding well, some pulling the rod round within a minute of the feeder settling,” he continued.
“Even though there were carp topping all over, it was important to keep casting to the same spot except in the last hour when the bites ceased.
“I also found that by leaving the wafter just showing on top of the pellets in the feeder, I could get a bite that much quicker.”
The Hybrid feeder was vital to Phil’s win
Match fishing legend's book raises 2.3k for cancer charity
THE very first copy of Tommy Pickering’s autobiography has raised £2,315 for the Anthony Nolan blood cancer charity following an online raffle auction.
A total of 463 tickets priced at £5 each were bought by anglers in the NuFish Southfield Reservoir Match Facebook Group, which is in its third year of raising funds for the charity.
The 1989 World Champ Tommy, who regularly attends matches at the East Yorks venue, told us donating his signed book for the raffle was a ‘no-brainer’.
“My mum died of leukaemia in 2008 and the charity has also supported good friend and Southfield match organiser Andy Renton through his battle with the disease.
“I wanted to offer something a little different to raise money and the book donation was an instant hit – making £1,000 in the first hour of the raffle.The response has blown my mind.”
To generate even more funds, Andy and fellow match organiser Mick Axon created a three-day festival at Southfield Reservoir which attracted 78 competing anglers.
Andy added:
“If it wasn’t for Anthony Nolan I wouldn’t be here, so I’d just like to thank Tommy and everyone who bought a ticket or entered the festival for their contribution to the charity.”
Tommy at the book presentation – with Southfield match organisers Andy Renton (Left) and Mick Axton
How Brad Hancock won the £25,000 Parkdean Masters title
Some big names have clutched the famous silver Parkdean Masters trophy and £25,000 winner’s cheque. Brad Hancock can now add his name to that list after a tight finish to this year’s final on Jenny’s Lake at White Acres in Cornwall.
Brad is, by his own admission, more of a club angler where matches are concerned but also enjoys specimen hunting for big barbel and chub on the Rivers Don and Trent. He’s also a regular at White Acres, fishing the residents’ matches and the occasional festival, with some success.
Making his Parkdean debut, the Sheffield man weighed in 57-9-0 of carp, F1s and carassio from peg 35 to just get the nod by one carp ahead of Ben Dales’ 52-6-0. Victory left him stunned at not only the biggest match win, but also that £25,000!
Parkdean resorts Steve Griffiths presents 2020 champion Brad Hancock with a cheque for 25k
“I’ve fished White Acres for nine years, but have never got close to doing well in one of the big festivals, let alone making the Parkdean final,” Brad said.
“This year qualifying was a bit different. Because of Covid, there were no spring festivals, so the top eight weights from all the residents’ matches through the summer went through, and I was one of those. I also finished in the top eight of the Preston Innovations festival.
“Jenny’s Lake is not one I know well, having only fished it a few times, making it hard to work out a target weight and where you wanted to draw.
“I got the impression that pegs 15 to 17, 21, 4, 7 and 8 were banker draws, so when I got peg 35 it seemed as if I was far away from where I wanted to be! But it looked like being a tight, low-weight match where flyers might not be as good as we all thought.”
At the peg
“Peg 35 gave me the point of one of the islands to cast to with a feeder, and my mind was made up when I plumbed up my pole line at 13m – it was just 2ft deep! I couldn’t see me catching enough to win there, so it was looking like an out-and-out rod match.
“The swim was a little deeper close to the island at around 3ft, getting a bit deeper the further away I came from it, so I settled on fishing the pellet feeder with three dead red maggots on the hook. I thought pellets might be too selective, so I went for maggots to try and catch everything that came along.
“The opening hour wasn’t great, and I only caught a small F1 and a carassio casting a 20g pellet feeder to the island. This lack of action seemed to be the case everywhere.
“In hours two and three, I started to get indications on the tip, showing me fish were there. That helped me decide to stay on the feeder. I began casting more regularly, every three or four minutes, to get some bait in and try and get the fish to have a go. Three carp and some carassio went into the net, but they were small carp.”
Brad kicked off with mainly small carp and carassio
Moving away
“As the match wore on, bites from casting to the island seemed to be fading. Moving a few feet away from the island into deeper water helped, and I snared a couple more carp and some carassio and F1s, but was having to cut right back on how often I was casting. It became obvious there were fewer and fewer fish in the peg. A sixth small carp showed up late in the day.
