National Champs
result and Clubman
LINDHOLME put their local knowledge to winning use in this year’s Angling Trust Commercial National, returning 108 points to take the gold medal ahead of the mighty Drennan/Sensas Barnsley Blacks outfit.
Fished by 28 teams across the Lindholme complex, the champs, all anglers that regularly fish opens at the venue, made all the right decisions, putting their heads together after the draw to work out what needed doing. As a result they recored only one poor score.
“It means a lot to finally lift the trophy on our home venue,” said Lindholme skipper and Angling Times man Ben Fisk. “This year we drew a set of pegs which I felt we could do well off, save for a couple of bad ones. I think it was meant to be, because if I had to place anglers I’d probably have put most of them on the pegs they were randomly allocated!”
Lindholme scored three section wins from Paul Wright on the Strip Lake, Mick Owen on Benny’s and Ryan Lidgard on Bonsai.
“Mick’s had some big weights from Benny’s Lake in the past so I simply told him to fish it the way he knew best,” Ben continued. “Consistency was key, as we had a lot of fourths and fifths in section. Andy Bailey and Paul Yates came back with results from pegs they had no right to, Paul getting peg 7 on Laurels Lake, the worst section in the match with every peg in from 1 to 15 – if any angler in the team could winkle out a few bites it was him, aided by a big carp on the final whistle.
“Andy Bailey drew peg 29 on Beeches, just out of the main bay. I didn’t fancy his chances but he caught 24kg,” Ben revealed. “We only had one blow-out result, from myself, but thankfully the other lads had done enough. We all fish this venue a lot and have a good understanding of the lakes and different tactics. Some of our team caught F1s shallow, others on the feeder, others proper carp short and down the edge, whiled a few caught on the long pole to islands.
“It’s impossible to have a plan on a water like this so rather than rush off to our pegs, this year we all bounced a few ideas off each other – but it was down to each man to fish his lake as he saw fit.
“Everyone pulled together on the day. I’m proud of each and every one of them, from 20-yearold Alex Dockerty to the legend that is John Allerton. Every year Neil Grantham puts up £2,500 for the winning team out of his own pocket, so it was great to win it back for him!” Ben concluded.