The Final round of the Boddington Classic started in rather drab, overcast conditions, with a steady breeze pushing into most of the sections. This looked perfect for a few fish on the bottom, however the cloud rapidly burnt away and the carp could be seen on the surface.

From the get go, a few anglers managed the odd fish on pellet waggler at 20-40yds range, these fish were mainly mugged and very few fish seemed to be responding to bait. The lucky few anglers in the shallow water were also managing some fish on the tip, some preferring a method feeder and some utilising a bomb and pellet approach.

Pulling ahead of the pack was Daniel Coss from Hertfordshire. Drawing on the favoured E section (Top end of Boddington in the trees) peg 93, Daniel put in 14 sizeable carp for 53kg 950g, utilising both the pellet waggler and Bomb. Daniel was fishing the match as a practice having already qualified for the final on Saturday, July 28th.

Second on the day was West Midlands angler Paddy Mcmahon, who drew on the very popular peg 2 on A section (the road bank). Fishing a mixture of methods, Paddy weighed an impressive 49kg 260g of carp to 5kgs. Tactics were mainly tip and bomb firing 8mm pellets at close range. Hookbaits varied between; Wafters, pellets and even bread discs.

Rounding out the top three was Brian Foster, who’d made it all the way from Greater Manchester! Phil drew at the start of D section on peg 82 and caught 48kg 575g of carp. Brian caught most of his fish on the pole shallow at 14.5 meters, pinging 8mm pellets and catching at around 12inches deep.

The contest qualification is based upon five sections on Boddington, to give every angler a chance of getting to the final and the results are posted below.

Our thanks again must go to Dick and Sheila Pilkington for their tireless effort with the contest, to Nigel Franks and the other anglers who helped weigh on the day. Thanks must also go to Canal & River Trust for their continued support.

A reminder that the final on Boddington is on Saturday 28th July. Letters will be going out to all of the qualifier listed below;