David Howard wins the first Angling Trust & Canal & River Trust Stillwater Championship qualifier of 2013

The first qualifier match of this year’s Angling Trust & Canal & River Trust Stillwater Championship was fished at Boddington Reservoir using pegs 50 to 99 on Sunday 12th May 2013.  After what had been a really warm spell of weather conditions this changed dramatically with a cold wind blowing down the reservoir and rain later in the match.   Unfortunately this had the effect of driving the carp out into deep water and it required casts of 60 to 70 yards to locate the fish.   Fish were caught on hard pellets and boilies, but bread was perhaps the most successful bait.

The pegs on the natural bank (90 to 99) proved to be the best area and provided the top three weights.  On peg 97 David Howard (Leigh Angling), from Wigan easily won the day with a weight of 65.220 kg. David fished a variety of baits on the method feeder to catch 16 carp up to 6 kg. In common with lots of anglers in the match David’s fish came in spells as they moved in and out during the match.

In second place was Brian Ashley (Telford) fishing on end peg  99 with a weight of 51.720 kg. Tactics were the same as the winner for eleven carp up to 7 kilos. Third place went to Carl Barnfield (Swann Baits) fishing peg 91 with a weight of 48.200kg, who also caught on the method feeder.