Displaying items by tag: qualifier

Robert Pelling a Welder from Ashton-under-Lyne fished only his second qualifier on Saturday 4th June 2011 at Partridge Lakes, Culcheth, Warrington to win the twelfth Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifier. He fished soft pellet across at 13 metres over micros and groundbait to catch a mix of F1’s, mirrors and commons to around 1 kilo for a total weight of 38 kilos 420 grammes from peg 10 on Marsh Lake..

Richard had a two line approach and fished one at 5 metres and the other at 13 metres to fish paste over sweet corn from peg 51 on Meadow pool to win the match with 124lbs 10ozs of carp to 12lbs. For the first hour Andy concentrated on the short line, but this only resulted in foul hooking a couple of carp which all came off, and seemed apparent at that stage that pellets were the wrong thing to feed. The second hour of the match Andy went onto the 13 metre line to start with corn on the hook, but once again he was only getting line bites. For the next three hours he kept catching carp, the biggest at around 12lb, and every time the bites slowed down more corn was potted into the swim which brought an instant result. After the fourth hour Andy proved that the tactics were working to net 18-20 carp. In the last hour of the match the fish had backed out which lead to Andy fishing at 16 metres on the paste to get a bite, but after having two fish on this line Andy had to give up on this method due to the wind. For the last thirty minutes he came back onto the short line which resulted in his last carp to give him his winning weight.

Whilst this excellent venue did not produce a repeat of last year’s record breaking catch of chub,  it did produce a nail biting finale with at least 4 anglers, all of whom were on different lakes, in with a good shout right up to the final whistle.  Relatively few sizeable carp were caught in this qualifier and 21 kilos was still needed to win all but one of the 13 ten peg sections.

Robert just edged Paul Christie from Sandtoft near Doncaster into second spot by 420 grammes.   Paul who fished  peg 3 on Holbar 2 Lake was one of the few anglers to locate the big fish by taking carp to 5 kilos at 16 metres along his left hand margin.  All his 38 kilos final total fell to luncheon meat hook bait.    Robert Minikin from York captured third spot with 37 kilos 540 grammes from Covey peg 27.   He also had a mixture of F1’s and other carp to 1.5 kilos,  all caught fishing tight over with 4mm expanders on the hook over micro pellets as feed.  Fourth place went to Stephen Richards drawn on Willow Pool peg 1, who put 36 kilos 060 grammes of carp to 1.5 kilos on the scales all caught down the edge on pellet. Fifth place went to John Myatt from Stoke on Trent, who mixed carp again down the edge on pellet to weigh 29 kilos 320 grammes.

Once again Partridge proved itself to be a very reliable and consistent venue with many of the anglers registering their approval before leaving.
  
For one last chance into the Fish ‘O’ Mania grand final on Saturday 16th  July 2011 there are some tickets available that have been returned for the 300 peg Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifier on Wednesday 29th June at Lindholme Lakes, Epworth, Doncaster.  If you would like one last shot at one of  the most prestigious prizes in angling and are an individual member of Angling Trust please ring the Angling Trust Competitions Department on 0115 9061 301/302 to register your name on the reserve list.

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News

Andy Favill (Sun Inn, Tuxford) a Unit Operator from Newark fished his first Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifier for 10 years at Peatling Pools Match Lakes, Peatling Parva, Leicestershire on Wednesday 18th May 2011 . Andy put 47 carp to 4lbs on the scales for a total weight of 121lbs 3ozs from peg 45 on B Lake. He started shallow on meat, but after only one fish he switched his attack to the margins catching firstly on corn, then on worm.

Andy said “I have never fished at Peatling Pools before and this is only my second Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifier I have taken part in, but thought I could do well when I drew my peg. I am looking forward to taking part in the final, and will now be looking forward to practising in the build up to the day."
Unfortunately the day didn’t get off as predicted with the match start time having to be delayed for an hour due to a serious road traffic collision between junctions 29 and 30 and a man jumping off a bridge near Derbyshire resulting in the M1 being closed in both directions for several hours afterwards with a large number of anglers caught up in the massive tailback. A head on collision directly outside the main gates of Peatling Pools also added to a further delay for the anglers getting to the draw.

With Peatling Pools hosting it’s first ever Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifier, and prior practice sessions limited, it was a trip into unknown territory for the majority of anglers. On top of this, it was a surprisingly hard day for many with cold rain and winds clearly affecting catches which fell disappointingly short of expectations on a couple of lakes. Recent open matches had shown that the catch potential on all the lakes was very similar with several producing big weights only last weekend, but that said 37lbs or more was needed to win 9 of the 13 ten peg sections. In the end it was the bigger lakes which produced the goods.

Runner up on the day was local angler Steven Porter from Kibworth in Leicester who fished Peg 2 on B lake to weigh in with 102lbs of carp to 12lbs alternating between a 5 metre line and the margins with corn. Tom Pringle took third spot with 81lbs 1ozs to fish shallow. Fourth place was Tom Pickering who took carp to 8lbs in a 75lbs 11ozs net on the method feeder. Doncaster angler Andrew Bailey was fifth with 75lbs 4ozs.

On Saturday 21st May the Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifiers go to Tunnel Barn Farm in Shrewley, Warwick for another chance to see who will join this year’s line up in the grand final on 16th July 2011 with Jon Arthur, Tony Curd, Chris Kendall, Tim Nash, Alan Bruce, Andrew Neal, David George, Shane Atkin and Andy Favill.

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News