Marc Jones from Wakefield won the Woodlands View Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifier last weekend as the former champion goes for his second win in three years.
With the return of the warm weather the competitors were optimistic for an enjoyable day with temperatures creeping into the mid twenties. Of course with high temperatures and bright sunshine the catches were significantly reduced making the margins of victory even tighter.
With such difficult conditions the competition was tight up to the last hour with up to eight anglers still in with a chance to win that golden ticket. It was Marc Jones, a builder from Wakefield, who came out on top with a weight of 112lbs 9ozs. Fishing on peg 10 on Barley, Marc took carp up to 6lbs fishing shallow with caster. Marc won the 2005 competition and will be looking to repeat his 2005 success in this year’s competition.
Marc (pictured below) stated:
“When I drew my peg, the response was laughter all round as it had a reputation for not being great. I went and had a look at the peg and thought I was just wasting my time and went to sit in my van for 40 minutes. However, I decided I may as well give it a go and went back to see some fish in the swim. In the end it turned out there was a decent number of fish and it was a shame that I ran out of bait for the last 40 minutes as I could have got a much bigger weight.
I am looking forward to the final as I know the venue really well as it’s only 40 minutes down the road and I know exactly how I am going to fish it. It just goes to show that you must give every peg your best effort as every peg can provide the win.”
Although Marc claimed victory, the real battle took place on High Pool with Neil Machin, the 2006 Champion and Andy May going right to the wire.
In the end it was Cheshire ace Andy May who came out on top finishing with 105lbs 5ozs from peg 28 of High Pool. With his catch of mainly crucians and F1s, Andy used worm and caster fishing shallow to edge out Neil Machin on the opposite bank. Neil who fishes for Garbolino Dynamite Baits caught steadily all day, fishing shallow with pellet and corn combination leading to a final weight of 105lbs, only 5ozs behind Andy.
The runner up was Stephen Rothery from Leeds who weighed 105lbs 12oz of carp to 5lbs from peg 7 on Ghost Pool. Stephen who fishes for Garbolino Ossett caught all his fish close in on corn.
With such close fishing, Woodlands View provided us with a great match with no more than about 8lbs separating winner Marc Jones and fifth placed Stourport angler Steve Pearce with 104lbs 4ozs.
