We travel to the Asso two-day event.
it went down to fish countback as the top two finished with a brace of section victories during the asso event
As match fishing goes, this event could best be described as a gruelling test for the 131 anglers who lined up on the shingle at Prince’s Parade in Hythe, Kent. With competitors travelling from as far away as the Isle of Man and across the Continent to take part, the calm and clear conditions on the opening day soon put a real dampener on everyone’s high hopes.
Using the SAMF catch-and-release to a conversion chart rule, for many, undersized dabs and whiting proved to be a real headache, while others simply couldn’t locate any fish at all.
However, those who scaled down rigs and were able to cast huge distances found some success, and this tactic would ultimately see some sizeable species being beached.
BATTLE
Suffolk’s Craig Bradshaw won Zone A on Day 1 with a mixture of dabs and whiting for a meagre 72 points. Just behind him was Mark Rogers, from Maidstone, in Kent, who scored two points less.
Zone B wasn’t much better as Folkestone matchman Martyn Reid pulled out all the stops to register 54 points and top the section. Colin Crosby, from Hastings, worked equally hard to put 51 points on his card to finish runner-up.
There was a battle going on in Zone C between Saul Page, from Deal, and Dover’s Joe Croxon, who were on adjacent pegs. Page eventually won with 74 points to Croxon’s 60.
The fishing was dismal in Zone D, but eventual winner Nathan Elliott, from Dover, put in a decent performance to card 145 points, win the section and take the overall day honours. Second was Deal’s Brett Cotter, who also managed three figures with 107 points.
IMPROVEMENT
The final day brought renewed hope for some better catches but, with identical conditions, it would prove to be another test of skill and casting prowess.
Zone A did show a slight improvement as Nathan Elliott soon raised everyone’s spirits by bagging the first two dogfish of the event. These would prove invaluable, along with a couple of whiting, as he secured his second zone win with 159 points.
Last year’s runner-up, Filip Galens, from Belgium, was second with 60 points.
Nigel Scott, from Deal, won Zone B with 60 points, just ahead of Louis Smith, also from Deal, on 54 points.
In zone C, Sea Angler’s 2018 Penn Sea
League champion George Smith, from Grimsby, winkled out four dabs to win the section with 48 points. Welsh international Andrew Hutchings, from Cardiff, was just behind on 46 points.
Suffolk anglers Craig Bradshaw and Lee Adams slugged it out in zone D, with Bradshaw just edging it with 100 points – a single point in front of Adams – to secure his second section win of the event.
COUNTBACK
Even though the fishing was incredibly poor, it still came down to countback and fish points to decide the overall champion. Nathan Elliott, from Dover, won emphatically with two section and overall day wins and 304 fish points ahead of Craig Bradshaw, with two section wins but with 172 fish points. Third was Louis Smith, from Deal, with a total of five points.
“Those who scaled down rigs and were able to cast huge distances found some success”