Tunnel Barn Farm Fishery in Warwick was the host to the sixth Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifier and had been fishing well prior to the event with weights of over 150lb required to win many of the open matches.
Given a change in the weather conditions on the day of the match with hail and sleet and a two hour torrential downpour of very cold rain the day prior many thought it would be a difficult contest, not helped by it staying chilly throughout the day of competition.
The suggested scenario was that just the odd peg was likely to throw up a weight of over 80lb but the results showed that if nothing else the change in the weather conditions had made the event a level playing field for many of the competitors, as well as making it extremely difficult to assess where the winner was going to come from!
As it transpired the venue fished very well, with nine weights of over 100lb and the lowest section winning weight 72lb, with the top five individuals coming from different lakes. There were also no fewer than eight previous final qualifiers fishing the match, amongst those was the 2010 Fish ‘O’ Mania Champion, Neil McKinnon (Preston Innovations Sonubaits), who went on to become the sixth qualifier for the grand final.
Neil drew on Club Pool peg 15 and fished long and short pole using chopped worm, caster and method mix groundbait to amass a total weight of 121lb 1 oz made up of carp to 4lb, F1s and barbel.
In second place, and just under 2lb behind Neil was Howard Kelly (Thameside Matrix). His second placed weight of 119lb 4oz was made up entirely of F1s caught shallow on maggot at six metres with fish taken steadily throughout the match from Extension Pool peg 25.
Third place went to Steve Seaborn fishing peg 5 on Jenny’s Pool. Steve finished the match with a weight of 118lb 2oz made up of F1s and the odd barbel using chopped worm and caster, long and down the edge.
Fourth place went to Ben Fisk (Middy) with a weight of 116lb 3oz of carp and F1s fishing shallow and down the edge from New Pool peg 13
The next Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifier for 2013 moves to Maver Larford Lakes, Worcestershire on Saturday 04 May.