“In the closing stages, the cameras were behind me, so I knew I must be doing something right! Thinking about my total weight, which I felt was around 50lb-plus, it was in the region of the pre-match target I’d set, but a little bit of me thought that someone somewhere must have caught a bit more than me.
“When my weight was confirmed and I knew I’d won, it was a mad moment and a real shock! Just one fish separated Ben and me, that’s how close it was. I guess I was in disbelief that it had happened to me!
How the RiverFest 2020 title was won
Paul Cannon lifted the 2020 Angling Trust RiverFest crown - and a £14,000 payout - thanks to a two-day 55-7-0 haul on the Trent.
Fished on the river around Burton Joyce, he finished over 12lb clear of Clive Fletcher on 42-2-0, with Darren Frost’s 40-4-0 third.
The Mosella man had the title in the bag with a day to spare after bagging 44-6-0 of bream on the Saturday, but Sunday still turned into a nervy affair with only 11-1-0 to take to the scales, amid rumours about who may or may not have caught him up. It turned out that nobody had.
Paul Cannon lifted the 2020 Angling Trust RiverFest trophy
“I’m chuffed to bits to win and it’s been worth waiting for!” said Paul.
“Even with a good lead after day one I didn’t assume it was in the bag. Trent bream are big fish and I was sure they’d feed on the Sunday, as the river was rising and should have coloured up. It didn’t, though, and not many bream were caught, but when they weigh up to 8lb you don’t need many to put 50lb together.”
Conditions on the Saturday were wet and windy, with a rising river. That, added to a peg that was ideal for bream on day one, made Paul a happy man going to his swim. Five hours and eight bream later, the job seemed more or less done.
Paul with a River Trent bream
“I got peg B37, the end peg on Nelson’s Field near Dead Man’s Bay. Normally on a low river it’s rubbish but when there’s extra water and a bit of colour, the bream show up. It was always going to be a bream job on the feeder and flat float,” he said.
“At the start I made several quick casts on the feeder about a third of the way over to get some bait in and then waited. My first fish came two hours into the match. After than I had a spell of six more, all big ones on three red maggots. The final few hours were slow, though, with only one more fish.
“I didn’t think the match was in the bag. The big danger was that on Sunday, the river was due to rise even more and perhaps colour up. If that happened, there could be massive bream weights from several areas. I wanted to be in one of those for day two.
“I got peg 33 on the road stretch, close to where I won a RiverFest qualifier from last year with 40lb of bream.
“Only 3lb had been caught off the peg the day before, so there was no point in fishing for dace and roach – it’d be a sit-and-wait feeder job. Double figures was the minimum weight I needed to keep ahead of the pack, and two or three bream would do it, so my approach was more or less the same as on the day before – feeder close in and then a flat float line for perch.
“Early on I caught a big skimmer, which helped settle things down, and the flat float gave me a little run of perch, but I still needed a bream or two.
“After that, it was something of a disaster. I had a skimmer come off at the net and was broken on weed by a big bream.
“Patience was important, though, and 30 minutes from the end I was on the phone to my wife, saying it was hard and I was bored rigid. Then the tip dropped back, and I was in! That was a bream of about 6lb and a real tonic. Even so, there were rumours going around that Simon Willsmore was going to catch 30lb-plus, and he might pip me.
“I weighed 11-1-0, so that bream must have been bigger than I thought! That made me feel a lot better, and shortly afterwards I found out Simon had only weighed in 18lb. There didn’t seem to be anyone who could catch me on total weight, and looking back, I didn’t need to fish at all on Sunday as my day one weight would have won overall!”
Paul in action on the Trent
How the feeder won Steve Ringer £10,000 - NuFish Feeder King Final 2020
Taking a gamble is always a risk, but it worked for Steve Ringer in this year’s NuFish Feeder King Final at Southfield Reservoirs, winning him the match and the £10,000 top prize that goes with it.
A happy Steve Ringer with the 2020 Nufish trophy
Fished on the East Yorkshire venue in atrocious conditions, the Guru-backed AT columnist looked to be heading nowhere, with only the section to try and win at the halfway point. Deciding to risk it and go for bigger bream, he added more feed to the peg, and it worked a treat to see him home with 15-10-0, almost 5lb clear of runner-up Graham Lewis, Brett Clarke taking third.
“I’ve fished Southfield in the qualifiers for Feeder King through the summer, but always felt that I struggled to get to grips with it,” Steve said.
