Samantha Sim, the 29 year-old from Worthing, West Sussex, became the first woman to collect four Fish’O’Mania Ladies’ titles as she came on in the last hour to take the title ahead of Elizabeth Crewe.
Sim’s winning weight was 6.630 kilos, 1.470 ahead of her nearest rival and she netted the top prize of £1,000. The win gave Sim her record-breaking fourth Coral Fish’O’Mania Ladies title, ahead of Emma Pickering and Sandra Scotthorne who have both won three.
It was the 17th annual running of the Coral Fish’O’Mania Ladies match Sim’s victory followed on from wins in 2007, 2011 and 2012.
“Myself, Emma and Sandra were all on three. Me and Emma are really good friends but we are competitive as well; and now I am better than her!” said a delighted Sim.
“I had a complete change of tactic in the last hour and ended up fishing with ground bait, soil and worm with a little worm on the hook. It turned into a completely different hour for me.
“Earlier than that I was fishing a method feed tight to the island. I fished the pole lines with worm and caster. We started off on the pole but the fish moved off as the time went on, so they went to the island.
“It was too positive so we came back, scaled down with a more negative approach and the fish came onto it, and I was lucky enough to have that big fish as well which has boosted my weight back up.
“Every year, Fish’O’Mania is amazing. The atmosphere is great. This is my fourth win, a record, and I love it. I can’t wait to come back again!”
Ladies’ Results
1. Samantha Sim (Peg 4) 6.630kg
2. Elizabeth Crewe (3) 5.160kg
2. Abbi Kendall (6) 4.010kg
4. Kayleigh Smith (5) 3.590kg
5. Gemma Matthews (1) 1.360kg
6. Linda Cooke (2) 0.825kg
