Horrendous conditions faced the 145 competitors in this latest Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifying match held at Monk Lakes Fishery, Tonbridge, Kent on Wednesday 6th May 2015 with gale force winds all day and heavy rain at the start, with at least one pole broken in the wind.
The conditions did not put the fish off and there were very good weights recorded with 10 weights over the magic ton. It almost became a Specimen match with several carp over 20 lbs landed and the biggest at 23 lbs.
The winner for the second time in three years at this venue was Perry Stone (SPRO) with 151 lbs of bream and carp from Peg16 on Puma Lake. He fished the method feeder with pellet on the hook and his biggest fish was a carp of 13 lbs.
In second place Ian Brewer (Broad Oak AC) pole fished pellet at Peg 124 on Lake 3 to land carp to 10 lbs for his net of 140 lbs 10 oz, but it slowed down in the last hour of the match with Ian not catching anything. Third placed Jonathan Budd (Godalming AS) fished Puma peg 6 and at one stage word on the bank suggested he would win, he eventually weighed in 140 lbs exactly of carp and bream with his biggest fish an 18 lb 8 oz carp fishing method feeder with 8mm pellets as hook bait.
Further results;
4th Paul Hills (Ashford) 138 lbs from Peg 135 on Lake 3
5th Zac Brown (Delcac) 126 lbs from peg 134
6th Russell Berryman (Sutton) 114 lb 8oz Peg 114 Lake 3
Even in the terrible conditions the lowest 10 peg section winning weight was 53 lb 10 oz.
The Angling Trust would like to thank Morgan and the rest of the team at Monk Lakes for all their help throughout the day.
The next Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifier for 2015 heads to The Oaks at Thirsk on Saturday 9th May.