Results

Paul Cook steals the win in presitigious Maver Classic Final.
Seventy-six anglers lined the banks for the prestigious Classic Final, which attracted anglers from all over the country. To be in the final meant that you had to qualify from one of the rounds staged at Larford Lakes. Qualifiers commenced in September 2012 and were completed the last week of April 2013.

Sunday's conditions were warm and windy and the fishing turned out to be the best in the history of the competition.
For the record, 76 anglers over two days returned an amazing 10,890lb of fish to the scales – an average of around 72lb per angler, per day.

One of the highlights of the competition was the record-breaking 344-11-00 in one five-hour session by Garbolino rod, Simon Fry. Simon beat the venue record by a clear 40lb.

Day One

Match / Arena Lake Result

1st Simon Fry (Garbolino)    344-11-00    (6 Match)
2nd Lee Edwards (Preston Innovations/ Sonubaits) 179-09-00 (28 Match)
3rd Matt Greening 175-06-00 (30 Match)
4th Mark Griffiths (Guru) 173-0-0 (10 Match)

Specimen Lake Result

1st  Dave McManus 166-00-00 (82)
2nd Martin Churchill (Maver) 146-07-00 (2)
3rd Danny Ashington 138-06-00 (4)
4th Dave Roberts 87-11-00 (76)

There were two sections on the Match Lake and one on the Arena, plus a further three sections on the Speci Lake.

'A' Section

Section A (Match Lake) was won by Garbolino's Simon Fry with a massive 344-11-00 from Peg 6. Taking advantage of this prime end peg, Simon found fish in numbers down in the margins. F1s and big carp made up his record-winning weight using no fewer than seven keepnets to bring his catch to the scales.

Simon fished dead maggot down the side with odd fish falling to corn and pellet, but mainly caught on dead maggot hook baits.
Second in section 'A' was Welsh rod, Lee Edwards (Preston Innovations), who drew Peg 28. Lee also caught all his fish down the margins with dead maggot returning 179-09-00 to the scales.

All in all, this section fished its brains out with 1,897lb of fish caught and weighed from 13 anglers – an average of 146lb per man. One hundred and fifty pounds was only enough to secure 8th place in the section!

'B' Section

Winner of B section on the Match burr bank was Danny Baker, who drew Peg 45. Fishing down the margins, the Welsh rod found quality F1s and carp to weigh 164-15-00.

Second in the section was Maver's Mark Warne who drew Peg 43 landing 137-15-00 to pole fished down the margins.
The burr bank fished a little harder returning 1,107lb from 12 anglers, just over 92lb average per man.

'C' Section

This 12-man section was won by Maver's Fran O' Reilly, who drew Peg 21. He opted to fish to depth with dead maggots, corn and meat to land fish to 10lb. Fishing at just nine metres, Fran caught steady all day returning 105-08-00.

Second on the day was Maver's Paul Cook, who drew Peg 29. Paul fished shallow for most of the day returning 91-09-00.

'D' Section

Section D was the burr bank of the Speci lake. Some high weights were recorded but it was late in the match before the carp really got their heads down.

Top of the section was Maver's Martin Churchill, who drew end Peg 2. Fishing down the margins and at six metres, Martin found big lumps to meat and corn finishing the day with 146-07-00 to finish in second place on the lake overall.

Second on the day was Starlets rod, Danny Ashington, who drew Peg 4, again finding the majority of fish down the margins. Fishing with meat, corn and dead maggots, Danny caught fish to 15lb ending the day with 138-06-00. Danny picked up third place overall on the Specimen Lake meaning winner of section D behind Martin's lake 2nd and Danny's lake 3rd was Richie Hull.

'E' Section

Section E was won by Rory Jones with 61-05-00. This section proved to be the most difficult of the two-day event. Rory caught quality carp to meat at six metres and down the edge.

Second in the section was Ed Warren (Preston Innovations) who drew Peg 28. Again, finding fish at six metres and down the edge, Ed returned 50-11-00 to the scales.

'F' Section
Top of Section F was won by Dave McManus (Ted Carters) who drew end Peg 82. Starting on the pellet waggler, Dave quickly put a dozen carp in his net. Later, switching to the margins, Dave found carp to 16lb down the edge to finish the day with 166-00-00 and win the Specimen lake. As such, the section win was picked up by Danny Bache.

Second in the section was Dave Roberts (Tri-Cast) who drew Peg 76. Fishing at 11 metres and down the edge, Dave caught bream and carp to 10lb returning 87-11-00 to meat and corn.

Day Two

Match / Arena Lake Result

1st Neil McKinnon (Preston Innovations) 222-10-00 (8 Match)
2nd Dave Powell (Worcester) 216-09-00 (6 Match)
3rd Ed Warren (Preston Innovations) 208-13-00 (12 Match)
4th Mark Johnson (Maver Midlands)    189-03-00 (14 Match)

Specimen Lake Result

1st Jason Brown (Maver Gold) 215-01-00 (82)
2nd Paul Cook (Maver) 195-09-00 (4)
3rd Steve Mayo (Maver) 162-07-00 (80)
4th Danny Baker 161-09-00 (76)

All anglers reverse their draw for Day Two. If the angler fished, for example, the Match Lake on Day One, he now fishes the Specimen Lake for Day Two.

