In the practice matches leading up to the Angling Trust Division 2 National Championship on 3rd August many teams were struggling with catches in the hot weather on the Great Ouse at Littleport. With this taken into consideration the Environment Agency put a 2 cmec flow on the venue and the breeze on the day put a ripple on the water which probably helped to record the better catches in the National Championship.
Just prior to the National Championship the EA issued a press release to notify of an invasive shrimp Dikerogammarus haemobaphes (Dh) found in the Ely Ouse close to Denver. Mark Owen, the Angling Trust’s Head of Freshwater for Campaigns and the Environment attended the draw on the morning of the Championship to brief all the competitors, and brought along posters to put along all the sections to enforce the Check Clean and Dry campaign.
Team wise it was a great performance by Devizes AA from Wiltshire who scored 243 points. All their practice matches leading up to the National Championship paid off for them to take the Championship title for 2013. In runner up position just missing out by one point was Garbolino Blackhorse who tied with Maver Bait-Tech on 242 points, but managed to take the second place position based on weight to push Maver Bait-Tech to third place. In fourth place taking the final promotional place into next year’s Division 1 National Championship was Pelham Piscatorials AC on 237 points.
Adam Carter, Team Captain for Devizes AA said, “All of the team practiced 2-3 times in the month building up to the National, but given the distance we didn’t think practicing any earlier than this would be of benefit as venues can change too much. The first practices showed how hard the venue could be and although we found a few fish nothing was consistent. Further practices helped come up with the plan for the match. We fished the whip between 2 and 5m with ‘slop and squatt’ to try and avoid blanks. A pole line at 11-13m was meant to be the main line for roach, hybrids and skimmers, but practices had shown this line didn’t always produce. We also had a 7-8m line for eels or tench and a feeder line across. We all knew that we might need a combination of all these lines for good points, but in some cases we might have to rely just on the whip line. The plan was to put a fish in the net before doing anything else so this meant trying the whip line first. We then had a look for something on the feeder for 20 minutes before trying the pole line. If the pole line didn’t produce we were back on the whip rig scratching for bites and occasionally trying the other lines.”
“We’re obviously really pleased to have won. We thought a top 10 promotion place was possible, but when we heard only 4 teams would be promoted this task got harder. Having done a quick tally after the match we thought we had done well but, a couple of people only looked at their place on one board not both, so when we heard how many points fourth place had we thought we had missed out. To go from that to hearing we had won surprised everyone in the team and everyone probably noticed that by all the cheering! We’ve definitely improved as a team over the last couple of years and this is a great reward… it certainly makes all the miles accumulated practicing worthwhile. A huge thanks must go to all the local clubs and anglers that have helped with the opens and of course the Angling Trust for organising another great National.”
The top five individuals on the day all came from C section and this was totally unexpected, with the bream pegs 28 – 33 not having been fished for the last 6 years.
A worthy top individual winner on the day was Pete Marlow of Leicester Sensas AA who drew peg C33 with a top weight of 50.350 kg. In second place with 35.600 kg was Nigel Grindle (Pelham Piscatorials AC) on C31. Third place went to Paul Ripley from C32 of Urban Moor Leeds with 31.110 kg, and in fourth place Kevin Rowles (Devizes AA) on C28 recorded 18.160 kg on the scales.
Pete Marlow stated “I just fished a feeder all day and caught one after half hour, I was using a groundbait with luxus groundbait, putting 1 kg worms, 3 pints of castors and 1 kg of pellets 2 mm. Bonus fish was the plan from the feeder at the start and long pole for roach, and close chopped worm line for tench and perch, and as I was catching bream there was no need to change. I was so happy with the result and can’t stop smiling even now. It is a shame the team didn’t finish in the top three as we were so close. I just want to say thanks to the Angling Trust for doing a great job and Leicester Sensas AA for making it possible.”
The Angling Trust would like to thank Kelvin Allen who acted as local organiser on the day and all his committee for all their hard work, and also for all the support and work of the EA for the Division 2 National Championship to go ahead as well as it did this year.
Next year the Angling Trust’s Division 2 National Championship takes place on the Leeds and Liverpool canal on Saturday 13th September.
Full results and photos are available on the Angling Trust website at www.anglingtrust.net
Top 10 team results:
1st Devizes AA – 243 points
2nd Garbolino Blackhorse – 242 points
3rd Maver Bait Tech – 242 points
4th Pelham Piscatorials AC – 237
5th Browning Northants – 233 points
6th Royal Navy/Royal Marines – 223 points
7th Matchpack Angling Direct – 221 points
8th Leicester Sensas – 219 points
9th Browning Andover MG – 219 points
10th Maver Cardinals – 216 points
Top 10 individual results:
1st C33 Pete Marlow, Leicester Sensas – 50.350 kg
2nd C31 Nigel Grindle, Pelham Piscatorials AC – 35.600 kg
3rd C32 Paul Ripley, Urban Moor Lees – 31.110 kg
4th C28 Kevin Rowles, Devizes AA – 18.160 kg
5th C29 Mick Hanks, Suffolk County – 11.630 kg
6th K29 Graham Mumby, Scunthorpe Blue – 10.240 kg
7th K29 Alex Bates, Maver Bait Tech – 8.720kg
8th C30 Dave Callaghan, Measham & District AC – 7.730 kg
9th D1 Graham Dack, Garbolino Blackhorse – 6.100 kg
10th D22 Terry Smith, Measham & District AC – 4.880 kg
