Nathan Watson has won the inaugural Totesport.com Fish’O’ Mania Champion of Champions which was held on Sunday 18th July 2010 at Cudmore Fisheries, Staffordshire. The competition featured the 16 men who have won the main Fish ‘O’ Mania competition and Watson won a dramatic finish as he finished less than 2kg ahead of Matt Hall.
“I started really slowly and I thought it was going to be a bad day,” admitted Watson.
“I went on the method feed and started catching and I was pretty steady so I’m delighted with the win. I’m just really lucky that I got a good peg.”
This was the second exciting finish in Fish ‘O’ Mania events inside two days after Neil McKinnon had triumphed over former World Champion Tom Pickering yesterday.
“I feel like Tommy did yesterday,” added a disappointed Hall. “I was making a charge at the end but it was not enough. Every time I saw that Nathan had a fish, I knew it was a carp and in my head, I thought I was a bit short and I was. If you’re going to win something you stick to your Plan A or B and you can’t keep changing. I gave it my best shot but fair play to Nathan. Everyone thought that the peg was going to be good, but he fished it really nicely and won the competition.”
Like yesterday’s thrilling event, the Sunday tournament was live on Sky Sports 2 with a £10,000 prize going to the winner with £1,000 for the biggest fish caught.
Dave Pimlott made an incredible start as he made an early bid for both prizes. He caught nearly 12kg in the first half hour, including a fish of 5.08kg.
Pimlott’s early haul helped him stay in front for the second and third weigh-ins. However, he was overtaken at the fourth weigh-in when Matt Hall, the only man to have won the main event twice after successes in 2003 and 2009, moved in front.
Neil McKinnon was the final man to earn his place in the event after winning the main competition on Saturday. But he was not able to repeat his success as he was cut adrift at the back of the pack.
Nathan Watson had started badly but had gradually worked his way up the leader board and at the seventh weigh-in moved into the lead, more than two kilos ahead of second placed Steve Ringer.
Mick Bull, winner in 2008, moved ahead in the race for the biggest fish prize with an effort of 6.06kg, which also put in contention for the main prize.
Another exciting finish was guaranteed as Matt Hall regained the lead with half hour to go but any of five anglers still had a realistic chance of winning.
Fish O Mania 2010 Champion of Champions FINAL RESULT
1. Nathan Watson (Louth) 35.18kg
2. Matt Hall (Awsworth) 33.69kg
3. Dave Pimlott (Manchester) 28.73kg
4. Steve Ringer (Ravensthorpe) 27.41kg
5. Mick Bull (Warwick) 24.44kg
6. Steve Jackson (Bridgwater) 24.41kg
7. Steve Cooke (Retford) 23.05kg
8. Neil Machin (Stoke) 22.33kg
9. Clive Wright (Wolverhampton) 19.38kg
10 Rob Hitchens (Rotherham) 18.46kg
11. Kevin Rowles (Devizes) 17.96kg
12. Marc Jones (Wakefield) 15.92kg
13. Geoff Ringer (Ravensthorpe) 14.94kg
14. Andy Jennings (Wakefield) 11.08kg
15. Ian Turner (Worksop) 9.10kg
16. Neil McKinnon (Gloucester) 3.37kg
Biggest fish – (£1,000) – Mick Bull.
4.30pm – WEIGH-IN 9
1st – Matt Hall 29.72kg, 2nd – Nathan Watson 29.34kg, 3rd – Steve Ringer 25.44kg, 4th – Mick Bull 24.32kg, 5th – Dave Pimlott 23.17kg, 6th – Neil Machin 20.73kg, 7th – Steve Cooke 19.89kg, 8th – Clive Wright 18.24kg, 9th – Steve Jackson 17.77kg, 10th – Rob Hitchens 16.96kg, 11th – Kevin Rowles 14.20kg, 12th – Geoff Ringer 14.04kg, 13th – Marc Jones 13.58kg, 14th – Andy Jennings 11.08kg, 15th – Ian Turner 6.97kg, 16th – Neil McKinnon 3.37kg.
4pm – WEIGH-IN 8
1st – Nathan Watson 25.74kg, 2nd – Matt Hall 25.12kg, 3rd – Steve Ringer 22.29kg, 4th – Mick Bull 19.16kg, 5th – Dave Pimlott 18.97kg, 6th – Steve Jackson 17.77kg, 7th – Neil Machin 17.23kg, 8th – Rob Hitchens 13.13kg, 9th – Steve Cooke 13.04kg, 10th – Geoff Ringer 12.50kg, 11th – Clive Wright 12.24kg, 12th – Marc Jones 12.11kg, 13th – Kevin Rowles 10.24kg, 14th – Andy Jennings 7.94kg, 15th – Ian Turner 5.83kg, 16th – Neil McKinnon 3.37kg.
