Fish O’ Mania
Hughes lifts third title
HISTORY was made at last week’s Vanarama Fish O’Mania final as Jamie Hughes became the most successful angler in the history of the event – taking his third title in front of the packed crowds and live Sky TV cameras.
The Wirral-based match ace followed up wins in 2013 and 2015 with this year’s crown, worth a cool £50,000 in the process, after weighing in 26-900 of carp and ide from fancied peg 7 on the Arena Pool at Staffordshire’s Cudmore Fisheries. This means he’s the first – and will probably be the only – angler to win this blue riband event three times.
A red-hot favourite with the bookies as soon as he qualified for the match after winning at Lakeview Fishery, MAP/Bag ‘Em Baits-backed Jamie held off a strong fightback from Andy Power a few pegs away to win by a little over five kilos.
“It’s remarkable to have won Fish O’ three times – once would be enough, to be frank, but when you make the final it becomes a straight ‘winner takes all’ match, albeit a bit different to the norm with the crowds and cameras plus the thought of winning £50,000,” Jamie said.
“I’d like to say there’s a great secret to winning Fish O’ but I have the same approach as in any other match. I can’t influence what’s going on around me so I concentrate on my own match and focus on making the right decisions and making changes when I have to.”
Caster fished on the deck and then shallow at 6m and 13m was Jamie’s winning attack, catching ide before the carp took over approaching the halfway point. At this stage he went into the lead, never letting it go to end up a popular champion.
“To win Fish O’ you need to draw the right peg and then not mess it up – to someone fishing the match for the first time it can be very daunting with your every move being watched by the crowd and the cameras,” he continued.
“Winning these big events is my goal each summer and I go all-out to do it. I fish more qualifiers than anyone else and travel wherever I have to go, so my chances of qualifying are greatly increased. Once I make it, the rest is down to me – and a bit of luck at the draw!”.