Division 1 National Championship 2021 Report
Angling Trust Division 1 National Championships 2021

418 fished

The Angling Trusts blue riband event was fished this year on the Grand Union Canal around Northampton with 42 teams competing. In the run up to this match the canal hadn’t been fishing too well but a 2 week break for practice gave the fish a rest and it showed. The canal fished reasonably well with some very good weights recorded, only 31 anglers failed to make 450gms (1lb) and there were no blanks which is all that can be asked for a small canal.

The Team result will surprise a few, with Sensas Devizes MG being crowned Division 1 National Champions 2021 and received the winners cheque of £1500. But when you consider that the Devizes team live on the Kennet & Avon Canal in Wiltshire which is a very similar canal then really it should be no surprise at all. Their total of 301pts was 15pts clear of the mighty Barnsley & District whom were runners up and will receive £500 for their 286pts and Starlets AS took the bronze medal position with 284pts.

Nigel Franks from Sensas Devizes added

“The team adopted a simple approach of feeding two lines at the start in 2’6” of water. One was fed with 250ml of liquidised bread and the other with a ball of ground bait. Ground bait was a combination of Sensas 3000 canal noire, sensas magic and sensas formula supreme.
Knowing that the first 30mins was critical for catching the skimmers no time was wasted feeding anywhere else.
Starting on a 7mm punch we all tried to catch some decent fish early, fortunately, this worked for most of the team.
After the bread line died it was felt best to look on the ground bait line with maggot or worm and basically progressively start to feed other lines.
The rest of the match it was a case of making the most of your peg. Fortunately, with years of experience fishing a similar Kennet and Avon canal we all managed to find some additional fish for those important extra points.
We’d like to give a special thanks to Sensas Uk for the ongoing support.
Big thanks to the Angling Trust on running the match along with Nene Angling Club. Finally well-done to Barnsley & District and Starlets AS for 2nd and 3rd.”

On the Individual front Dave Brown (Preston Innovations Black Horse) needed 19.170Kgs to win the prestigious Division 1 Individual title. Fishing at peg 30 on B Section at Weedon, Dave caught skimmers on bread punch from the off and added some better samples to 3lb mid-way through the match before his peg started to fade but he had done enough to win. Stu Bird (LTB Matrix Bait Tech) must have thought he had a good chance of winning when he put 16.700Kg on the scales from end peg 1 on D Section at Furnace Lane but in the end he had to settle for the runner up spot. 3rd place went to Dale Malpas (Daiwa Gordon League) with 14.890Kg from peg 32 close to the winner at Weedon.

The full results breakdown can be found at www.match-angling.com – see https://www.match-angling.com/viewresults_public.aspx?rid=8365

Next year’s Division 1 National will see us move back to the R. Trent (Non-tidal) around Nottingham.

The Angling Trust would like to thank Chris Howard and his team for their help and assistance in running this match and Northampton Nene for use of their waters.

Team Result;

1st Sensas Devizes MG 301pts (pictured)

2nd Barnsley & District 286pts

3rd Starlets AS 284pts

4th Tricast Rochdale 283pts (25.610Kg)

5th Cadence Superteam Bait Tech 283pts (23.440Kg)

6th Team Daiwa Dorking 281pts

Individual Result;

1st Dave Brown Preston Innovations Black Horse 19.170Kg

2nd Stu Bird LTB Matrix Bait Tech 16.700Kg

3rd Dale Malpas Daiwa Gordon League 14.890Kg

4th Colin Mayor Preston Innovations Sonu Baits North West 12.590Kg

5th Barry Smith Colmic Northants 8.980Kg

6th Richard Whitmarsh Sensas Devizes MG 8.400Kg

Full results & information for 2022 will be available on the Division 1 National webpage: https://anglingtrust.net/our-competitions/coarse-competitions/division-one-national-championship/