ANDY POWER became the 12th man to qualify for the PartyPoker.com Fish'O'Mania final.

Power, 21, from Wells, won the latest qualifier at Shamley Green’s Willinghurst Fishery.

Fishing the pellet method feeder towards the centre of the Old Lake from Peg 2, Andy took 16 Carp to 6lb in the second half of the match and secured the coveted top spot with 78-0-0.

A wet and miserable start to this qualifier put a real dampener on the day for most competitors. Nearly all the lakes used failed to live up to expectations as the larger carp refused to feed. The newly opened John’s Lake produced most of the action with small carp, skimmers and tench keeping the anglers occupied all day with some very impressive weights being taken.

Previous Fish'O'Mania finalist, Mark Harrington took second place with a creditable 68-12-0 from Peg 14 on John’s Lake. Mark caught 175 fish while fishing on the pole at 4 metres and getting through 8 pints of maggots and 3kg of groundbait in the process.

Third place went to former Fish'O'Mania champion Steve Jackson with a dozen method caught Carp from Peg 14 on Old Lake. This is the third time in four years that Steve has finished in the top three including one qualification on this venue.

HEAT 11 REPORT
Many big names were in attendance still trying to gain one of the last few qualifying spots but when the final hooter went it was 36-year-old Builder Paul Christie from Sandtoft near Doncaster, taking part in his first ever qualifier who wrote his name on the coveted team sheet for this years Grand Final on the 18th of July at Cudmore.

Drawn peg 2 on Maple, Paul fished pellet and caster and the majority of his carp haul of 23kilo 125g coming from fishing shallow with casters. Paul said after the match “that he was somewhat shell shocked after qualifying and on his first attempt but was looking forward to the Grand Final.”

Second spot with 16kilo 060g went to David Woodworth a Learning Disability Nurse from Upton in the Wirral fishing peg 1 next to the winner on Maple, David fished chopped worm down the margins and caster shallow across, David’s comment after the match was that though he was catching he probably spent too much time on the worm before going shallow across on the caster and that was his downfall.

Third place also came from Maple with Rob Hitchins on peg 1, fishing pellet, Rod struggled to keep the fish coming, though his move to fishing meat shallow ¾ across in the last 40 minute of the match brought him instant response with further fish following to give him a finishing weight of 16kilo, Rob felt after the match that he made the wrong decision on tactics, had he gone on the meat earlier then who knows, could there have been another Grand Final spot with his name on it.

4th spot went to Alan Crouch from Sheffield with 14kilo 900g from Cedar 12, with Marc Jones from Wakefield taking the 5th Spot with 13kilo 700g.

Once again the changeable weather was the governing factor. Although there was settled weather up to the weekend before the match there was a marked drop in temperatures and heavy overnight rain putting paid to many competitors’ expectations of good weights from both Cedar and Maple lakes.

Mick Seymour, a Willinghurst regular and on-site Chef, took fourth place from John’s Lake. Fishing Peg 23. Mick caught Carp and Bream to 5lb on pole and pellet totalling 62-14-0.

HEAT TEN REPORT
Pete Goodwin, a Chemical Plant operator from Cheddleton in Staffs, was the winner of the latest Fish-O-Mania qualifiers at Heronbrook fishery. He drew peg 54 on Match Lake and set his stall out to fish the Pellet method feeder with meat on the hook and was rewarded with a weight of 43.750 Kgs and a place in the final.

His catch was made up of Carp in the 4 to 6lb class with a single specimen of 18lb.

Pete was visibly shaken with his win and could only comment “Amazing” after the match.

A beautiful day, temperatures up into the lower 20’s and a cooling breeze greeted the 130 competitors in this, the 10th qualifying round of Fish-O-Mania 2009.

Expectations were that Meadow pool was the place to be, as this lake had been producing more consistently that others, with over 800lbs of fish being caught from this lake last weekend, between 50 anglers, and four weights over the 100lb barrier.

Fish-O-Mania regulars, Kieron Rich, Grant Albutt and Marc Jones all drew the favoured Meadow pool with Grant drawing end peg 57, Kieron drawing favoured peg 27 and Marc drawing peg 5. Kieron and Grant were made pre-match favourites with the draws that they had made and so all eyes were on this pair of anglers. There was however, to be a surprise in store.

With the weather being as warm as it was, and had been for a couple of days, this had warmed up the temperature of the water in the shallower lakes sufficiently enough to turn the fish off feeding and to turn them on to thoughts of spawning.

What greeted a lot of anglers when they got to their respective pegs, particularly on Island, Bridge, Canal and Meadow pools were the sheer numbers of fish on the surface and crashing about in the reeds and rushes. This didn’t auger well for many of the anglers, as there would only be a few fish that would feed, particularly on the favoured pool.

The big surprise, but not to some, when they saw what was happening on the shallower pools, was the winner, once again coming from the Match Lake, as it did some 2 years ago under similar conditions.

In second place, for the second time in as many matches, was Kieron Rich from Meadow pool 27. Kieron spent the first 45 minutes fishing the pole with not a single bite. He then switched to a small method feeder over his pole line, fishing 3 dead maggots on the hook and finished up with a weight of 38.850 Kgs, which many thought, would be sufficient to win the match.

Third place went to Chris Gorrell, from Meadow pool 32 with a weight of 33.000 Kgs fishing the pole tight to the far bank using maggot.

In fourth place was Marc Jones from Meadow pool peg 5 with 28.400 Kgs and in 5th position was Grant Albutt with a weight of 27.700 Kgs from end peg Meadow 57.

HEAT NINE REPORT
Staffordshire based chef, Edward Warren became the ninth man to qualify for the 2009 PartyPoker.com Fish'O'Mania final.

Fishing the pellet feeder on Hay pool he put 117lbs 2ozs on the scales and secured his place in the final. Warren, from Penkridge, caught carp to 10lbs steadily throughout the day.

Before the draw most anglers were apprehensive about how the venue would perform as the fish appeared to be very close to spawning. During the early stages it looked as though their concerns were well founded.

In the end the competitors fears were unfounded, as the fishing improved in the second half of the match and produced a cracking result. Although the winner was well clear of his nearest rival, only 8lbs separated the next four anglers.

The afternoon sun brought the fish up in the water giving many anglers some exciting sport. In the closing stages a number of anglers found big fish feeding in the nearside margins.

Similarly Ghost Pool switched on as the match progressed giving Simon Jones from Rowley Regis runner-up spot with 97lbs 15ozs. Simon caught his fish shallow on the caster. Third place went to Lee Edwards of Caerphilly, also on Ghost, with 96lbs 4ozs of carp taken shallow on pellet. High Pool did produce the next two weights. Dave Roberts and Richie Hull recording 91lbs 12ozs and 91lbs 11ozs respectively.

This was a very good match by any standard with another 10 weights over 70lbs and only one section being taken with less than 40lbs.

This is the 16th running of PartyPoker.com Fish 'O' Mania. Promoted by Essex-based Matchroom Sport, the event features 16 heats of 130 anglers each with the winner advancing forward to the Grand Final at Cudmore Fisheries, Whitmore near Newcastle-under-Lyme on Saturday 18th July.

The final will be televised live in its five hour entirety on Sky Sports with the eventual winner receiving £25,000. All qualifying events are covered by Sky Sports to be broadcast on their weekly magazine show 'Tight Lines’, every Friday.

Date posted: June 16, 2009

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