Champion! Full report from the Westwood Classic.
He retains his crown just days after winning Maver Match This qualifier
ANDY Bennett will never have another fishing fortnight like the one he’s just enjoyed.
The Manchester match ace retained his Daiwa Westwood Lakes Spring Classic crown off the back of top spot in the Maver Match This qualifier at the same venue just days before and second overall in the Guru Festival at White Acres seven days earlier!
The Daiwa/Guru/ABC Baits man is widely recognised as one of the best commercial fishery anglers in the UK and he disposed of a 108-strong field on a sun-drenched Lincolnshire fishery with a perfect three-point section score, emerging as the only angler to post that tally. He picked up £2,000, plus a £1,000 Daiwa tackle voucher.
Next was Matrix Image’s Richard Bond on four points. He received £1,500 plus a £600 tackle voucher. Nick Haymes was third as the best of a clutch of anglers on five points.
Andy also dominated on the weight front with 774-12-0 over the three days. On day one Skylark Lake gave him 217-2-0. He followed with 292-8-0 from Falcon and then 265-2-0 from Osprey. The win saw him retain the title he won 12 months ago – not bad for an angler who’s only fished the venue a few of times.
“Westwood is nothing like my local waters such as Partridge Lakes as there are loads more fish to catch, but my thinking is F1s are F1s wherever you fish.
“The only thing to get your head around is that there are a lot more to catch, so everything you do has to be precise because you’re in a bit of a fish race,” Andy said. “You can’t have even a minute without a bite because that can cost you a couple of F1s. If this happens regularly in a match, then that’s a lot of weight you’re missing. It takes a lot of concentration and discipline to keep yourself catching.”
Day one put Andy on Skylark peg 23, the same lake where he’d won the Match This qualifier. In that match he fished the edge, but for the Classic he based his attack on fishing the island mudline at 14.5m with 4mm expander pellet over trickled in 4mm pellets.
Finishing with 80 fish between 2lb and 5lb, he put 217-2-0 on the scales for a section win, catching all day with a 0.4g RW Muddie £oat to 0.13mm N Gauge line straight through to a size 16 Guru LWG hook.
Wednesday saw him on Falcon peg 27 and the aim here was to catch as many fish as possible for a big weight. As this lake is stuffed with small F1s, Andy went no further than five sections out using banded 4mm pellet shallow over thrown in 4mm pellets.
“I fished the same lines and hooks as on Skylark, but dropped down to Orange Hydro elastic and a tiny 4x8 RW F1 Shallow £oat. I finished with around 350 fish for 292-8-0.”
The final day saw Andy faced with either Osprey or Hawk, which would offer a tougher proposition as its carp were in full spawning mode, whereas Osprey was full of F1s and wouldn’t be affected as badly. Andy pulled out peg 9 on Osprey and was instantly installed as favourite to win the whole thing, although a few hours in he didn’t think that was likely. “I had a brilliant first few hours fishing the same as I did on Falcon,” he said. “I reckon I had close to 200lb in that time, but then the lake seemed to switch off.”
Come the weigh in, Andy felt that a nearby angler who had bagged up on his top kit might pip him for the section. The scales showed otherwise, with Andy’s 265-2-0 winning the lake.
Result: 1 A Bennett, Daiwa/Guru/ABC Baits, 3pts; 2 R Bond, Matrix Image, 4; 3 N Haymes, Ashton Angling Supplies, 5 (509-2-0); 4 J Jowett, Preston Innovations/ Fisherman’s Way, 5 (503-12-0); 5 A Bailey, Daiwa Dons, 5 (427-2-0); 6 P Cooper, Dynamite Baits, 5 (41210-0); 7 J Howarth, Tri-Cast Highfield, 5 (395-2-0); 8 L Bennett, Maver NW, 6 (467-9-0); 9 S Parker, Daiwa Angling Direct, 6 (457-9-0); 10 M Wiles, Matrix Wensum Valley Angling, 6 (405-4-0).