Anglers travelled from across the country to Woodlands Lakes Fishery at Thirsk on Saturday 15th June 2013 to try to secure one of the last two places from this the penultimate round of this year’s Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifying matches.
It was Lee Barrett from Horbury, West Yorkshire who drew peg 7 on the always fancied Partridge Lake to take the honours with an all carp weight of 123 lb 7 oz, with his biggest carp over 9 lb to secure his place into the grand final. Fishing long on pellet up in the water Lee caught steady throughout the match to give him a clear lead of over 35 lbs over the second placed angler. As this is the second time Lee has qualified, his wish is to beat his previous appearance, and hopefully come away from Cudmore Fishery on 13th July with the coveted 2013 Fish ‘O’ Mania Championship title.
Second place went to Graham Dack a taxi driver from Romford in Essex, drawn on peg 2 on Curlew Lake. Graham had a few fish on the method before switching to a corn and pellet attack tight down the margin to put together a weight of 86 lb 10 oz of carp, with his biggest fish weighing in at over 17 lb. As no one was owning up to any mega weights when the final hooter went Graham was concerned that the odd quiet spell, or the 2 or 3 fish he lost could make all the difference at the final weigh in.
Marc Jones, Lee Barrett’s travelling partner also from Horbury finished in third place on the day with 76 lb 14 oz. The 2005 Fish ‘O Mania former Champion drew peg 14 on fancied Skylark Lake, fishing long with 6 mm banded pellet shallow. Fourth place went to Ashley Smith also from the Wakefield area, Ashley drawn on peg 27 on Skylark fished method feeder for his total weight of 58 lb 10 oz. Fifth place was taken by Fish ‘O’ Mania regular and former Champion Steve Cooke from Retford, drawn on peg 10 on Partridge and caught carp shallow to put 56 lb 14 oz on the scales.
The final qualifier for this year takes place on Wednesday 26th June at Lindholme Lakes Fishery, Epworth with 300 anglers booked on. This will be the very last chance for anglers to secure their place in the grand final on 13th July.