“After practising the Thursday before the match, I finally felt like I’d got my head around things. Even so, after three hours I wasn’t in the race.”
Drawing peg 53 in pouring rain and strong winds, Steve put in two feeder lines at 62m and 42m, but after two hours with just 3lb in the net, he was fishing for his section at best. Then an angler in his section caught two bream in two casts.
Bream were vital to Steve’s success
“I knew I had to fish for bream,” said Steve.
“More groundbait with lots of chopped worm and dead maggot went in at 62m and I followed it in with a window feeder, a bigger hook and three dead red maggots. After 12 minutes I caught a 2lb bream and then one of 1lb 8oz. I switched to a rocket cage feeder and nobbled two fish in two casts.”
One more fish followed before Steve changed to his 42m line and snared a big skimmer. Ten minutes remained when he took the decision to fish a bigger feeder, and he landed a 2lb bream. It was job done!
Bigger feeders helped Steve Ringer to £10,000
Silvers sport on the UK’s natural venues hits top gear!
ANGLERS using simple pole and feeder tactics have enjoyed a sensational few weeks of angling on Britain’s reservoirs, with bumper bags of silvers banked at natural venues across the country.
Britain’s reservoirs are on fire!
The most impressive weights came from Devon’s 80-acre Upper Tamar Lake, where competitors fishing the recent festivals enjoyed a bite-a-chuck action to record huge weights of roach, skimmers and perch.
One angler tapping into the venue’s incredible autumn form is England Feeder Team member Michael Buchwalder, who netted around 300lb of silvers over a seven-day period.
“Over the week I fished five matches and two pleasure sessions and must’ve had a bite every time I cast out my feeder or lowered in my pole rig,” he told us.
“Dean Barlow and I won the two-day pairs contest with 171lb 13oz of mostly skimmers and roach on the pole and feeder short, but later that week I managed to win the three-day Graham West feeder festival with a combined total weight of 156lb 7oz.
“The fishing was unbelievable! I’ve fished many natural waters across Europe but none of them come close to carrying the numbers of fish that Tamar has.”
Michael Buchwalder with a superb net of reservoir silvers
On the other side of the country the action has also been hectic at Kent’s Bough Beech Reservoir, with plenty of 30lb bags of roach being taken in matches, but it’s Llandegfedd Reservoir in Wales that’s been rivalling Upper Tamar Lake in the big bag stakes.
The 174-hectare Welsh water produced a 164lb haul of bream and hybrids in August, but sport has continued to flourish.
David Healey, who organises matches on the venue, said:
“Two years ago nobody really coarse-fished Llandegfedd but after extensive lobbying of Welsh Water, which owns the fishing rights, we’ve opened up access and increased the venue’s popularity with coarse anglers.
“Last week a match was won with 68lb of hybrids and another angler had 45lb of roach. I’ve seen pleasure bags of bream and hybrids to 260lb, but we’re just scratching the surface of the reservoir’s potential.”
We’re just scratching the surface of the reservoir’s potential
How Andy Power won his third UK Angling Champs title
A DAY after winning the opening Golden Rod qualifier at Larford Lakes, former Match This and Golden Reel champion Andy Power travelled to Barston Lakes to fish the last leg of this year’s UK Angling Championships – and won that too!
Andy Power lifter the trophy for the third time
The Preston Innovations star now joins Jon Arthur and Tommy Pickering in lifting the famous claret jug three times, and he did it with a perfect four point, four section-winning score across the series.
After victories at Hallcroft Fishery, Decoy Lakes and The Glebe, Andy lined up with 79 others at Barston, where the Somerset man focused on winning his 10-peg section to seal the deal. His 25-798 net did just that, earning him the £4,000 top prize and putting him four points clear of runner-up and outgoing UK Champ Ben Bell.
“Winning for the third time is a great feeling and it’s all about having that trophy in your hands, not the money,” said Andy.
“I’d like to think I’ve got plenty of years left to try and make it four wins!”
Here he takes up the story...
At the peg
“I was given peg 81, in the top left-hand corner of the lake. I planned to try for a carp early on the bomb and feeder, then change to the short pole for skimmers. It felt like a safe option. The pellet waggler had been catching carp, and with the wind off my back, conditions for this were ideal.
