Top teams dominate in Southern Semi Finals. Daiwa Dorking and Kamasan Starlets have secured their places in the Angling Trust Winter League Final in emphatic style- by winning their respective Semi Finals. Saturday’s match took place at Gold Valley Lakes in Surrey, and Daiwa Dorking proved their undoubted international class by winning the event –with only two of their anglers finishing any lower than second in section. Team regular, and former World Youth Champion, Callum Dicks explained: “Gold is obviously a venue where our anglers are very experienced, so we were able to keep our plan fairly simple.
Angling News Week on sale now!
Two exciting new competitions have been announced this week - carrying a combined prize fund of over £35,000! If you are a match, sea or fly angler then at least one of them will be right up your street!On top of this we have the story of the pleasure angler who has banked a massive 7lb 5oz chub, and the all important results from the Angling Trust Winter League Semi Finals!We bring you the story of Alan Blairs latest conquest, which sees him targetting carp on tidal rivers, and reveal the exciting new bait on offer from carp giant Solar Baits. Then there is the tale of England feeder star Tommy Pickering's latest high profile win, in the Maver Larford Silver Fish Festival. Feature wise, we have soil secrets from the best angler in the world, a lesson in day ticket carp fishing from England ace Tom Maker, a battle of two UK Champions, and a sea fishing lesson from Gary Pye. Plus, there is a look at the latest tackle to hit the shelves, blogs from the sports top names, and all the latest catch reports.
Traditional bream tactics help Tommy Pickering to festival win!
Tommy Pickering has won the Maver Larford Lakes Silverfish Festival, with a six point score. The Preston Innovations and Sonubaits backed ace managed an impressive three section wins out of four in the 38 strong event – pipping Andy Moors and Grant Albutt to the top spot. He explained: “I was very lucky to have been bought up doing a lot of traditional feeder fishing – and had the best teacher of all, in Dennis White. A lot of the lessons that Dennis taught me at Worsborough Reservoir in the early 1970s have rung true this week at Larford – and I have also been quite lucky at the drawbag.
Bright future for historic match venue
This time last year, the future looked iffy for one of the Country's most historic match venues – as new police regulations made accessing the roadside of Lincolnshire’s Fossdyke Canal almost impossible. The ruling by Lincoln’s chief constable meant that anglers were no longer able to park their cars alongside the busy A57 that runs alongside the most prolific stretch of the canal making accessing the 100 peg stretch almost impossible. Fortunately for anglers, this has now changed – thanks to two kind hearted people who are allowing anglers to park their cars on their property – giving two easy access parking points at two different points along the waterway. Match organiser, Alan Henry explained: “Everyone was gutted when we lost the roadside, as it is by far the fairest, and best stretch of the Fossdyke canal –and has been home to some very historic matches in the past.
Joe Carass looks back on the recent success of the Match Fishing Drawbags!
It has been a few weeks since my last blog but a load of stuff, good and bad has happened. First of all though I must tell you about the last two rounds of the Tunnel Barn Winter League.
As you may know with two rounds to go we had overtook Barston and claimed top spot. Points were hard fought though and even though we had opened up a bit of a lead we could take nothing for granted.
Get Down To The Glasgow Angling Centre Weekend!Glasgow Angling Centre's famous open weekend is to take place this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and the organiser promises it to be bigger, better and with more to see than ever before. The company's last Open Weekend, in September 2012, was the biggest and best attended ever, securing a place in the calendar as the biggest free angling event in the UK. Three-Day Event!The event will be taking place at the company's massive 30,000sq ft megastore ,which is throwing open its doors for anglers from all over the world to check out the latest fishing gear, pick up some great bargains and rub shoulders with the top names in the angling business. GAC has long been one of the country’s top sea fishing tackle retailers and this event will host a great line up of brands from the shore and boat angling scene, like Daiwa, Lynx, Abu, Penn, Shimano, Cox & Rawle and Okuma, and top anglers like Mike Thrussel, Stevie Souter and Anthony Glascoe will be on hand to give advice and share tips on sea angling’s latest trends, including a Tronix workshop on Light Rock Fishing, the latest trend in sea fishing.
Exciting Multi Species competition carries 30,000 Euro prize fund!Irish holiday company Donegal Angling Holidays have announced an exciting new angling competition – that carries a massive 30,000 Euro prize fund. Uniquely, the competition takes in four disciplines of angling, with anglers required to demonstrate their competence at charter boat fishing, shore fishing, game fishing and coarse fishing throughout the different days of the festival. The main prize will be awarded to the team who capture the highest total number of species over the four days of the competition. In accordance with the fish friendly ethos of the company, all species captured will be measured by the stewards at the time of capture, and then returned to the water.
Ian Heaps sponsors big money event. Pembrokeshire’s Holgan Farm Fishery, owned by former World Champion, Ian Heaps is to hold a festival – with a prize fund of more than £5,000. The event is set to coincide with Pembrokeshire’s Fish Week – and carries a first prize of £2,000! Ian explained: “I was eager to get involved with what is an important week for my area, and decided that running a festival would be the perfect way to do so!With the current financial climate, I was keen to keep things cheap – and have managed to secure a deal with a local caravan park. This means that I can offer festival entry, and accommodation for just £260 per person.
Big names exit in Northern Semi Finals. This weekend saw the Northern Semi Finals of the Angling Trust Winter League take place at Dynamite Makins Fishery near Wolvey, and on the Grand Union Canal at Loughborough. In a real turn up for the books, four of the most fancied teams have failed to qualify for the final – meaning Ultimate Barnsley Blacks, Shakespeare Superteam, Matrix Dynamite Trentmen and Maver Bait Tech won’t be competing in the final on the tidal River Trent later this year. Maver Midlands took victory at Makins Fishery to earn their place in the grand final.
New angling photography service offered!A new angling photography service has been established, offering anglers the oppurtunity to have their own personalised angling shoot with a professional angling journalist! The man behind the scheme is Middy backed match fishing ace, Craig Butterfield. He explained: "Fishing is one of the most popular sports in England, unfortunately it’s often a lonely sport, just us against the elements. Although the peace and tranquility can be great, when it comes to capturing that perfect fishing photo it can become a struggle. Here at Elite Fishing Photography we offer people the chance to perfectly capture those fishing moments that you always wanted to, but never could.
