A near sell-out of 132 anglers made their way to the newly revamped Lindholme Lakes, in a somewhat sunny Doncaster this Wednesday. The talk at the draw was that bonsai would be most people’s preference, however it ended up that three other lakes also broke the 100lb barrier.
What transpired on the day was a cracking head to head between 2005 runner up Lee Thornton (Middy) and Fish’O regular, James Roper. Up until the last couple of hours the lads were head to head, however it was Lee’s Margin line that came on strong and he put a few more quality carp in his net, edging out James by just over 20lb.
Lee rotated three lines masterfully, which included a long pellet line, a short 4m maggot line and the crucial edge line, where he fed micros and fished pellet over the top. Across the five hours Lee put together an impressive 147lb 11oz of mainly carp, which included some right lumps to 10lb. Lee commented, “I’m glad to finally be back in the final” and celebrated on social media with a pint.
Runner up James’ tactics revolved around 4mm pellets, catching both short and long up in the water on a lassoed 4mm. James totalled 122lb 3oz on the scales and added; “Bit gutted about coming second, I’ve also had a third and a couple of section wins in the six big qualifiers I’ve fished this year”.
Rounding out the top three was Preston’s Maestro Des Shipp, who also drew on Bonsai, this time peg 44. Des fished a simple match of long pole and pellet to take F1s and carp to 6lb for his 121lb 0oz.
Our thanks must go to Neil, Aaron and the team at Lindholme lakes for all their help and cracking facilities and to Mike Storey for organising the event on the day.
We move eastwards for the next qualifier at Partridge Lakes, which is a Sellout! It’s worth noting; as always, we close the tickets on Wednesday before a match at 15:30, so make sure you visit the booking site to guarantee a ticket for Gold Valley Lakes next weekend, as there are only a handful left!
How to Book Tickets
Tickets for the Fish’O’Mania XXVI qualifiers will again be sold via the Angling Trust events booking website HERE. Ticket prices have once more remained the same at £25 per qualifier.
Results
1st Lee Thornton 147lb 11oz
2nd James Roper 122lb 3oz
3rd Des Shipp 121lb 0oz
4th Andy Bennett 111lb 14oz
5th Paul Burton 108lb 5oz