'A' Section

The section continued with its outstanding form with 220lb-plus needed to win the section.

Winner of Section A was Preston rod, Neil McKinnon, who drew Peg 8. Fishing tight down the margins, Neil caught F1s and carp all day to finish the day with 222-10-00. Fishing dead maggots, corn and meat the fish just kept on coming.

Second in the section was Worcester's Dave Powell, who drew Peg 6. This peg had thrown up the new venue record only the day before. True to form, the peg continued to fish well and Dave brought 216-09-00 to the scales. Dave also caught all his fish down the margins.

In all, the section produced 1,650lb even with one angler failing to weigh returning a staggering average of 127lb per man.

'B' Section

Big weights were still needed to secure good section points and it was Rory Blease who took the honours with a superb 173-08-00 from Peg 67. Rory opted to fish down the edges to find carp and F1s to finish the day 30lb clear of the next man.

Second in the section was Maver's Ian Giddins, who drew Peg 43 landing 141-13-00 down the edges and on the 6m line. Ian fished a combination of dead reds, meat and corn to land carp to 10lb and perch to over 3lb.

Five separate weights over 100lb were recorded in this section with a total weight of 1,085lb recorded with two anglers from the section of 13 not weighing. Average weight for the anglers on this section being 84lb per man.

'C' Section

Fish were all shallow on Day Two with near flat-clam conditions. Needless to say, the carp were difficult to catch. Most, if not all, the fish were caught shallow and it was Garbolino's Darren Cox who took full advantage. Mugging shallow with 14m pole and pellet.
Darren finished the day with 136-12-00 from peg 17.

Second in the section was Maver's Chris Bradney, who also fished long and shallow pole tactics to weigh 108-06-00.

'D' Section

Maver's Paul Cook drew well for Day Two and was already on two points. A good performance was needed to put him in the winner's frame. A good performance was given from Peg 4 returning a brilliant 195-09-00. Paul fished pellet waggler, 6m pole line and also caught down in the margins. Paul used pellet, corn and maggot to secure a very comfortable section win.

Second in the section was Andrew 'Spud' Murphy (Tredegar Angling) who drew Peg 16. 'Spud' caught most of his fish at six metres with meat, later taking some lumps down the edge. Typically, the carp didn't really feed until the last hour of the match.

'E' Section

The hardest section of all. The lower pegs were not producing as most of the fish clearly were mid lake and in Pegs 70 to 80. Winner on this section was Lee Prophett, who drew Peg 38 winning the section with a modest 29-06-00.

Second in the section was Maver's Andy Kinder with 27-03-00 from Peg 32.

'F' Section

Considerably more fish fed in this section. Jason Brown took the points with a massive 215-01-00 from Peg 82. Starting on pellet waggler then later switching to the margins, Jason found carp to 18lb, securing a comfortable section win.

Second in the section was Maver's Steve Mayo who drew Peg 80. Again, finding a few carp on the pellet waggler Steve then switched to both a 6m line and down the edge. Fishing meat, Steve found plenty of big carp to finish the day with 162-07-00.

Overall

Is there a venue anywhere in the country that can produce 10,888lb of fish in just two days with an average per angler of almost 72lb per man (76 anglers)?

Brilliant fishing, brilliant crack! Roll on the 2014 Classic Final!

The 2013 Maver Classic title was taken by Maver's Paul Cook. Paul started his 2013 campaign well managing a second in section C on the opening day on the Arena. Paul weighed in 91-09-00 from Peg 29 finishing behind Maver colleague Francis O' Reilly.

Paul then needed to produce a good second day performance on the Specimen Lake if he was to stand any chance of finishing in the main frame, and he didn't disappoint! Day Two saw Paul weigh in a massive 195-09-00 to finish second on the lake, beaten only by Jason Brown's 215-01-00 effort.

A section 2nd and 1st gave Paul three points overall, finishing a point clear of next man Danny Baker. Very well done 'Cookie' - a class act! Paul collected £2,000 prize money and trophy.

1st Paul Cook (Maver) 287-02-00 3pts
2nd Danny Baker 326-08-00 4pts
3rd Rory Blease 201-14-00 4pts
4th Francis O' Reilly (Maver) 127-02-00 4pts

Second-placed Danny Baker claimed £1,500 prize money plus trophy.
Third-placed Rory Blease collected £1,000 for his efforts plus trophy. On a separate note, Phil Briscoe would like his slippers back please! Well done Rory.

Section winners collected £60 each day and second in section collected £40 each day.

Lake winners, who did not collect section money, collected £210 each day. There were also prizes of £160 for lake second, £110 for lake third and £80 for lake fourth.

Overall, a total of £7,850 was paid into the prize fund with a contribution of £2,000 donated by Maver (UK) Ltd. All moneys were paid out 100 per cent as always.