Drennan Cup Champ!
Dai Gribble wins fishing’s No1 specimen title – full report
“So many venues hold big fish, and so many anglers today are capable of catching them”
IT’S LIKE winning the FA Cup of angling – to do it twice in three years is something I never dreamt would happen.”
These are the words of Dai Gribble, who has fished his way to a stunning second victory in the world’s biggest specimen angling competition.
It was another convincing win for the Staffordshire ace as votes cast by some of the country’s greatest big-fish specialists saw Dai’s dreams turn to reality. He finished 34 points ahead of his nearest rival – Andrew Cheetham, from Manchester.
Dai’s rollercoaster season saw him secure no fewer than five Weekly Drennan Awards, the first of which he netted last May during a trip to Medway Valley Fisheries in Kent. Here, the Korumsponsored star had his first double-figure tench of the season in the shape of a 10lb 5oz specimen, which was quickly overshadowed by one of 11lb 6oz from a Midlands waterway just a month later. On top of this, Dai added a 15lb 13oz bream, a 32lb 4oz pike and a 3lb 3oz roach to his tally to round off a truly incredible end to his season. “It’s absolutely fantastic to win it again,” Dai told Angling Times.
“I’d been told by so many people that the Cup was a sure win for me this year, but it was still a massive relief to finally hear the news.
“I again didn’t set out to win the Cup – I simply have a passion for catching big fish.
“There’s always an element of luck in fishing and I was fortunate to catch my first tench, the pike and the roach on my first trips of fishing for them,” added Dai.
“It’s an honour to be placed alongside the likes of Terry Lampard, Alan Wilson and Martin Hooper as multiple-winners of the Drennan Cup.”
Despite having secured the most awards in the competition this season, Dai had a nervous end to his campaign after suffering a broken shoulder as a result of a cycling accident.
He added: “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking out for other catches during those final few weeks of the season,” he said.
“There are so many venues out there now that are capable of producing big fish, and equal to that is the number of anglers capable of catching them – so to be fortunate enough to have been placed above them all is unbelievable.”
There was little surprise that Manchester rod Andy Cheetham was voted into second-place after his pair of 5lb River Derwent perch went down as one of the greatest catches in history.
He smashed his personal best twice in a memorable session that yielded fish of 5lb 2oz and 5lb 11oz – the bigger of which is the fourthlargest perch ever landed in the UK.
The Perchfishers member banked his historic brace with three half lobworms on a size 4 hook and a simple cage feeder rig.
Third place went to Phil Spinks, who in May made arguably the greatest roach catch ever.
The Korum and Angling Directbacked all-rounder landed redfins of 3lb 12oz, 3lb 10oz, 3lb 8oz 8dr, 3lb 6oz, 3lb 5oz and 3lb 2oz during his historic visit to Homersfield Lake in Suffolk.
In order to avoid being pestered by the small roach that teem in the privately-owned 33-acre estate lake fishery, 37-year-old Phil fished groundbait feeders in conjunction
with helicopter rigs that he baited with 12mm Sonubaits Code Red boilies.
Big eel fanatic Mark Salt took the final position on the Drennan podium after banking an 8lb 1oz specimen of his favourite species by design.
The environment officer for the National Anguilla Club hair-rigged a bunch of worms on a syndicate water in Middlesex to take his second eel over the 8lb mark.
NEXT WEEK: DON’T MISS DAI GRIBBLE’S NEW SERIES ON CATCHING BIG FISH, ONLY IN ANGLING TIMES!
“Beyond this there are the extreme levels of dedication and application that even an angler with genuine expertise has to devote to catching exceptionally big fish by design that are so impressive” – Peter Drennan