Phil Ringer bosses the latest Feedermasters qualifier at Barston Lakes
Phil back on form at Barston after Ferry Meadows disaster
PHIL Ringer laid to rest the ghosts of a poor showing in last week’s Preston Innovations Feedermasters qualifier at Ferry Meadows with victory in the latest eliminator at Barston Lakes.
He weighed in 51-2-0 to take top spot and book a place in the grand final at Tamar Lakes in September.
At Ferry, the Ringer Baits boss blew a good peg by being too aggressive. This time, knowing that Barston would be hard, the England Feeder man played a more calculated game, being patient and sticking to one line at peg 82 on the golf course bank to come good, ending almost 12lb in front of runner-up Craig Whittaker. Joining Phil in the final are Guru men Matt Godfrey and Frankie Gianoncelli who both won their zones, second-placed Craig being in the same zone as Phil and so missing out. Indeed, Matt took third and Frankie fourth overall with 30lb nets to show just how hard the lake fished. Here, Phil explains how he won the match...
AT THE PEG
“When peg 82 was drawn for me, the guy said ‘sorry, Phil!’ I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that peg on the golf
course bank though. You’ve got plenty of room to work with and at Barston the fishing changes day by day. It’s not a bad area and gave me more chance of a zone win than a lot of other areas. I decided on just two lines with the Hybrid feeder, at 55m and 25m, banking on the longer line. I was concerned that so many fish were cruising around on the surface and wondered just how many would drop down to the bottom.
“Using a 28g large Hybrid with micros and yellow Boilie Crush, I made quick casts to get some bait down, roughly every four minutes at 55m, and then pinged 8mm hard pellets at 25m. Although I didn’t catch immediately, after an hour I’d caught two carp and two big skimmers for around 20lb on 10mm yellow Slim Wafters.
“That was a great start, but I knew it wouldn’t last and 50lb would be a good weight, so I was getting on for halfway there. The middle two hours of the match were tough, but I could see a lot of anglers from where I was and not a lot was being caught.”
THE FINAL PUSH
“I was relieved to finally catch with about 90 minutes to go when the 55m line produced two more carp, three F1s and two big bream for what I hoped was around 50lb, enough to win the zone. I never had a sign on the short line so I ignored it. When the fishing is hard and you’re only after a dozen bites, it’s not the time to gamble and do a million different things. That’s why I spent little time on the short line and never fed the margins!
“I felt I’d got 50lb and had enough to take the zone, but there were a lot of other anglers who had a good start like me but not that second visit. The only angler I could see challenging me was Craig Whittaker opposite me on peg 60 who caught a big carp in the margins late on, but he’d only got 39lb. To win the zone was the aim, so to win the match was a nice little bonus. It made up for my fishing so badly at Ferry Meadows!”