TENCH AND PERCH TAKE BIG CANAL PAIRS FINAL
Brown and Lloyd top field with chopped-worm approach
THIS year couldn’t get much better for Dave Brown.
First, the Staffs angler finished runner-up in the prestigious UK Championships, beating 79 of the nation’s best matchmen.
Now, he and Rob Lloyd have been crowned Angling Trust and Canal & River Trust Canal Pairs champions with victory on the Erewash Canal at Long Eaton, Derbyshire.
On a day badly affected by gales, Dave and Rob totalled 105 section points to finish five ahead of Shakespeare duo Tony Barker and Mike Hatchard.
The final couldn’t have gone much better for retired Penkridge man Dave, who fishes for Maver Midlands, and his partner Rob, an engineer who lives in Walsall and fishes for Sensas Black Country.
Said Dave: “I fished the practice open the week before the final and that helped us come up with a plan based around two worm lines along the middle of the canal and a squatt line across.
“However, because of the wind, we binned our squatt line to concentrate on catching bonus fish – perch, tench and maybe even a carp – on heavier gear.”
That meant plumbing up to find two areas to fish from start to finish – and the plan worked.
“We targeted two areas, but only fed one at the start, with a couple of chopped lobworms, some dendrabaenas and 30 or so casters,” said Dave, who drew above Dockholme Lock and suffered 20 biteless minutes before a tench and three perch followed, all on worm.
“I rang Rob and he’d caught a few small perch, but he rang me later and by then he had also caught a tench. Two great bonus fish which with our perch were going to give us a chance of finishing well up. I added a few more perch and then caught another tench near the end. Rob also had a big perch with three minutes to go.”
Abandoning the usual canal tactics of light lines and small hooks, both anglers beefed up their gear to allow them to land bonus fish, Dave using 0.20mm line, a size 12 Drennan Superspde hook and Purple Hydrolastic!
“I am convinced big canal fish aren’t worried about thick lines and today showed this!” he said.
Dave’s fish went 2-920kg for sixth in his section of 55, while Rob went better with a section second for his 2-270kg haul, giving them a payout of £2,112.
Result, pairs: 1 D Brown, Maver Midlands, and R Lloyd, Sensas Black Country, 105pts; 2 T Barker and M Hatchard, Shakespeare Bait-Tech, 100; 3 J Evans and M Robertson, Browning West Midlands, 97; 4 P Turner and N Turner, Van den Eynde Wolverhampton AA, 95; 5 L Newsom and G Smith, Preston Innovations Black Horse, 95; 6 J Mabere and M Wickens, Drennan, 91.
Individuals: 1 P Turner, 6-00kg; 2 D Shaw, 3-88kg; 3 J Evans, 3-25k; 4 J Carty, 3-05kg; 5 I Freeborn, 2-95kg; 6 D Brown, 2-92kg.