Pike Champs
At 25lb 8oz, Fen beast wins annual champs
Who won the big event?
AFREELINED sardine helped Bob Goodwin scoop the 2017 Angling Trust Pike Championships and a £1,170 prize pot.
The 69-year-old predator fanatic, who has fished the contest for more than a quarter of a century, triumphed with just one fish – but it weighed 25lb 8oz!
The pike came from peg 289 on the Twenty Foot Drain near Peterborough after a very tough start for the Milton Keynes rod, who said: “I started fishing close in with a paternoster rig but couldn’t buy a bite. Next I flicked a freelined sardine down the centre of the drain but an hour later I still hadn’t had a take.
“By 1pm two other anglers in my section had already caught and I was desperately in need of a fish – so I cast the sardine rig a foot from the far bank in hope of something picking it up.”
Just 45 minutes later, something big picked up the bait. “The take was fierce and the pike made several lunges downstream,” Bob added. “It wallowed around the swim and took me 10 minutes to reel in. As soon as I netted it I had an inkling that it could have won me the match.”
Bob was right, as that single fish beat Philip Jones’ pair of pike totalling 15lb 8oz.
In third-place was Stoke Bruerne, Northants angler David Cantrell with a 15lb pike from the in-form Glassmoor Bank.
Competition organiser Ted Rowe said afterwards: “This unique event saw close to 200 anglers fish, and 51 pike were caught.
“It was a difficult day for many in heavy rain, but as well as Bob’s 25-pounder some good doublefigure fish were caught.
“I’d like to thank Whittlesey AA and Middle Level Commissioners for their excellent work in making sure the pegs on the drains were fishable, and also my wife Ann Rowe, who helped organise the competition,” Ted continued.
“Sadly, this event was the last final to be organised by Ann. She has been involved with the running of the Pike Champs for almost 30 years – her friendly enthusiam and efficiency will be missed by many.”