Pegged over the four match lakes, plus Bridges Lake, the word on the morning was that not very many wanted to draw Bridges. Chertsy angler Perry Stone a bait company owner was quite happy with his draw at peg B5 on Bridges to record a winning weight of 207 lbs 14 ozs, mostly carp plus a couple of bream, with his biggest carp weighing in at 16 lbs. Perry fished method feeder with pellet hookbait  casting 80 yards to the edge of an island.  This will be Perry’s third appearance in the final having fished it twice at Hayfield.

Runner up Tony Curd (MAP/Bait Tech), another former Fish 'O' Mania finalist drew Peg 134 on Match Lake 4 where he fished pellets shallow on the long pole to take carp to 5 lb in his net of 176 lbs 8 ozs.  Lake 4 also provided third place for Dean Lock  (DELCAC) who also fished pellet shallow at peg 143 to record 174 lbs of carp.  In fourth place with 152 lb 8 ozs from Peg 87 on Lake 2 was Miles Levy from Basingstoke fishing method feeder.  Fifth place went to  Wayne Heywood (Rivendell) with 135 lb of carp and barbel caught on pole, fished meat at peg 45 on Lake 2.

There were 14 weights over 100 lbs on the day, and 8 of the 10 peg sections needed 100 lbs, or more to win them.

The ninth Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifier action moves to The Oaks Fishery at Thirsk on Saturday 11th May.

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News