“I started on the bomb with a PVA bag of pellets at 60m for a carp but had no signs. Changing to the Method feeder and wafters at 40m caught me a few skimmers, but no carp! After 45 minutes, it was time to go on the pole and get stuck into the skimmers.”
Skimmer city!
“Barston skimmers weigh around 3oz. I wanted to catch them in close so I put my pole line in at 6m. My hookbait was a 4mm SonuBaits Pro expander, and feed was a small nugget of SonuBaits Supercrush Expander, Thatcher’s and Banoffee mix with expanders mixed in, thrown by hand.
“Using a 4x14 Des Shipp Maggot float and a size 14 SFL-B hook, I had a great three-and-a-bit hours, but I forgot to count and had no idea of how many skimmers I’d got.
“After three hours I knew others in my section had caught some carp, so it seemed like the time to have a look on the waggler to nick one. I’d been feeding 8mm pellets here and when the chap next to me netted his third fish on the float, that made my mind up. In 30 minutes I lost a carp and caught an F1 – not enough, so I went back on the pole.
“A carp was needed to boost the skimmers I’d caught. In the last 15 minutes I kept chucking the pellet waggler and with five minutes to go, I hooked and landed an 11lb carp on an 8mm pellet fished 3ft deep. That definitely helped!
“My carp and F1 went 15lb so I knew I needed 40lb of skimmers to take the section. I knew I’d got that and sure enough, with four section wins, I couldn’t be beaten.”
Andy Power and his bumper bag of skimmers
The winner on the day
The race to win the £1,000 cheque for best weight on the day centred around the golf course bank, where peg 123 came good for Maver Milton Keynes man Ian Smith.
His 54-148 bag just got the nod over Stuart Fotheringham next door with 51-511, although he nearly lost a 20lb-plus carp that jumped out of his landing net! A quick scoop rescued the situation. Method feeder and wafters was the winning combo, all his fish coming in the second half of the match.
Winner on the day Ian Smith and his big carp bag
128lb of chub taken in memorable Wye match
October heralds the start of the match season on Hereford’s River Wye, the curtain-raiser being the Joe Burrows Memorial/River Wye Charity Shield. This year it drew a 69-strong crowd and produced a massive winning bag of chub for Alex Graham.
The Banbury rod weighed in 128-2-0 and they were big fish too, with some nudging the 6lb mark. All of them were taken on waggler tactics with hemp and caster from peg 97 at the top of the famed tennis courts in Hereford city centre.
Alex Graham with his bumper Wye chub haul
Runner-up was recent River Severn Float-Only Champs winner Joe Holloway, who carried his fine form on to the Wye.
He drew peg 153 at Breinton and also found the chub on waggler with hemp and caster, landing 96-9-0 of big fish to just miss out on the ton.
That left third place to be decided, and Garbolino man Scott Geens did the honours with 15 barbel on the feeder from the Breinton section for 72-14-0.
Charity also benefited from the match, with £500 being raised for Prostate Cancer Research and a further £345 for a local charity of Hereford DAA’s choice.
Alex Graham with the shield
Last gasp fish secures £50,000 match win - How this year's Golden Reel was won
TONY Coates is the new Golden Reel Angling Champion, earning himself a £50,000 pay day.
Tony Coates with the Golden Reel trophy
Lining up as one of the 40 semi-finalists in a one-off eliminator at Larford on the Wednesday before the final, Beverley-based Tony won it with 200lb-plus from peg 28 on the grass bank of the Match Lake – and then went and drew it again for the final!
This time, though, 68-1-0 was enough to win by just 9lb from Welsh rod John Hannam, who was on the end peg of the burr bank. Tony takes up the story...
At the peg
“I felt the end pegs would dominate, so I was pleased to have one. I set up a mugging rig plus 6m and 16m pole lines, margin rigs, and a bomb and Method feeder rod to chuck to the point of the island. I planned to start on the pole short and work my way out.
“On pellet short at 6m I had nothing for 30 minutes. I moved out to 16m, but the wind made it hard to fish here, pinging pellets over the top. I did catch a couple of carp, but it was a real sit-and-wait job.
“The bomb to the island caught me one more carp. Although I managed two on the mugging rig I felt this wasn’t the right method, so it was back on the bomb with 8mm pellet, when I caught two more carp.”
Tony in action
A burst on the Method
“At around 2.30pm I had a look in the margins but the fish were very spooky, coming into the edge but then bow-waving off once you put the pole over their heads.
