First And Second Place For English Teams, And Individual Victory For Alex BonesEnglish feeder teams have taken first and second place in the Van Den Eydne Matrix International Feeder Fishing Challenge, on Belgium’s Gent to Terneuzon Canal. Captain of the winning England Green Team, Match Fishing Editor Alex Bones, also lead from the front – taking individual victory with a perfect two-point score. His team, made up of Rob Wootton (who finished second overall), Grant Albutt, Adam Rooney and Adam Wakelin, had just 15 points after the first day – leaving the other squads with everything to do if they wanted to beat them. Alex explained: “England team manager, Tommy Pickering left it to each of the three teams to formulate their own tactics – and fortunately, I think we got things pretty much right.
'Match This' Final Place For Maver’s Ray Lamb
Maver-backed rod, Ray Lamb has secured the first place in the Maver 'Match This' Final, after winning 2013’s inaugural qualifier at Woodland View Fishery near Droitwich. Ray drew Peg 4 on High Pool and fished the long pole down the inside at 14 metres and short at six metres to finish the match with 55-09-00. The first Mega 'Match This' qualifier of the 2013 campaign was attended by 68 anglers. A hard frost the night before and the persistent cold weather leading up to the event, resulted in a difficult day's fishing for most.
Daiwa Dorking’s Mark Goddard In £50K FinalMark Goddard has become the second person to secure a place in the £50,000 Maver 'Match This' Final, after winning at Gold Valley Lakes near Aldershot. The qualifier was attended by 78 anglers and conditions leading up to the event were far from ideal, with temperatures most nights of the week dropping below freezing, coupled with bitterly cold easterly winds during the days. The winner on the day, and booking his place in the 2013 Mega 'Match This' final, was Mark Goddard (Daiwa Dorking). Mark drew end Peg 119 on Syndicate Lake and opted to fish a small Method feeder at 20 metres, alternating between a variety of small hook baits to keep fish coming to the net.
Truth Is Out Over April Fool Arapaima!Match Fishing Magazine can reveal that the story ran on Monday regarding Des Shipp banking a massive arapaima was, in fact, an April Fool hoax. The piece was the brainchild of DHP’s Digital News Editor, Tom Scholey, who penned the story with the help of Pole Fishing’s Editorial Assistant, Matt Godfrey, and DHP Chairman, David Hall. Tom commented: “We love a giggle here at DHP, and after talking the idea through with Des Shipp and Will Raison, we decided to run with the story. To be honest, I think a lot of people cottoned on to the fact that it was a hoax straightaway – but we did manage to catch a few people out! I think most of the people who cottoned on found it funny, which is the main thing.
Steve Ringer, Matt Godfrey, Andy May, Rob Wootton And More. . .
The May issue of Pole Fishing Magazine is on sale now, and packed with fish-catching ideas from the UK's finest anglers.
The Man Who Could End Your Career!Allow me to introduce myself. My name is the Terminator, and over coming months I hope to offer an alternative view of the thieves, villains and ne’er do wells that inhabit the modern match fishing world. Let me start by running through the team who have commissioned me to write these pieces. They are, quite simply, the kind of people that others emigrate to avoid.
World’s First 'Commercial' Carp Fishing TournamentThe world's first documented commercial carp fishing tournament has taken place in Kentucky, USA, and carried a first-place prize of $10,000!Hosted by the Kentucky Department Of Fish And Wildlife, the two-day contest saw the winning team weigh in over 10,000lb of fish – and at the same time go some way towards saving the native fish population of the area's waterways!Kentucky has been badly affected by the spread of the none-native Asian carp, and particularly the silver carp sub species, that have reaked havoc on waterways across the United States. Over the course of the contest, only non-native specieswere allowed to be weighed in, meaning the event ridded the local ecosystem of tens of thousands of invaders. The competiton proved a real hit among local anglers, and spectators, with some people travelling over 200 miles just to watch the event taking place! Click here to watch a YouTube documentary about the contest!. .
Exciting New Dimension To Popular TV Angling ContestThe 2013 Preston Innovations UK Angling Championships are set to get underway soon, and to spice up the sport a little this year, a new angler rankings system has been created by the organisers. The system grades the anglers based on their performance in the last three years of the championships. Well-known angler and event promoter Rob Hughes has plans for even bigger things with the aim of increasing awareness of angling, encouraging new blood into the sport and opening the door for “young pretenders” to step up to the oche and take on the big fellas of the game. “The UK Champs are great” announced Hughes, “but the problem is, from the outside, angling appears boring.
Digital bookazine with FREE app and taster edition. Angling Heroes is a new app that pulls together the best articles from the biggest names in match fishing and presents them in a series of fully illustrated bookazines. In this, the first of the Angling Heroes series, we feature Bob Nudd and look back over 20 of his most memorable features. We watch him bag up with estate lake bream, learn how he catches big river roach and follow him to commercial fisheries on a quest for carp.
Festival Win For Middy/ Bag 'Em Ace. Lee Thornton has won the Bag 'Em Matchbaits Heronbrook Easter Festival with a seven-point score. Fished over three days, the event attracted 60 of the country's finest anglers – with Lee finishing top after tying for first place with Paul Conroy, but taking the verdict on weight countback. Lee explained: “I have been looking forward to fishing in this three-day competition that is now in its second year of inception although, to be perfectly honest, when I booked in back in February, in the back of my mind I was half expecting to be fishing paste! "That said, I felt that a few of the things that I had learned by fishing through the winter would benefit me now for this festival (ironically, I think the water temperature was lower than two months ago!)"With the water temperature being so low, I felt that the only things worth taking to the venue would be maggots, micro pellets, 4mm Bag 'Em Expandas and a slice of bread.
