Kevin Johnson joins the long list of names etched on the on the silver plate of the “King of Clubs” trophy – match angling legends dating back to 1983. Once again the 4 day festival produced a great list of results despite some of the highest water levels recorded in Cavan and Leitrim.

Photo: Kevin Johnson groans a sigh of relief after weighing this catch of 13-600 kilos on the last day of the King of Clubs to win with a week’s total haul of 83-280 kilos (about 185lb) and pocket more than £4,000.

There were plenty of fish to be caught and Kevin, owner of Messingham Sands Fishery in Lincolnshire, was the angler who took full advantage to finish with an 83-280 kilo (185lb) total across the five days. His success was rewarded by the sponsorship of Tourism Ireland and Irish Ferries with the guaranteed £3,000 winner’s cheque and another £1,000 from the optional pools.

“I’m on cloud nine”, said the 53 year old as packed his tackle away after a nerve wracking last day session on Corfree Shore, Lough Gowna. Kevin gained the overall lead on the third day when he put together 27-560 kilos (61lb) from what he called the “pick of the pegs” by drawing number seven on Eonish Shore – a noted peg used regularly by pleasure anglers for bream fishing. “It was easy enough fishing because the fish were there”, he explained. “I started by dropping eight large feeders full of groundbait but then spent 30 minutes on the pole catching a few small fish. At the end I had 44 skimmer bream on the feeder and 32 of them came on 30 casts in the middle of the match on a combination of worm, caster and red maggot. There were also 25 roach in the net”

Result:

Kevin Johnson, Messingham. 83-280 kg
Kevin Rowles, Devizes. 79-280 kg
John Whincup, Fox Match Van den Eynde. 74-320 kg
Lee Klimczuk, Van den Eynde Bait Tech. 72-660 kg
Baz Smith, Enniskillen. 65-420 kg
Dave Brettle, Doncaster. 64-730 kg

Dave Houghton
Active Irish Angling
Tel: (UK) 0151 324 4744 (Ireland) 00 353 (0)71 9642743
Web: www.activeirishangling.com