“It was time to pick up the Method and cast a metre away from where I was fishing the bomb, using a wafter on the hook. Three carp in three casts took me into the lead! But with an hour to go John Hannam began to catch quickly – if his carp were big, I felt he could overtake me in no time.”
Last-gasp carp!
“With half-an-hour to go I snapped my feeder off, so I cast the bomb back out, turned around to pick up another feeder and the rod almost got pulled in!
“With that fish in the net, I set the Method up, chucked it out and caught a carp straight away. Then it went dead.
“I’d still fed the pole lines but had left them alone for a long time. Dropping in at 6m with pellet I foul-hooked a 5lb carp but landed it, then lost another next drop-in.
“The last 10 minutes or so were spent out at 16m on the deck, and with 30 seconds to go I nailed another 5lb fish. Would this be the one to win me the match?”
A last gasp fish secured £50,000
Enough for victory?
“Talk was that I’d won, although John had been catching really well with big fish too. My two late carp seemed to have kept him at arm’s length, however, so I was confident – although 68lb is a very low weight for Larford. I was hoping no-one had sneaked a few big fish out without anyone seeing.
“You couldn’t follow the scales around, so I sat tight and waited anxiously for John’s weight to be broadcast on the tannoy.
“There was relief when his total was confirmed at 59-1-0, more or less one carp behind me. I honestly believe if we’d fished for another 15 minutes he might have beaten me, and without a doubt I owe a lot to those two fish I caught at the death!”
Tony with his catch
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.
Hundreds raised for charity in Northern fishing event
A fishing match held at a venue in Cheshire has been deemed a complete success by organisers, with hundreds of pounds raised for a cancer charity.
Danny hopes to turn the match into a yearly event for Northern anglers
The match held at Meadow View Fisheries in Lymm, was hosted by Danny Fenson, who hopes to turn it into a yearly event for Northern anglers.
“In the end we had 19 anglers attend the event. This ranged from experienced match anglers to people that have never fished a match before,” says Danny.
“We have now raised over £700 for a pancreatic cancer charity. The money raised will help fight this awful disease."
Danny revealed why the charity is so close to his heart…
“I lost my dad in early February this year to the disease and as you can imagine it hit our family quite hard.
“So I decided to arrange a charity fishing match in his honour. We used to go fishing together when I was younger. last year I took fishing back up again and wanted to take him one last time but it was too late.”
You can still donate to Danny’s cause here: https://fundraise.pancreaticcancer.org.uk/fundraisers/danielfenson.
One barbel enough for 3k win
One BITE and one fish were enough to seal the Evesham Angling Festival title for Andy Richings, as the Gloucestershire man left it late to take the £3,000 top prize with a big Warks Avon barbel that took him from zero to hero!
Andy Richings with the Evesham trophy
The match was the second of three that make up the angling extravaganza on the river at Evesham and, after drawing his peg, Lobby’s Tackle man Andy decided on a big-fish approach that was all or nothing.
Pegged on 15, a swim that had blanked the day before, Andy was at least in a good area for catching a barbel and, with the river still coloured from rain, there was always a chance. With 15 minutes of the match remaining though, he was nowhere, but then one bite and a 10lb 4oz barbel later he was being installed as favourite to win! Added to a few perch, his weight of 10-6-4 beat Dan Abbott’s 8-0-0 from peg 2.
“I had Iain Jennings, the winner of the Wychavon the day before, next to me, and he reckoned my peg was a consistent one for barbel,” Andy said. “I had two choices – either fish for 3lb of tiddlers and come nowhere or try for a barbel, go for one bite and maybe win £3,000. It was no contest!”
Casting a cage feeder packed with halibut pellets and groundbait down the middle, he had little success with pellet on the hook. A change to a thumbnail-sized piece of meat did the trick and over went the rod tip with 15 minutes to go. Geared up with strong line and a big hook, the fish was soon landed.
The barbel feeder rig
“As soon as I netted the fish, the crowd behind me said ‘that fish is worth three grand – you’ll win with that’! It was only when the scales worked their way around the river that I knew the crowd was right!”
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”
'The match of a lifetime' - Jon Arthur pockets £1000 winnings in blazing heat!
Oppressive heat and searing temperatures without a breath of wind are hardly the best of fishing conditions, yet double UK Champion Jon Arthur made light of the recent heatwave to top round two of this year’s event in style – with a new competition record weight of 477-14-0!