3.30pm – WEIGH-IN 7
1st – Nathan Watson 23.84kg, 2nd – Steve Ringer 21.64kg, 3rd – Matt Hall 20.37kg, 4th – Dave Pimlott 18.21kg, 5th – Neil Machin 15.15kg, 6th – Steve Jackson 13.53kg, 7th – Rob Hitchens 13.13kg, 8th – Steve Cooke 12.88kg, 9th – Marc Jones 10.20kg, 10th – Geoff Ringer 9.66kg, 11th – Kevin Rowles 9.06kg, 12th – Andy Jennings 7.18kg, 13th – Clive Wright 6.54kg, 14th – Mick Bull 4.32kg, 15th – Ian Turner 3.63kg, 16th – Neil McKinnon 2.50kg
3pm – WEIGH-IN 6
1st – Matt Hall 19.49kg, 2nd – Nathan Watson 19.18kg, 3rd – Steve Ringer 17.37kg, 4th – Dave Pimlott 16.45kg, 5th – Neil Machin 13.93kg, 6th – Steve Jackson 13.53kg, 7th – Steve Cooke 11.44kg, 8th – Marc Jones 10.38kg, 9th – Geoff Ringer 8.52kg, 10th – Kevin Rowles 8.40kg, 11th – Rob Hitchens 7.89kg, 12th – Andy Jennings 5.37kg, 13th – Clive Wright 4.74kg, 14th – Mick Bull 4.32kg, 15th – Ian Turner 3.08kg, 16th – Neil McKinnon 1.28kg.
2.30pm – WEIGH-IN 5
1st – Matt Hall 18.29kg, 2nd – Dave Pimlott 16.07kg, 3rd – Nathan Watson 13.78kg, 4th – Steve Ringer 13.72kg, 5th – Steve Jackson 12.88kg, 6th – Neil Machin 10.85kg, 7th – Steve Cooke 10.84kg, 8th – Marc Jones 9.57kg, 9th – Kevin Rowles 7.08kg, 10th – Geoff Ringer 6.26kg, 11th – Rob Hitchens 5.99kg, 12th – Andy Jennings 5.37kg, 13th – Clive Wright 4.74kg, 14th – Mick Bull 3.46kg, 15th – Ian Turner 3.08kg, 16th – Neil McKinnon 1.28kg.
2pm – WEIGH-IN 4
1st – Matt Hall 17.43kg, 2nd – Dave Pimlott 15.32kg, 3rd – Steve Ringer 13.72kg, 4th – Neil Machin 10.15kg, 5th – Nathan Watson 9.52kg, 6th – Steve Jackson 8.94kg, 7th – Steve Cooke 7.70kg, 8th – Marc Jones 7.59kg, 9th – Rob Hitchens 5.99kg, 10th – Kevin Rowles 5.08kg, 11th – Clive Wright 4.74kg, 12th – Andy Jennings 4.71kg, 13th – Geoff Ringer 4.54kg, 14th – Ian Turner 3.08kg, 15th – Mick Bull 1.64kg, 16th – Neil McKinnon 1.28kg.
1.30pm – WEIGH-IN 3
1st – Dave Pimlott 15.32kg, 2nd – Matt Hall 11.14kg, 3rd – Neil Machin 9.17kg, 4th – Steve Ringer 9.12kg, 5th – Steve Jackson 8.04kg, 6th – Steve Cooke 7.06kg, 7th – Rob Hitchens 5.99kg, 8th – Marc Jones 5.70kg, 9th – Clive Wright 4.64kg, 10th – Geoff Ringer 4.54kg, 11th – Andy Jennings 4.15kg, 12th – Kevin Rowles 3.96kg, 13th – Nathan Watson 2.04kg, 14th – Mick Bull 1.64kg, 15th – Neil McKinnon 1.28kg, 16th – Ian Turner 0.82kg.
1pm – WEIGH-IN 2
1st – Dave Pimlott 13.62kg, 2nd – Matt Hall 8.65kg, 3rd – Neil Machin 7.67kg, 4th – Steve Jackson 5.84kg, 5th – Steve Ringer 5.62kg, 6th – Rob Hitchens 5.27kg, 7th – Steve Cooke 5.02kg, 8th – Clive Wright 4.64kg, 9th – Marc Jones 4.50kg, 10th – Geoff Ringer 4.02kg, 11th – Andy Jennings 3.55kg, 12th – Nathan Watson 2.04kg, 13th – Mick Bull 1.26kg, 14th – Ian Turner 0.82kg, 15th – Kevin Rowles 0.44kg, 16th – Neil McKinnon 0.26kg.
12.30pm – WEIGH-IN 1
1st – Dave Pimlott 11.98kg, 2nd – Matt Hall 6.35kg, 3rd – Neil Machin 5.06kg, 4th – Rob Hitchens 4.64kg, 5th – Steve Cooke 2.84kg, 6th – Steve Jackson 2.24kg, 7th – Clive Wright 2.23kg, 8th – Andy Jennings 1.90kg, 9th – Marc Jones 1.85kg, 10th – Geoff Ringer 1.51kg, 11th – Steve Ringer 1.43kg, 12th – Mick Bull 1.26kg, 13th – Nathan Watson 0.70kg, 14th – Ian Turner 0.69kg, 15th – Neil McKinnon 0.26kg, 16th – Kevin Rowles 0kg.
PEG LINE-UP
1. Nathan Watson, 2. Kevin Rowles, 3. Steve Jackson, 4. Geoff Ringer, 5. Neil Machin, 6. Clive Wright, 7. Matt Hall, 8. Rob Hitchens, 9. Steve Cooke, 10. Mick Bull, 11. Dave Pimlott, 12. Andy Jennings, 13. Neil McKinnon, 14. Ian Turner, 15. Steve Ringer, 16. Marc Jones.
