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Fish ‘O’ Mania Success For Pole Fishing Editor! - 10/04/2011
Pole Fishing’s very own editor, Jon Arthur, is the first angler this year to qualify for the 2011 Fish ‘O’ Mania Final!
The 35 year old from Warwickshire scored an impressive victory by bagging 252lb of carp in the 130-peg qualifier at Viaduct Fisheries in Somerset. Not only is this a new Fisho record but his double-ton-up catch included fish to a colossal 24lb!
On his victory, Jon said: “I’m ecstatic to have qualified for this year's Fisho Final! I've only ever visited Viaduct a couple of times as it is 150 miles away but I still think its a fantastic venue, full of quality fish and I had a really good feeling about the match as I drove down.
“It was a baking hot day with little wind and lots of carp cruising in the morning so I wasn't sure what to expect. I drew Peg 5 on Spring Pool which offered an island to cast to and open water in front of me so I set up two pellet waggler rods, a feeder rod, a shallow pole rig and a short pole rig.
“With carp cruising around I thought I’d start on the pole shallow at 14 metres hoping to mug a couple of early fish. After half an hour I had already caught two. I assumed I had about 20lb with these two fish but in hindsight it was more like 30lb-plus! I had one more carp before it went quiet so I had a few casts with a meat feeder and came back with my smallest carp of the day and a 2lb skimmer. I then decided to stick to the long pole for the rest of the match as although I wasn't catching fast, the fish were really big and worth waiting for.
“In the end, I found fishing 16 metres out with meat around 16 inches deep was best. Using my sunglasses allowed me to spot dark shapes under the surface so I kept lifting and dropping the rig towards anything swimming towards me. I ended up with 18 carp and one skimmer and guessed I had 130lb to 150lb so I was a bit shocked when I actually totaled 252lb – the fish were massive! I've never caught so many double-figure fish on the pole in five hours before and it has to rate as one of my best ever matches. Before today, my personal best fish was just 16lb 8oz and I think at least three or four smashed that!
“Last year I was privileged to be Neil McKinnon’s bank runner in the Fisho Final when he won it, so I'd love to return the favour and let him be my bankrunner this time – unless he qualifies himself of course!”
Jon now has the opportunity to walk off £30,000 richer if he can beat the other 15 qualifiers on Arena Pool at Cudmore Fisheries live on Sky Sports!
For more information on how Jon caught, check out Match Fishing and Pole Fishing magazines.
Chris is a nice bloke and well done to him, not really a surprise though as he has been possibly the most consistant angler on there for the last 18 months.
Cambridgeshire angler nets the winning weight at Woodlands View - 28/04/2011
Despite having no fewer than nine former Fish ‘O’ Mania Champions take part in the Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifier at Woodlands View Fishery at Droitwich, Worcestershire on Wednesday 27th April 2011 there was only one name in the spot light.
Tim Nash (Browning Hotrods) a landscape gardener/builder from Cambridge who took the qualifying winning title with 125lbs 6ozs of carp from peg 18 on Ghost pool with his biggest fish landed in the match weighing in at 9lb.
After 1 ¾ hours Tim was struggling to catch on pellet feed with another angler close by being 40lb ahead, so made the decision to change to casters to fish up in the water to catch steadily for the rest of the match especially towards the end. Tim’s experience and confidence shone through on caster and hook catching half a dozen roach on maggot and a few skimmers and never lost a fish which made all the difference to take the lead by just 1lb. Tim has only fished two previous Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifiers, Makins and Lakeview making this Tim’s first appearance in the Fish ‘O’ Mania final line up.
Tim Nash said “I was lucky to get six tickets for the qualifiers this year and only fished three of them so far. I loved the venue at Woodlands View and when I drew my peg I knew that 500lbs had came off the lakes the day before so I was trying to think tactics whether to change baits knowing that all the pegs were being fished, so limiting weights caught. I felt sorry for Steven Openshaw being just 1lb behind me when the results were read out and can imagine how gutted he was to come so close. I am really looking forward to the final and I know some say the prize money doesn’t count, but as well as the money it is excellent to be a part of the experience”.
Runner up Steven Openshaw a Fishery Manager from the Wirral was close behind with a weight of 124lbs 8ozs of carp with his biggest fish going to 12lb taken on pellet with some on the tip and the rest fished shallow on long pole from peg 36 on Arles pool. In third place with 118lbs 2ozs from peg 11 on Barley pool was former Champion, Steve Ringer who had 24 carp with the biggest fish landed in the match at 8lbs on his pellet feeder rig. In fourth place was Tom Pickering, England World Feeder Manager who also fished pellet feeder from peg 17 on Hay pool to take carp to 10lbs. Another former Champion Mick Bull also used the feeder and pellet from peg 11 on Hay pool to land 100lbs 15ozs of carp to 6 lbs for fifth place in the qualifier.
The qualifier was fairly even with all but 2 of the 10 peg sections needing over 55 lbs to win them. The fifth Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifier will take place over the bank holiday weekend at Packington Somers, Meriden, Coventry on Saturday 30th April 2011 when the next finalist will be decided for the Fish ‘O’ Mania grand final in July.
Andrew Neal (Frenzee and Bait-Tech) joins the line up in the Fish ‘O’ Mania final
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.