Daiwa Westwood Classic
Tying on points, unstoppable Mancunian finishes 170lb clear of second man home
DAIWA WESTWOOD LAKES SPRING CLASSIC (TUES – THURS) Westwood Lakes, Skylark, Swallow, Falcon & Osprey Lakes (106 pegs)
IF ANDY Bennett lived closer to Westwood Lakes, probably no-one else would bother going.
The Manchester match ace recorded his third Daiwa Classic victory on the spin here in fine style. Finishing the three days of action at the Lincolnshire complex with a perfect threepoint score, Tri-Cast/Guru/ABC Bait man Andy totalled 577-8-0 across the festival to win ahead of stablemate Paul Holland who also took three section wins but finished over 170lb in arrears.
Earning £2,000 plus a £1,000 Daiwa tackle voucher, Andy proved that not being local is no handicap. He soon got in tune with the fishing at Wedstwood, leaving the rest wondering just what makes the multiple matchman of the year so good.
According to the man himself, it’s nothing too complicated. In fact, given how many fish there are to catch in the lakes, he adopts a relatively negative approach to his feeding to minimise liners and missed bites and ensure that almost every time the float goes under he’ll come back with a fish.
It worked a treat as Andy set the early pace, bagging a mammoth 249-4-0 on day one from Skylark Lake, followed by 132-4-0 from Falcon and 196-0-0 from Osprey to leave the rest fighting it out for second.
On the final day he finished almost 100lb clear of the nextbest weight on Osprey Lake to show how in tune he was with the fishing.
“There are so many fish to catch that it can be easy to get carried away and pile in a lot of feed, thinking you need that much to keep the fish in the peg,” Andy said. “This year, I felt that by cutting right back on the feed and introducing just enough to catch one fish at a time was better. On the final day I fed just 1.5 pints of micros to catch 196lb and I small-potted everything in to keep things tight. Throwing by hand wasn’t accurate enough to get the fish lined up.” Runner-up Paul Holland began his challenge with a section win of 136-12-0 from Skylark Lake, then bagged 119-5-0 from Falcon Lake to nick the section by just 5oz. He rounded that off with 145-4-0 from Swallow Lake, just 8lb in hand over Daiwa man Martin Greene
at the next peg, to earn himself £1,500 and a £600 Daiwa tackle voucher.
Join Andy Bennett as he talks us through how he made it a Westwood Lakes hat-trick…
DAY ONE, SKYLARK LAKE PEG 38 – 249-4-0 – SECTION WIN
“I was very happy with this peg as it was the right end of the lake and noted for margin fishing. I made my mind up to begin in the edge and see how it went.
“I did nick a few fish from across to the island but the margins were miles better. I found two spots in 18ins and 2ft of water and fed micro pellets with a 4mm expander on the hook, fishing tight in to the bank. The stamp of carp was good and I finished with 60 fish for a big weight. That helps in a festival where you could well end up tied on points with other anglers.”
DAY TW0, FALCON LAKE PEG 1 – 132-4-0 – SECTION WIN
“This was an end peg that I fancied, as it gave me a lot of room to work with to my right, especially because a lot of fish are caught in the margins on this lake – although you can catch well on a top kit.
“I decided to go a bit longer, starting at 3m and working my way down the edge to 5m as the fish backed off a little through the day.
“Again, feeding micros with a small Guru pot and fishing a 4mm expander on the hook was best, and I took 134 F1s for 132lb so the stamp was good.
“This lake can be a bit of a banana skin as so many pegs are average, so I was delighted to get a good one.
“In fairness, my rotation of the order in which I fished each lake helped a lot too.”
DAY THREE, OSPREY LAKE PEG 5 – 196-0-0 – SECTION WIN “Not quite an end peg – one off it – but again, it was at the right end of the lake where the wind had been blowing all week, so I was pleased again! Shallow fishing is normally the tactic here but from seeing the results and talking to anglers, I felt that the margins would be more reliable for a weight and a bigger stamp of fish.
“I set up shallow rigs for maggot instead of pellet because the fish weren’t responding as well to pellet as they had been.
“I caught well on this, fishing at 5m, but the margins were much better. Micros and expanders on a top kit again did the job and the F1s were twice the size of those I was catching shallow. It wasn’t solid, but nor did I have any quiet spells, and 220 fish added up to 196lb, a great day’s fishing.”