World Feeder Qualifier Full report
Teams book their place in World Club Feeder Champs
SUNNY Spain awaits the anglers of Preston Innovations Telford and Drennan Barnsley Blacks after the two star-studded sides won through from the qualifier for the new World Club Feeder Championships event.
Their prize is now the chance to be crowned inaugural champions next summer.
Although the event at Barston Lakes was fished by only seven teams, organisers are hoping that number will grow in the coming years, with the prize being a weekend of feeder-only action against the best teams in Europe.
And England have a great chance of bagging gold given the strength of angler who will be heading out in 2017.
The Preston Innovations side of England Feeder boss Tommy Pickering, Adam Wakelin, Mick Vials and Will Freeman plus former Ladies World Champ Emma Pickering and ex-Fish O’ champ Neil McKinnon, won but only on total weight. They tied with Barnsley and Daiwa Dorking on 17 points apiece, their 124-8-0 tally getting them over 40lb in front. Barnsley pipped Dorking by just over 3lb.
“The venue is the River Jucar at Fortaleny in Valencia when there will be 30 teams,” said Tommy.
“There weren’t a lot of sides fishing but we just needed to get the qualifiers off the ground, so it was all a bit last minute but it’ll grow. It’s all feeder, feeder and more feeder in the UK at the moment, everywhere you look.”
The winners only just got away with it as, from a commanding lead at the midway stage, they saw their advantage ebb away.
“We were lucky as we thought the fish would move on to a short line at around 18m but they went the opposite way and pushed out,” Tommy explained. “We weren’t ready for that, but others were and I thought at the end that we might not even have qualified. The plan was to fish a small open end feeder with single maggot at around 35m and then come short where we’d filled it in with leam and joker. It worked to an extent!
“I had an easy match, winning with 66-8-0 from peg 55. There’s no Method feeder or pellet allowed, so I fished a little groundbait feeder holding joker and pinkies with single maggot on a size 18 and caught 15 F1s, 13 skimmers and two carp. I think Steve Ringer summed it up best. He said that nobody had the perfect plan. We all got some things correct but missed a few tricks here and there.”
Result: 1 Preston Innovations Telford, 17pts (124-8-0); 2 Drennan Barnsley Blacks, 17 (83-10-0); 3 Daiwa Dorking, 17 (80-4-0); 4 Ringer Baits, 19; 5 Daiwa Gordon League, 22; 6 Derby Railway, 22.5; 7 Stoke MG, 25.5.