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IRELAND’S flagship angling festival – the King of Clubs – produced staggering results on the fish-filled lakes of Cavan and Leitrim despite the worst ever floodwater. 100 match fishermen from Great Britain, Ireland and Holland, shared 3.5 tons of fish and got their five days of match fishing. But only after the Northern Regional Fisheries Board worked like beavers, often waist deep in cold water, cutting new swims on eight lakes around Carrigallen, Arva, Killeshandra and Gowna. It was not the platform desired by the sponsors – Irish Ferries and Failte Ireland – for the 25th anniversary of the event, but with a staggering catch average of more than 7.3 kilos (16lbs) per man per day, it was brilliant in the conditions. The new 2008 champion is 43 year old Dave Brettell from York. “The King of Clubs is a ‘must match’ for me because it has always been a good festival on outstanding waters”, he acknowledged after pocketing £ 4,800 prize money for his total catch of 71.840 kilos (159lb).
Dave, a member of the Daiwa Doncaster match group, travels for the competition every year and he best previous placing was second 15 years ago; though in 2006 he also won the Carrigallen and Bann Bonanza festivals. He bucked the fishing trend this time out, finding fish on pole tackle on four of the days, while most anglers relied on feeder-fishing in the high water conditions. Dave started on Eonish Lake with 17.400 kilos of small roach on pole and maggot to win the section; day two he fished Glasshouse Lake and was second with 11.200 for a similar catch; day three he moved to Corfree Shore on Gowna and swapped to a groundbait feeder to catch a winning 18-900 of skimmer bream on caster and worm; day four he struggled into seventh spot with 8-140 on pole and maggot before finishing second in his section with 16-200 of pole-caught roach on Leonard’s Shore. “My pole approach was the same each day with 13 metre and the bait just touching bottom”, he explained. “I opened every match with six balls of groundbait carrying plenty of worm and casters; after that I loose fed with catapulted loose caster and only groundbaited if the bites slowed down. “Corfree was more predictable because it has been alive with skimmer bream and the sensible approach was a crumb feeder 30 metres out with caster and worm – and it worked a treat”. A breezy week gave way to flat calm conditions on Friday and it was the last thing that runner-up Will Freeman wanted as he challenged for the championship title. The 34-year-old tackle dealer from Framlington, Suffolk, had drawn the ‘flier’ peg seven on Eonish Lodge Shore, which produced good catches of skimmer bream every day, but he was faced with a windless lake and finicky fish. However, demonstrating a deal of panache he worked patiently with an open-ended feeder at 35 metres to finish with a creditable 18-780 kilos on the day and half-a-dozen fish short of overtaking the leader. He spent two days pole fishing and the rest of time relied on the feeder with a combination of red maggot, caster and worm, and an improvement on the third place slot he had three years ago.
Lancashire matchman John Jowett (Drennan NW) from Bury was the King of Clubs winner in 2006 and is always in the hunt, this time with great consistency that gave him two sections wins, a second and two thirds. His best performance came on day one when he weighed-in with 18-580 of small roach on pole and maggot and in the fourth session on Corfree he netted 16.600 of skimmers. It was great to see the sport’s elder statesmen in the hunt as former World Champions Bob Nudd (Fox Match) and Kevin Ashurst (Drennan Tackle) finishing seventh and 11th overall. And the King of Clubs is to go ahead in 2009 for the 26th year and many of the fishermen booked their place before even getting on board the ferry home!
Result: 1 Dave Brettle (Daiwa Doncaster) 71-840 |
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