Matrix/Dynamite Baits man Jon landed 62 carp from peg 22 on Yew Lake at Decoy Lakes near Peterborough, ending the day miles clear of runner-up James Collison’s 282-1-0 off next-door peg 19. Richard Drage completed the top three with 263-7-0. Jon’s reward was not only a new record and a section win, but also £1,000 in winnings!
“That was the match of a lifetime,” reflects Jon.
“We all knew that under the right conditions 300lb was a possible winning weight because it is so rare to see 400lb caught at Decoy.
“I thought the weather certainly wasn’t right. It was the hottest I have ever been while fishing, but there were so many carp in front of me, I kind of felt that if enough of them fed, a massive weight was possible.”
At the peg
“I drew peg 22 on Yew Lake and headed there thinking that it would either be a day catching shallow, short or in the edge because they’re the three methods that normally win on the strip lakes at Decoy.
“You’ve got to catch a weight as well, so 200lb was the kind of figure I was aiming for. When I got to my peg there were hundreds of carp on the surface all the way across the lake, so it didn’t take long to work out a strategy!
“I set up three mugging rigs with different lengths of line between the float and pole, as well as a margin rig for late on.”
What a start!
“After 80 minutes, I’d caught 20 carp and the peg was carnage, with fish all over the place. I caught from 5m out to 13m out, but generally between 5m and 8m was the best range using a 6mm banded red pellet or a 7mm Dynamite Baits Washter and a 0.3g dibber fished 15ins deep. I like to fish deeper than normal because I think that when you’re mugging, you catch a lot of fish as the bait falls as opposed to them coming to the splash of it hitting the surface. Hook was a size 16 Matrix MXC4 to a 16-18 Slik elastic.
“What was also important was working out which way to lay the rig in front of fish. I like to cast to them, putting the bait closest to the fish and the float further away, and I also varied how the bait went in. Sometimes a hard slap on the surface worked while, on others, gently underarming the bait so it hit the water with a plop was better.”
“That was the match of a lifetime”
Getting hotter and hotter
“In the second and third hours the temperature picked up even further and it was merciless. I fished in a vest and shorts but was dripping with sweat and sinking litres of water while wiping my head with a mouldy old towel in my carryall that I’d soaked in the lake!
“The stamp of carp seemed to tail off as well, but there were always enough fish in the swim to target, even though I reckoned 90 per cent of them weren’t interested in taking the hookbait. At this point I did begin to feed a bit of bait, 6mm pellets at 6m, and caught a few fish doing this – but it was really only a throwaway line.
“With 90 minutes to go I fed the margins, picking a swim that had the shallowest water I could find. Although carp moved into the edge, I couldn’t catch them so I started to throw in casters by hand around 2m out from the bank and picked off a few carp fishing shallow here.”
The weigh in
“I ended up with 62 carp for no idea what weight! It was only after I saw the lads around me weigh and worked out the number of fish for those weights that I thought my carp must average 8lb apiece. That’d make my weight over 400lb so I must have got my sums wrong.
“That said, 60 carp at 5lb each is 300lb and a lot of my fish were bigger than 5lb! It really was a red-letter day and amazing, given how unbearably hot the weather was.
“It’s nice to have the event’s record back again and I just hope the next round at the Glebe is a mugging day because I seem to do okay on that tactic in the UK Champs – last year I won round two at Hayfield mugging and the year before won a round at Barston doing the same!”
The top three
700lb-plus haul smashes match record!
THE six-hour match record at a top northern fishery has just been obliterated with an incredible 714lb 15oz of carp.
Mosella Quaker-backed bagger James Roper was fishing peg 38 on Angel of the North Fishery’s Bowes Lake when he netted fish to 14lb on a mixture of margin and shallow tactics to beat the 642lb best.
“On the day my peg looked perfect as it was red hot and the wind was blowing in,” he told us.
“In the first hour alone I had 100lb down the edge on 6mm expanders over micros, then for the rest of the match I caught steadily on 8mm hard pellets fished shallow at 10m range.
“The peg was solid, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t exhausted – I even had cramp in my forearms three times!”
Using a strong pole and a size 20 elastic, James landed a carp every two minutes and ended the contest with 17 keepnets in the water – half of which he stored in the next peg due to a lack of room!
Just part of James Roper’s phenomenal haul of carp
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!