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National to bring back the glory days Mammoth National open to recreate the thrill of the 1970s By Richard Grange richard.grange@bauermedia.co.uk
The current format for the Angling Trust Individual National will be scrapped by 2011 as angling’s bosses seek to revamp the f lag g ing competition. Currently open to the two highestscoring anglers from each team that took part in the year’s Divisional Nat ion a l s, nu m b e r s h ave b e e n disappointing in recent times, failing to muster more than 150 anglers. However, the hope is that the new competition, effectively a one-off open match, could herald the return of the 500-plus peg open last seen in the 1970s and early 1980s. “It’s been decided by the group t h at t he c u r re nt for m at of t he Individual National is a dead duck,” said competitions group member David Kent. “The change will happen certainly by 2011 and ideally for next year to inject new life into the competition. “We feel that now is the right time to make changes as, to be honest, it’s been getting a bit of a farce in recent years. It was hard work ringing round the teams trying to get confirmation if their
Harris, Ashurst, Marlow, Marks and Giles pick up another trophy in the 1970s – these are the scenes the Angling Trust is trying to recreate.
anglers would be fishing or not. With the new format, the onus is on the individual.” A s pa r t of t he AT’s rev iew of competition fishing in the UK, the show piece indiv idual event w ill be opened up to ANY Angling Trust member, rega rd less of whet her they’ve fished a National or not for that year. The only stipulation will be valid membership of the Trust
for that year. England co-manager and Drennan NW chief Mark Addy has voiced his concerns, though. He thinks the change will only attract open anglers, as team men are already signed up to the AT in order to fish its national. He also questions as to how many would travel. “We know that anglers don’t like travelling,” Mark said. “The move is
obviously designed to boost membership levels and, God knows, we need that, so good luck to them, but I’d ask how many anglers would put the miles in to fish what is, in effect, an open match? Then where do you put it? “People want to fish commercials, but they aren’t big enough and you can’t split an individual competition across two separate fisheries – it wouldn’t be fair.”
No joy for England’s big guns in Continental battle There was little to celebrate in the recent Sensas Challenge Final as Daiwa Dorking, Kamasan Starlets and Leicester Sensas returned from the River Loire empty-handed – and freshwater shrimps played no part, either! Dorking finished sixth, Leicester 11th, despite winning the second day overall, and Starlets 38th as crack French team Sensas 28 won and
the shrimps, as revealed in Angling Times a fortnight ago, weren’t needed. The river at Chateaudun instead responded to a bloodworm and joker approach, with bleak, roach and skimmers making for good average weights. “It was a great match, much better than when we fished it a few years ago,” said Starlets skipper Mark Downes (pictured right). “Perch
didn’t really play a part as there were too many other fish in the river to catch! I think it needed between 2kg and 5kg to score well, but we just struggled on day one and couldn’t make the difference up.” The opening skirmish in the 62-team match, made up of qualifiers and invited teams from across Europe, saw Dorking, consisting of William Raison, Steve
Hemingray, Simon Willsmore and Gary Pook, finish 12th, while Starlets and Leicester floundered in the thirties but come Day 2, Dorking maintained that consistency to finish 13th and only eight points off the pace of the winners. Leicester, meanwhile, turned in a great display to win with just 11 points, beating some of the best teams in Europe – but again it was too little, too late.
MATCH NEWS
Fish O’ fixtures
Dates and venues for next year’s Fish O’Mania qualifiers have been announced, with one fishery making its debut alongside a host of regulars. Lancashire water Partridge Lakes will join the likes of Heronbrook, Tunnel Barn and Woodland Lakes in hosting the 130-peg matches, which this year have seen the entry fee raised by 50p. Tickets will be on sale from 9am on January 18 with the closing date 4pm, February 8. Applicants must be a valid member of the Angling Trust. Dates are as follows: Saturday, April 10 – Viaduct Fishery Saturday, April 17 – Tunnel Barn Farm Wednesday, April 21 – Fox Match/ Barford Lakes Saturday, April 24 – Lakeview Fishery Wednesday, April 28 – Preston Innovations Woodland View Saturday, May 1 – Maver Larford Lakes Wednesday, May 5 – Monk Lakes Saturday, May 8 – Stafford Moor Saturday, May 15 – Browning Moorlands Farm Saturday, May 22 – Octoplus Boldings Pools Saturday, May 29 – Partridge Lakes Wednesday, June 2 – Heronbrook Saturday, June 5 – The Oaks Lakes Wednesday, June 16 – Willinghurst Saturday, June 19 – Woodland Lakes Wednesday, June 30 – Garbolino Lindholme Lakes
Grand chance
Fancy a grand for winning a 10-peg match? That’s the prize in Preston fishery Horn’s Dam’s Grand Master series. A series of 10 qualifiers will see one angler from each 10-peg match booking their place in the April final where the winner will pick up a guaranteed £1,000. Anglers can only book on to a maximum of two qualifiers, with tickets at £20 per match plus £10 pools. Each qualifier taking place on the Small Lake at the fishery. Dates (all Sundays) are as follows, with Dave Gardener the man to ring for tickets on 07813 797322: January 17, January 24, January 31, February 7, February 14, February 21, February 28, March 7, March 14, March 21. Final: April 18