This year’s Angling Trust Cadets, Juniors and Intermediates National Championship was held at Makins Fishery, Nuneaton, Warwickshire on Saturday 28th June.  The weather on the day was very unsettled for all the competitors taking part with showers set in for most of the day.

Nearly 200 young anglers between the ages of 10 and 22 participated in the three simultaneous events – Cadets, Juniors and Intermediates with good catches being caught throughout the day.

Five Cadet  teams fishing Crater, Snake, Little Reptile and Reptile pools recorded some great catches.  The Cadet Team Champions on the day were Tameside Matrix/Bait-Tech with an impressive 26 points (55.22kg). Runners up were Telford AA with 20 points (35.06kg) and in third place was Worksop & District AA with 16 points (28.34kg).

In the individual category Tameside Matrix/Bait Tech angler, Lewis Burrows on Snake Lake 17 won the gold medal with 14.46kg.  In runner up position was Bethany Swain of Telford AA who weighed 13.62kg on the scales from Snake 15 and in third place with 12.56kg from Crater 15 was Ben Fry fishing for Worksop & District AA.

The Juniors saw 17 teams competing over Lakes 2, Lake 4, Lake  5, Lagoon, and Lizard lakes.   Team winners were Sensas A4 with a fantastic 76 points (69.63kg), and in second place was Worksop DAA ‘A’ Team tying on 64 points with Tameside, but had a better weight aggregate of 83.26kg to push Tameside Matrix Bait Tech Blue into third place with 59.69kg.

The Individual Junior winner on the day was Liam Miller of Barnsley Juniors Red on Lizard 9 with 54.71kg.  In runner up position was Cameron Cross of Worksop DAA ‘A’ Team who weighed in at 36.51kg from Lagoon 2, and in third place was another Worksop DAA ‘A’ Team member Dalton Mulinger on Lizard 12 weighing in with 27.20kg.

The Intermediates team category saw 9 teams compete this year on Severn, Inner Severn, Avon, Inner Avon, Thames, and Derwent.   Casts Bag Em Red put in a first class team performance to tie on points with second place team Barnsley Juniors, but their better weight aggregate of 84.42kg put them in the lead with Barnsley Juniors taking the runner up medals with 75.43kg.  In third place was Drennan Bordon with 37 points and 59.13kg.

Thames was where the individual weights were coming from with Jake Hemmings of Pride of Derby on Thames 9 with 28.08kg taking the first place honours for the Intermediates.  In second place was Aidan Mansfield fishing for winning team Casts Bag Em Red on Thames 12 with 27.52kg, and in third place was Harry Bignall of Barnsley Juniors  with 23.52kg on Thames 7.

The top 6 Junior winners will be taking part in the Junior Fish ‘O’ Mania event at Cudmore Fisheries, Newcastle Under Lyme on Sunday 13th July.  They are;  Jordan Holloway, Zach Summerscales, Harry Munroe, Cameron Cross, Dalton Mullinger and Liam Miller.

Next year’s National Championship will be split over two venues; the Cadets and Juniors at Solhampton Fishery and the Intermediates at Maver Larford Lakes, Worcestershire on Saturday 27th June. 

The Angling Trust would like to offer their appreciation and thanks to Preston Innovations for supplying goodie bags for every competitor, and Matchroom Sport for supplying every competitor with free tickets for the Fish ‘ O’ Mania final, and also to Makins Fishery for all their hard work.

Photo: – Casts Bag Em Red – Intermediates Team Champions