Displaying items by tag: qualifying

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

Before the draw nobody could make their minds up as to which lake at Tunnel Barn Farm Fisheries on Saturday 21st May 2011 would produce the winner. Whilst superstitious people may consider 13 to be unlucky for some this proved otherwise for Simon Christian (Stimech Anchor AC) a Memorial Mason from Bilston who drew peg 13 on Club pool where he fished luncheon meat on the pole to the island and down the edge to net a succession of carp to 7lbs, F1s and barbel for a winning net of 145lbs 4ozs. This is only Simon’s third Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifier match since 2007, and his win means there is another new face in the line up in the grand final.

Simon Christian said “I had an island to fish to on the far side down the end of Club pool and fished to the end of the island to the far bank, and an edge swim to the right of me to 9 metres, with an empty peg to the left. I could have gone further to the right, but did not need to as I had a lot of fish within my swim and caught 11 fish in the last hour which were bigger than earlier in the match. I am over the moon to win the qualifier as I do a lot of match fishing, but only started fishing again in the last four years after a 6-7  year break. I decided to branch out this year and apply for some Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifiers, and applied for six, and ended up with two tickets, with this being my first one. I am looking forward to the final, and have got a lot of information from Kieron Rich which will hopefully put me in good stead for the final. Kieron has offered to be my bank runner if he doesn’t make it through from his four qualifiers he has left”.

Blustery sunny conditions with low water faced the anglers in this latest Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifying match at Tunnel Barn Farm, however the fish still fed and there were seven weights over the magic ton and the lowest weight to win a 10 peg section was 63lbs.

Runner up from Canal peg 4 was Chris Telling (Daiwa Gordon League) from Gloucester. Chris a Driving Instructor pole fished chopped worm and caster down the edge at 13metres to finish up with 118lbs 9ozs of F1s, barbel and smaller carp. In third place was Stuart Ballard (Maver Midland/Dynamite Baits) landed 110lbs 9ozs from peg 37 on New pool.  Fourth place fell to Carl Jewitt (Blue Bell AC) from Hull, who took 108lbs 8ozs of F1s and barbel from Peg 9 on Canal. Simon Fry (Starlets AS) filled fifth spot with 105lbs 11ozs from Club peg 12.

Moorlands Farm Fisheries at Hartlebury, Worcestershire is the venue for the next Fish 'O' Mania qualifier on Saturday 28th May 2011, with just six more qualifiers to go in 2011.

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

Conditions on the day at the sixth Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifying heat at Stafford Moor Fishery, Winkleigh, Devon on Saturday 7th May 2011 were far from ideal as thunder storms and a lot of heavy overnight rain and a strong wind meant conditions were going to be tough for the 126 anglers taking part on the day.

Andrew Neal (Frenzee and Bait-Tech) a Marketing Consultant for Frenzee from Abergavenny took full advantage of his draw from peg 11 on Tanners. With an island to cast to Andrew started on a ‘t-bag’ fishing tight to this in a hope of an early bite while he loose fed heavily in open water hoping to catch on pellet waggler and bomb, and also fed down the edge with pellets in a bid to catch late on with paste. Having fished to the island with nothing to show for his efforts Andrew was soon forced on to his wag and bomb line where he had been constantly feeding, and a few quick casts with the pellet waggler and onto his first fish of the day a 4lb carp. Fishing with a size14 hook to 8lb line with a 0.20mm hook length to take 19 carp on the tip Andrew put together a winning weight of 89lbs 8oz with carp, tench and skimmers and his largest fish to a 8lb carp.

Andrew Neal stated “Previous experience on the venue told me that rain has a habit of putting the fish off, and with the amount we had I feared the worst. Having drawn my peg I immediately knew that although it wasn’t the peg everyone was talking about I definitely had a chance as it was on a point in the middle of the lake. Keeping a close eye on what was going on around me proved that the lake was indeed fishing very hard and so a catch what you can tactic was applied, compared with the normal bagging mode that the lake is so well known for. An early look down the edge and a quick fish kept me ticking over, but as bites were at a premium it was really a case of just working hard, rotating methods and just try and catch odd fish where I could. As the venue is 150 miles from home, practising wasn’t an option, but I was confident I could do well with these tactics as they are ones I have used a lot in the past with some success. Having not had a bite for the last 45 minutes I felt for sure my chance of going through was gone as although by then I had 19 fish, surely this wasn’t going to be enough on such a prolific venue. Rumours were as usual rife by the end of the match as to who had won. After a long tense wait I could not believe when I heard that 71lb had came second, and my 89lbs was in fact good enough to win.”

“With only two tickets from eight qualifiers I applied for this was my last chance I had to try to make it count. To get another chance at the title is amazing, and I can’t wait to get back there and start practising. We already have some brilliant anglers in the final which will make for a great match, and I just hope the work I will be putting in pays off and I can lift that trophy at the end of it.”

In second place was Andrew Lloyd a builder from Frome, Somerset with a mixed bag of small carp drawn on peg 2 Emily’s. Andrew fished pole at 14 ½ metres with 6mm pellet on the deck to record a weight of 71lbs 9oz. In third place was local angler Mark Hayman from Exeter he drew peg 16 on Woodpecker fishing shallow waggler and bomb mark to put together a carp bag tipping the scales at 65lbs. Trevor Skinner a serving Solider from Shrewton drew peg 36 on Woodpeckers to take an all carp bag with his biggest fish of 7lb to weigh in with 61lbs to be in fourth place and in fifth place was Robert Giles of Gwent who was drawn on Emily’s to fish pole with pellets to take small carp to record a weight of 60lbs 11 oz.

The Fish 'O' Mania qualifiers move to Monk Lakes, Kent on Wednesday 11th May 2011 with another angler competing for that winning title.

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News