Paul Blinkhorn and Richard Chapman both won Fish‘O’Mania XXIV qualifiers over the weekend to book their places in the grand final at Cudmore Fisheries on Saturday, July 8.
Blinkhorn won Saturday’s Tunnel Barn qualifier with a total catch of 82.81kg, the biggest qualifying weight so far this year, while Chapman won Sunday’s match at Colemans Cottage Fishery with 41.96kg.
With a hard frost and cold wind greeting the 150 anglers arriving at Tunnel Barn Farm, many did not think the contest would achieve the high weights of the previous weekend’s matches.
However, warming sunshine and sensible pegging meant that the venue fished very well with numerous good weights recorded across many of the venue’s pools.
The race for the qualifying position quickly came down to two anglers though – Jamie Hughes on Top Pool peg 13 and Blinkhorn on Jenny’s Pool peg 21, with both anglers catching shallow despite the cold conditions, Paul on caster and Jamie on pellets.
It was Paul who topped the field though, booking his place in the final with 182lb 9oz to Jamie’s 151lb 8oz, mainly by virtue of the better stamp of fish available to Paul on Jenny’s Pool.
Club Pool also fished well with Matthew Dawes scoring the best weight of that pool with 137lb 1oz for third overall.
At Coleman’s Cottage the following day, Chapman drew peg 5 on Copse Lake – the same peg that produced last year’s winner – and fished across to the island with maggot bait to take carp to 10lb.
The 92 competitors braved a cold easterly wind that, coupled with a frost the two previous nights, kept weights down on all the lakes.
Optician Patrick Cooper from Felsted, fishing for Shimano/Dynamite, fished maggot and caster short at peg 5 on Wood Lake to net carp to 8lb plus F1s for his runner-up net of 82lb.
Third place fell to London firefighter Thomas Sexton, fishing under the London fire service banner, who landed carp to 10lb on 6mm hard pellets at peg 22 on Wood Lake for 77lb.
Ben Emery landed a mixed net of 71lb from Copse peg 16 for fourth spot while Simon Colclough (Browning) caught 69lb from Pathfield peg 22 to finish fifth.
Angling Trust would like to thank Gerry and the staff at the fishery for all their help.
TUNNEL BARN FISHERY RESULTS
1. Paul Blinkhorn 182lb 9oz
2. Jamie Hughes 151lb 8oz
3. Matthew Dawes 137lb 1oz
COLEMAN’S COTTAGE FISHERY RESULT
1. Richard Chapman 92lb 8oz
2. Patrick Cooper 82lb
3. Thomas Sexton 77lb
4. Ben Emery 71lb
5. Simon Colclough 69lb
