The weather forecast for the day was not good with winds up to 40 mph with intermittent heavy rain for the fifth Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifier held at Lake View Fishery, Leicestershire on Saturday 26th March 2016.

At the draw the anglers were mindful of the difficult task ahead and, of course, the chance of pole breakages.  Pegs with shelter suddenly became much sought after although in the event almost all the weights came from areas totally exposed to the elements.  Many anglers struggled with presentation and, therefore, few fish so opted for an early drive home. 

Reef and Oasis pools were fancied to produce the bulk of the framing weights and this was exactly how it all turned out.  The conditions clearly prompted the fish to pack tightly together in certain areas and so the anglers fortunate enough to draw these dominated proceedings.

One such area was the far bank of Oasis and it was here that Hinckley –based Sam Brown took top spot with a magnificent weight of 149 lbs 14 ozs. The 24 year old Maver backed angler caught carp to 12 lbs along with some decent F1’s dobbing maggots right across. Afterwards he said he had “arm ache” following a particularly hectic last two hours.

Runner –up was Alfreton plasterer Wayne Heywood.  Wayne caught carp to 10 lbs at Oasis peg 14 again fishing maggot on the pole to put 124 lbs 5 ozs on the scales. Third was another 24 year old, Ben Sharp, who took carp to 10 lbs dobbing bread and pellet across at peg 19 on Reef  Pool.  Fish ‘O’ Mania regular Barry Bush weighed 71 lbs 13ozs from Oasis 16 to take fourth place. Luke Dobson was fifth putting 52 lb 5 ozs on the scales at Reef 18. Sixth place went to Trevor Jackson with 50 lbs 4 ozs from Oasis 19.

Several competitors set off after the results to drive down to Gold Valley for the first ever Sunday Fish O Mania qualifier the following day.

This weekend sees Monk Lakes host the next Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifier at Tonbridge, Kent on Saturday 2nd April 2016.