Former Daiwa Gordon League grouped matchman, Steve Seaborn of Ross-on-Wye is the second angler to qualify for the Fish ‘O’ Mania XVII Grand Final at Stapeley Cudmore Fisheries, North Staffordshire on Saturday 17th July after his win at Tunnel Barn Farm in Warwickshire at the weekend.
Following a touch of overnight frost the sell-out 130 entry enjoyed the warmest day of the year so far as the sun shone fiercely. After months of donning several layers of winter clothing it was something of a shock for the competitors to fish without their jackets!
The Tunnel Barn complex fished well throughout with an amazing weight of 56lbs 2 oz being the LOWEST weight to win one of the ten peg sections. In a free scoring event the top five again passed the 100 lb mark with the best of them being match winner Steve Seaborn who clocked up 114-7-0 from peg 7 on Extension Pool. Steve caught an F1 on his first putting in chopped worm and fished just eighteen inches deep right to the island. He carried on catching F1s at will plus one small ghostie but they slowed right down in the second hour before fish from 8 oz to 3 lb came at regular intervals after he went even shallower, just 10 inches deep against the island.
Steve, aged 35, is a building surveyor and married to Teresa with their first child due very soon. He rates this as his best ever win and told Angling Trust, “I have never really got on with Tunnel Barn Farm too well, I have been a little hit or miss there, mainly miss, thankfully, this time it was a hit!” he continued, “having qualified early I might even get some practice in at Stapeley Cudmore before the Final.” Runner-up was professional angling coach Andy May (Ultima) who also caught F1s to 3 lb in his 108-2-0. Middlewich, Cheshire-based Andy was on House Pool 23 where he caught every one of his fish on maggot fished shallow. Twice Fish’O’ champion Matt Hall (Sensas) went close to qualifying again from Extension 16. Matt also fished maggot but a lost carp, estimated at around the double figure mark really scuppered his chances as he took third place with 106-0-0 again of mainly F1s. The other two ‘tons’ were from Frank Cook with 105-1-0 from another Extension draw and Simon Medd with 101-9-0 from the Top Pool.
Qualifier number three stays in the same county, Warwickshire, this Wednesday when another sellout will line up at Dynamite Baits Makins Fishery at Wolvey. Who will be qualifier number three?
Makins Fishery Qualifier Won by 13th Reserve
It was back to ‘winter mode’ for the third qualifying round of the XVII Fish ‘O’ Mania at Dynamite Baits Makins Fishery, Wolvey, Warwickshire. A sharp overnight frost and a cooler day than of late made it difficult to tempt bites in areas; the lowest ten peg winning section was 26-8-0 which was quite acceptable given the tough conditions.
The third name to be added to the eventual sixteen targeting the £25,000 first prize in the Fish ‘O’ Mania final is Sean Huggins from Wigston. It was a hop over the Leicestershire border for Sean to Phases Two and Three where the larger lakes, Lagoon and Lizard were well fancied by those ‘in the know’. The self employed painter and decorator was actually on the reserve list to fish this match – in fact he was thirteenth reserve! The dreaded number 13 was looking unlucky again as Sean drew on Severn 25, a peg that had good form in the distant past but certainly not in recent times. He started off on 6 ml punched bread fished quite shallow towards the feature island catching the odd carp here and there until halfway through the match. As the fish started ‘backing off’ at this point he introduced minimal amounts of pellets, literally three or four via a small cup every now and then. He caught a few more on punched bread and the odd one on paste before a final change of tactic to the pellet waggler. This final move in the last hour kept even more carp coming and he ran out a very worthy winner with just over thirty carp for 95-15-0. Sean has a happy knack of doing really well in the bigger competitions and must now be one to fear in the Grand Final. The former winner of the UK Championships has fished a few Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifiers before and was keen to get in this one because Dynamite Makins is a local venue to him.
Runner-up Ben Emery of Garbolino Banstead fished method feeder and pellet, right in the grass stalks of Lagoon 13 to net carp to 4 lb 8 oz in his 78-1-0. Paul Law of Trabucco South East was third with carp to 6 lb, skimmers and roach for 68-10-0 from Lagoon 4. Former River Trent legend John Allerton of Tri-Cast was fourth with 49-15-0 followed by David Bacon 49-4-0 and Matt Hall of Sensas 49-0-0.
The fourth match in this series of Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifiers is on Leicestershire’s Lakeview Fishery this weekend and it will be interesting to see who will join Ray, Steven and Sean in the line up to the final.
