With warm sunshine and little wind, conditions were favourable for this Fish ’O’ Mania qualifier at The Oaks fishery, Thirsk. It led to fantastic weights with 180lb needed to make the top five as the lakes’ stocky carp and silvers played ball on the smaller of the lakes.

Fish ’O’ regular Lee Bennett qualified for the first time in six years of trying after drawing peg 150 on Sycamore Lake and catching 150 fish for his 212lb 15oz. Lee piled in the feed getting through over a gallon of maggots and catching carp to 4lb and ide.

Runner up was Joe Cartwright who also broke through the magical 200lb barrier with 203lb 3oz. Joe drew on Beech Lakes peg 26 and utilised similar ‘mag and bag’ tactics, although a couple of short quiet spells scuppered his chances of qualifying on the day.

In third spot was last year’s Fish ’O’ Mania winner Andy May who drew on Ash Lakes peg 19. Andy also adopted shallow tactics and piled in the maggots, catching both carp and ide to make up his 190lb 9oz

Fourth on the day was local rod Phillips Sellers who caught 189lb 7oz from Ash Lake peg 22 and completing the top five was Andy Bennett, who landed 181lb 10oz from Beech Lake peg 18.

A great contest and our thanks to Tom and his family for preparing the fishery and hosting an excellent qualifier.

Next round see’s Boldings pools (Bridgnorth) host their Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifier. Online bookings are closed for this event but there will still be a small number of tickets available on the day at the fishery.

Results:
1st Lee Bennett 212lb 15oz
2nd Joe Cartwright 203lb 3oz
3rd Andy May 190lb 9oz
4th Phillip Sellers 189lb 7oz
5th Andy Bennett 181lb 10oz