Once again the weather had an impact on the fishing as a fairly dramatic change in conditions affected qualifying heat 14 of Fish ‘O’ Mania at Woodlands View Fishery, Droitwich.
Just for a change though this time the weather went from the hot, bright sunshine of previous days to much cooler, cloudy conditions for match day and, as a result, the fish were, perhaps, more tightly shoaled up in areas than they might have been, leading to fluctuating returns.
This was clearly illustrated when the top five anglers all broke the ‘ton’ on different lakes. Supporting weights on this prolific venue were, as always, impressive but nevertheless seemed to emphasise the fact that fish were not feeding everywhere. However, in addition to the top five weights a further eight anglers broke 70lb and 46lb was the lowest weight to win a ten peg section.
Top rod on the day was former Fish ‘O’ Mania Champion, Nathan Watson of Louth, who put a tremendous 152lb 3oz on the scales. This comprised almost all carp to 10lb plus around 8lb of silvers. Nathan drew peg 11 on Ghost Pool and caught fish shallow on the long pole with pellet and topped up with some margin lumps on the maggot.
Runner up was Craig O’ Brien who weighed 147lb 12oz from peg 9 on the Hay Pool. Craig had carp to 8lb on the feeder fishing tight across with meat. Third was another previous Fish ‘O’ Mania Champion and England Feeder Team international, Steve Ringer. Steve caught carp to 7lb on the pellet feeder from Arles 24. Team England regular, Des Shipp, took fourth place from peg 34 on Back Deans with carp to 8lb plus skimmers on corn over pellets for 118lb 4oz.
Only two Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifiers remain for 2013 with Woodlands Lakes Fishery at Thirsk next up on Saturday 15 June.
