Fish 4 5k Competition Winner 2009

Fish4 5K Final

Bank Holiday Monday, 4th March 2009

Twenty-two qualifiers plus Rob Sherriff, the 2008 Fish4 5K Champion,
lined up against 10 of the countries top match anglers to determine who
would claim this years title and the £5,000 first prize.

Despite a top list of invited anglers including Andy Findlay, Neil Machin, Darren Cox, Jamie Masson, Jon Arthur, Giles Cochrane, Kieran Rich and Rob Hitchen, it was once again one of the qualifiers that was victorious. This time Steve Winter (Garbolino Lincs County) became the 2009 champion and £5,000 richer after an outstanding performance from Peg 45. Steve wasn’t overjoyed with his draw but from the start he was catching carp steadily. By feeding no more than a pinch of micro pellet every put in and fishing pellet on the hook Steve kept fish coming right through the match and finished with an impressive 80-14-0 of carp to 5lb. It was a great result for the in-form angler who recently finished third overall in the Kamasan Matchman Of The Year.

Mark Bower (Avanti) was also a qualifier and caught steadily from the far bank on Peg 25 but a change to his margin swim in the latter stages of the match saw him start to catch a bigger stamp of fish. Mark ended the match in second place with 52-11-0 of mainly carp to 7lb.

Simon Skelton drew the peg he broke the match record from on his first visit to the venue with 126lb just a few weeks previously. He had a frustrating start losing several fish early on but by coming away from the far bank in slightly deeper water he began landing a lot more fish to finish third with 50-10-0 of tench and carp to 5lb from fancied Peg 23.

Kieran Rich was the highest placed invited angler from Peg 6. The Daiwa-backed ace caught fish from the off and netted a string of skimmers, barbel, tench, crucians and carp on maggots to end with a lovely mixed bag weighing 49-13-0 to take fourth spot.

Fifth was another qualifier, Sean Kemp, who did very well from one of the shallower areas. After a frost during the preveous night Peg 54 was not the best peg to draw but Sean persevered and caught carp steadily throughout the match to weigh a creditable 48-6-0.

Several hundred spectators enjoyed watching an interesting and entertaining match and many took advantage of the hundreds of bargains being offered by Roger Surgay of Used Tackle and comments about the event were very positive.

Fishery manager Andy Brown would like to thank everyone who fished and entered the qualifiers as their support is very much appreciated and hope to see them during next year's Fish4 5K event which is quickly building into a must-enter event.