With my busy schedule with work and with the Dynamite Baits festival coming up at White Acres, I decided to have a bit of time off this weekend. I did however manage to sneak a couple of hours in last night after work. I decided to have a short session at The Banks fishery at Barby, Jon, Tom and I had a walk around last week and I was really impressed with the venue. It is a 106-peg snake lake that is very diverse, there is a long straight that used to be an old canal and then the fishery turns into a very twisty snake lake with lots of little arms.
Well it has just been that time of the year when hundreds of anglers make their pilgrimage to sunny Cornwall (well sometimes anyway) for a crack at the White Acres festivals. I try to do at two festivals a year but after missing last years Preston festival due to work commitments (the one where sharing partner Lee kerry netted a cool £29K) I was really keen to get back. I have quite a good record at White Acres so I always give it my all to make that continue. The main thing about the ‘Acres’ is that you need a run of draws that give you a chance to compete.
The long haul to the final of the prestigious Maver Classic 2011 took place on Sunday 1st and Monday 2nd May 2011. In all over 60 qualifier matches commencing in October 2010 and finishing in late April 2011 took place. 104 finalists took part at Larford’s Match, Arena and Specimen lakes. Conditions were however far from perfect with a severe northerly wind making conditions near impossible for pole and float fishing.
Welcome to my first ever blog for the Match fishing magazine website!Over the next few months I will try and talk you through the trials and tribulations of being a modern day match angler. My blog will be a ‘warts ‘n’ all’ account of my latest matches and I wont hold anything back (even if I don’t catch much!) To open my account I will start by talking about the latest round of the Garbolino/Sensas International rules match that Darren Cox and Sean Ashby run. It was going to be the third round, this was to be held at Gold Valley and with my Barnsley Blacks team winning the league we definitely had to try our best to get a good result. On the Friday before the match we had a little practice and worked out that the match was going to be extremely hard, but luckily we had sussed out that perch were going to be the target species and these would be what we primarily fished for.
When Roy Marlow tells you that a groundbait is the best-selling mix in the world, you have to sit up and take notice. EFG161 is a Method mix that is designed for use in cold water. It has a controlled breakdown speed so will gradually release attractants into your swim. RRP £6.
Chief tester Roger Mortimore has handled many reels over the years and is impressed with the build quality and performance of the new Akios range. When three Akios multiplier reels arrived on my desk – the smaller 656CTM and the larger 757CTM and 757CS – my first impression was how solid they felt. When I removed the side plates for a closer inspection, I could see that they are extremely well made from quality materials. There are currently six reels in the stable; three in the 656 size – the CS, CT and CTM for shore and light boat fishing – and three of the larger 757 size for boat or heavy shore fishing, also CS, CT and CTM.
Joe Carass takes a close look at a new pole from Maver that has been designed for a variety of match situations. . . Maver has a huge reputation for producing some of the finest poles on the market.
Following Saturday’s Mega Match This qualifier event at Monk Lakes, Kent, please note below the full and final result:
Monk Lakes, Kent, 8th July 2017
Angler's Name
Weight (lbs/oz)
Peg # / Lake
Mike McMillan (Garbolino / Bait-Tech)
198-06-00
65 (Lake 2)
Adam Southgate (Oakwood)
196-04-00
55 (Lake 2)
James Taylor (Harlow Angling)
189-13-00
66 (Lake 2)
Mark Tullet (Cresta Tackle / Bag 'Em Baits)
183-10-00
113 (Lake 3)
Robbie Taylor (Guru / Dynamite Baits)
173-02-00
91 (Lake 3)
Mark Goddard (Bag 'Em Baits)
150-02-00
135 (Lake 3)
Mark Brown (Browning Wickford)
141-02-00
56 (Lake 2)
Chris Vendervleit (Drennan / Bait-Tech)
136-14-00
58 (Lake 2)
Garbolino's Mike McMillan booked his place in another Mega Match This final after topping the fifty-nine (59) strong field at Kent's Monk Lakes. Conditions on the day were hot and sticky with very little wind offering any sort of comfort. Anglers were given plenty of room, which made for a superb qualifier with very little separating the top two on the day and numerous one hundred pound plus catches being recorded from all three of the lakes used.
Mike drew peg 67 on Lake 2 and endured a bit of an unsettled start losing fish early on before getting into his rhythm offering pellet long at 16m.
"Well. . . things have finally started to sink in after this Saturday's crazy events! sitting here, writing about winning a 3rd Fisho title is something I could never have imagined.
Angler's Name
Weight (lbs/oz)
Peg # / Lake
Steve Rothery
140-14-00
32 (Moat Island)
Ben Dales
114-01-00
29 (Moat Island)
Ben Fisk (Bauer Media)
109-02-00
1 (Bridge Island)
Ryan Laycock (Pontefract)
106-04-00
20 (Canal)
Adam Richards (Browning)
99-03-00
28 (Reed)
Adrian Higginbottom (Matrix)
97-04-00
61 (Moat Island)
Matt Godfrey (Guru)
90-01-00
35 (Moat Outer)
James Hall
81-00-00
17 (Moat Island)
British Pole Championship Qualifiers: Steve Rothery, Ben Dales & Ben Fisk
One hundred and ten (110) anglers attended this latest qualifier at Retford's Hallcroft Fishery. Despite conditions appearing ideal with plenty of cloud cover and with a slight ripple on the water, most anglers found the going tough early on in the match with the heavy, muggy atmosphere hampering what would have otherwise been an ideal day. That said, as the day progressed, the conditions improved a little with the resident carp moving into the margins during the final ninety minutes.
Winner on the day, and next to book his place on this year's big money final, was Steve Rothery.
