Cox nets winning spot at Preston Innovations Boldings Fish ‘O’ Mania
Bitterly cold conditions with a biting wind greeted the 130 competitors for this, the second of the Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifiers for 2013 held at Preston Innovations Boldings, Bridgnorth on Saturday 13th April.
The early arrivals for the event had taken their customary walk around the fishery, and the talk prior to the draw was that it would fish hard with the conditions and that 60 – 70lbs would be needed to win, but no one was prepared to stick their necks out and make a prediction as to where the winning weight would come from.It turned out that last to draw, from the initial entry list, four times qualifier, Darren Cox, Kamasan Starlets and Garbolino UK General Manager drew the winning peg.
Drawn on Sycamore peg 6, Darren started on the bomb with bread and had two fish in his first two chucks, loose feeding pellet over the top.After those two first fish no more bites were forthcoming from the bomb and, with the occasional fish topping in front of him, he switched to pellet up in the water and never looked back, staying on this method for the remainder of the match to amass a total of 82 lbs 7 ozs made up of carp to 10 lb and F1’s.
In second place was another regular Fish ‘O’ competitor Andy Moors (Maver Pickerings), who like Darren fished pellet up in the water to finish with a weight of 78 lbs 11 ozs from Larch peg 5, again with a mixed bag of carp and F1’s to 9 lb.
Third place went to Jonathan Trivett (Rose and Crown A. C. Derby), fishing his first ever qualifier, with a weight of 70 lbs 4 ozs from Sycamore peg 48 made up mainly of carp and F1’s caught on banded pellet up in the water, and a few Barbel caught on maggot in the margin.
Fourth place went to Sean Barber (Maver Midlands) with a weight of 60 lbs 1 ozs, again fishing up in the water catching mainly F1’s on pellet, with fifth position taken by Phillip Weaver (Cwmbran Nobblers), with a weight of 58 lbs 2 ozs on long pole and caster.On Wednesday 17th April the Fish ‘O’ Mania action continues at Makins Fishery in Nuneaton.
