Abu Garcia Wychavon Qualifier

Shakespeare Superteam's Leigh Gardner storms to victory in the Abu Garcia Wychavon qualifier thanks to a last-gasp Hampton Ferry tench.


Hampton Ferry, Evesham | August 13 | 69 Fished

It was a case of making the last fish count for Shakespeare Superteam stalwart Leigh Gardner, who took a 3lb tench in the dying stages of the match to clench victory.

Drawn on peg 57, Leigh started his match fishing a whip for gudgeon, an approach that has seen him frame numerous times over recent weeks. After two hours and with a couple of pounds in the net, things went quiet, which prompted Leigh to move onto his long pole bloodworm line. A steady succession of small roach followed before this line also died.
With other options exhausted, Leigh chose to spend the final hour of the match sat down the margin, with a large chunk of lobworm on the hook. With five minutes of the match remaining, a slow bite resulted in yards of elastic shotting across the river before Leigh finally panned his match winning fish.

In second place was Darran Bickerton, who had a busy days fishing and caught over 200 small gudgeon and roach on the pole at 13 metres with bloodworm and joker for a weight of 7-11-0.

England skipper Mark Downes took third spot with a 6-5-8 net from peg 50. Mark caught 150 roach on bloodworm and joker over groundbait.   

Result
1 Leigh Gardner (Shakespeare Superteam) 8-0-0 (peg 57)
2 Darran Bickerton (Sensas) 7-11-0 (peg 1)
3 Mark Downes (Sensas) 6-5-8 (peg 50)
4 Rob Perkins (Dynamite) 6-5-0 (peg 8)
5 Hadrian Whittle (Kamasan Starlets) 6-4-0 (peg 40)
6 Tom Scholey (Pole Fishing) 6-2-0 (peg 2)
7 Sean Ashby (Sensas) 5-10-8 (peg 23)
8 Ian Didcote (Garbolino) 5-7-0 (peg 17)

Qualifiers:
• Tom Scholey
• Dan Ashington
• Steve Long

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