John Myatt is this year’s Angling Trust Individual National Champion after a convincing win at Woodland View.
The Cheshire police sergeant and Marukyu-backed angler made no mistakes off fancied Peg 4 on High Pool, bagging 18 carp to 9lb for a 41.08kg winning bag.
Apart from a run of four good carp down the margins the bulk of John’s fish came from fishing just a couple of pole sections in front of him. Getting through a bag of the fishery’s 4mm feed pellets he caught best with a 6mm expander pellet fished over the top. The turning point in the match came when he stepped up to stronger orange Garbolino Bazookarp elastic and 0.21mm line fished straight through. This more substantial gear enabled him to control the carp quicker and win the sought-after individual gold medal, trophy and bottle of champagne!
Just a few kilos behind the winner was Pete Plant Senior from Peg 7 on Front Deans. The popular Midlands veteran used his trademark caster shallow attack for a 37.88kg bag of mostly F1s plus a few bonus carp. The first couple of hours were slow for Pete but by persevering and stepping up the feed the fish really turned up in the third hour.
Just 720g behind was Pole Fishing and Match Fishing magazine’s group editor Jon Arthur with 37.16kg from Peg 12 on High Pool. Coventry-based Jon caught carp to 6lb on the short pole and pellets, supplemented with some quality F1s on pellet fished shallow at 13 metres – but missing his keepnet with a 2lb F1 proved costly!
Fourth place went to up and coming youngster Danny Maxfield with 36.30kg from Peg 3 on Front Deans. The best weight from Back Deans was Pete Plant Jnr with 32.56kg from Peg 54.
Winds approaching gale force definitely affected weights on the prolific venue but thankfully only one pole was reported broken at the end of the competition!
Result
- 1st John Myatt (Marukyu) 41.08kg
- 2nd Pete Plant (Maver Midlands) 37.88kg
- 3rd Jon Arthur (Pole Fishing/Match Fishing) 37.16kg
- 4th Danny Maxfield (Maver) 36.30kg
