The final qualifier of the 2012 Angling Trust and British Waterways Stillwater Championships took place at Earlswood’s renowned Engine Lake in almost perfect conditions on Saturday 1st September 2012.
This qualifier promised so much but actually proved to be a very difficult match for most. An early run of fish around the lake suggested it was to be a big weight day but it quickly became apparent that the fish had other ideas with most anglers resigned to picking off the odd fish throughout the rest of the day. However, because the carp in Engine average around 5 kilos no one went for the early bath knowing that two or three fish would completely change things.
Perhaps the exception to this was Mark Bartlett drawn on peg 33. The Yatton, Somerset angler caught 12 carp to 6 kilos “on the spod” with white boilies to record a total of 46 kilos 700 grams. Mark who is soon to fly out to Romania as a member of the Korda Carp Team England showed great skill by casting almost 100 metres to the end of an island for the whole 5 hours.
Runner up was Glen Maxwell from Stetchford. Glen who drew peg 62 brought 10 carp to the scales for 45 kilos 900 grams. He had 8 fish on the pellet waggler and one each on the feeder and bomb all caught with pellet hookbait. Third from peg 29 was Telford angler Brian Ashley. Brian caught 8 carp to 7 kilos on the waggler and bomb to finish with 41 kilos 120 grams.The final five anglers qualifying for the Grand Final at Earlswood on 22nd September are –
Simon Harris peg 5 9 kilos 820 grams
Neville Barley peg 24 15 kilos 640 grams
Mark Bartlett peg 33 46 kilos 700 grams
Glen Maxwell peg 62 45 kilos 900 grams
Graham Dashwood peg 78 18 kilos 800 grams