Thankfully a period of warm, settled weather leading up to Saturday’s big match of the year the Angling Trust Cadets, Juniors and Intermediates National Championship ensured that this prolific fishery, Tunnel Barn Farm at Warwick was in pretty good form on 29th June. Even the weather on the day was perfect which led to an almost festival feel to this National Championship.
Some 230 young anglers between the ages of 10 and 22 filled the banks in the three simultaneous events – Cadets, Juniors and Intermediates.
This year saw the biggest turn out in the Cadet category with seven teams fishing Club and Canal pools with some great catches recorded of F1’s up to 2 lbs and some good sized carp. 9 kilos was needed to make the top 15 and over, 7 kilos was the lowest section winning weight. The rest were won with weights between 11 and almost 17 kilos. A great performance by all concerned on the day.
The Cadet Team Champions were Tameside Matrix/Bait-Tech Blue with a brilliant 38 points. Runners up were Suffolk County who totalled 30 points, and in third place was Worksop Cadets Red with 29 points. The Cadet Individual Champion was Mattie Farres of Tameside Matrix/Bait-Tech Blue. Mattie put 16 kilos 950 grams on the scales on Club pool 14. Just one fish behind was Oliver Saunders of Suffolk County on Club pool 17 with 16 kilos 150 grams, and in third place was Lewis Burrows of Tameside Matrix/Bait-Tech Blue on Club pool 7 with 13 kilos 200 grams.
The Junior Championship category saw twenty one teams competing over Top, Bottom, New, Extension and House Pools. The quality of angler taking part was exceptional and perfectly illustrated when over 15 kilos was required to make the top 15.
Team winners were Worksop & District ‘A’ with 117 points. In second place were Tameside Matrix/Bait-Tech Blue with 112 points and in third place was Barnsley & District Red with 102 points. Individually it was Sam Posser fishing for Tameside Matrix/Bait-Tech Blue who took top spot as Junior Champion with an excellent weight of 34 kilos from House pool 31. Runner up was Alex Dockerty of Barnsley & District Red with 30 kilos 950 grams on Extension pool 22, and in third place was Cameron Cross of Worksop & District ‘A’ with 29 kilos 350 grams from Extension pool 1.
Nine teams fishing High and Jenny’s Pools contested the Intermediate Championship. Collectively they produced a quite spectacular match with over 24 kilos being needed to make the top 15, with the top five all recording over 40 kilos.
Event newcomers, Milo Bordon took top team honours and thus became Intermediate Team Champions with 46 points. They actually tied on points with CASTS, but had a better weight aggregate being 11 kilos clear to push CASTS into second place. In third place was Tameside Matrix/Bait-Tech Gold with 44 points.
The Intermediate Individual Champion was Milo Bordon’s Alex Clements on Jennys pool 11 with a massive 50 kilos 150 grams. In runner up position was Luke Wrzosek of Barnsley & District AA who weighed 46 kilos 500 grams on Jennys pool 10, and in third spot was another Milo Bordon squad member Tom Arnot on Jennys pool 17 with 42 kilos 600 grams.
The top 6 Junior winners will be taking part in the Junior Fish ‘O’ Mania event at Cudmore Fisheries, Newcastle Under Lyme on Sunday 14th July 2013. They are; Sam Posser, Alex Dockerty, Cameron Cross, Sam Collett, Daniel Blackwell and Kristian Jones.
The Angling Trust would like to offer a big thank you to the Tunnel Barn Fishery staff who had put in many hours of work, especially on the pegs in the weeks prior to the Championships.
Appreciation and thanks on the day must also go to Preston Innovations for supplying goodie bags for every competitor, Matchroom Sports for supplying every competitor with free tickets for the Fish ‘O’ Mania grand final on Saturday 13th July and the International Challenge event on Sunday 14th July 2013, and to local attractions in Warwick for donating prizes for Hatton Adventure Farm and the Butterfly Farm.
