228 Northern and
Midland Anglers descended on Lindholme Fisheries, at Epworth,
to fish a
charity match in aid of Breast Cancer Care on May 2, with the event raising
over £5,600 for the cause
This picture shows Kev Allen handing over £5600 to Lisa Hall
Breast care nurse specialist
The match was the
brainchild of Kevin Allen, (a carp vader
sponsored angler) and a regular at Lindholme, and this years event was the
biggest in the three year history of the competition.
The cause is close
to Kevin’s heart as his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer but
successfully fought it with the help of Breast
Cancer Care.
“There is no doubt
that the treatment saved her life and i need to put something back for what
they have done for us and our family we owe them so much ,” said Kevin, “And
I feel that by running a match like this, anglers have a great chance to
contribute to a worthy cause.
“It is also an
opportunity for a large group of anglers to get together in a big match
environment and fish in a friendly but competitive event.”
However, the sheer
amount of anglers who are fishing the match this year has surprised even
Kevin, and he attributes a lot of that down to the power of the internet.
He said: “In
previous years, the match has been promoted by word of mouth, and that has
seen us with anywhere between 80 and 100 anglers.
“However, this
year, I posted on many fishing forums, including Totalfishing.com and Maggot
Drowners, and this has had a great response from anglers.
“There is no doubt
that the forums are a great way to go if you want to advertise a big match.”
Lindholme Fishery
Boss Neil Grantham had very generously given the pegs at half price , and
many top tackle companies and other manufacturers had donated prizes for the
extensive raffle that would take place after the match.there was over £3000
worth of prizes including a 28" colour tv dontaed by GBA of grimsby
The draw
The likes of paul yates and Alan Scottorne can be seen
waiting to draw
With so many
anglers on the complex, the draw was always going to be hectic, and
therefore anglers were allowed to draw their pegs as soon as they arrived at
the complex.
Looking around, you
could see that there were some top anglers fishing the match including both
Alan and Sandra Scotthorne, Paul Yates, Steve Rothery, Vinnie Smith and Rob
Hitchens.
Kevin Allen
commented: “There are not many matches were you see such a range of anglers
come together.
“Here there is a
mix of the top anglers, club anglers, professional anglers and pleasure
anglers who are fishing the match simply because it is a good cause.”
The talk at the
start of the match was that the best draws would see anglers fishing on
either the Bonsai or Laurels Lakes , where the best weights were currently
coming off in matches.
Willows and Beeches
would have an outside chance, depending on conditions, but anglers drawing
on the Strip or Loco Lake would most likely find themselves just fishing for
their ten-peg section.
Taking all this
into account, it was decided that there would be no pay-out for the
individual top three, only an optional pool of £1 each for the out and out
winner.
Therefore every
winner of each section would receive £75, for their effort, meaning that in
effect, anglers were fishing their own ten-peg matchWith so many anglers on
the venue, this seems to be the fairest way of sharing out the money,” Kev
explained, “After all the real winner here is Breast Cancer Care, although
I’m sure that the win would mean a great deal to any angler.”
It was obvious
from the start of the match that the fishery was not fishing as well as it
usually does, but all the anglers were expecting this due to the weight of
anglers on the venue – 228 is a hell of a lot!
Anglers
benefiting from a bit of room were leading the way to begin with and as
expected Bonsai and Laurels were the lakes producing the better fishing.
Venue-regular
Steve Rothery had fancied his peg, number 30 on Bonsai, when he pulled it
out and he was even more happy to find that he had a bit of room when he
got to his peg.
He was not
bagging up by any means, but he was catching F1s steadily on his own
‘Daylite Baits’ pellets by working the area to his right where he had some
space.
Also on Bonsai,
John Clay was catching pretty steadily, and the early money was on that
lake producing the winner.
Laurels was also
doing ok with former England International Paul Yates, taking advantage of
a decent corner draw on peg 39, to tame a few better carp in the early
going.
Beeches and
Willows appeared to be more difficult, although some anglers were managing
to catch a few fish.
As expected The Strip and Loco were fishing very hard with many
anglers struggling to even get a bite.
However, a few
anglers were catching fish down the edge and up in the water on The Strip
and those fortunate to be able to throw the feeder out to the central
island on Loco, were also getting the odd reward.
As the match
began to draw to its conclusion, it became obvious that Tim Hayes on point
peg 54 on Laurels, was catching very well down the side.
Tim had struggled
for about two hours of the match, before focusing his attentions on the
reed bed at four metres out from the end of the point.
It was here that
he began to find the better carp, with fish averaging around the 5lb mark
coming to the net, and as the end of the match drew near he really was
motoring, catching a fish every time he went in.
A tell-tale sign
that he was going to be in with an outstanding chance of winning the
match, was the fact that he had three keepnets in the water (There is a
50lb per keepnet limit)
As local-ace
Johnny Howard sounded the horn for the end of the match, the odds looked
likely that Tim had done enough to win the match as owner Neil Grantham
reckoned that nobody had done a ton on Bonsai.
“If he has 100lb,
then he has won it easily,” Neil stated.
First to weigh in was match organiser Kevin Allen, who promptly
placed 17-12-0 on the scales from his peg on Willows 4.
This saw him win
the first, difficult, ten-peg section and give him a bit of reward for all
the hard work that had done in organising the match.
He said: “There
is no doubt that a match like this needs some serious preparation, and I
couldn’t have done it without the help of the likes of Martin Butler, and
Neil Grantham and nige broadley and most of all the understanding from my
wife , who has been spending so much time helping me get sorted and the
fabulous team at Lindholme Fisheries.”
As the scales
went round, the best weight up until Tim Hayes weighed was former Fish ‘O’
Mania Champion Rob Hitchens, who had managed 50-12-0 from Willows.
However, most
people knew that Tim had easily beaten that weight, it was just a question
of by how much.
Well three weighs
later, and Tim’s total catch came to 131-12-0 a magnificent effort and
surely enough to win the match?
As the results
came in from the other lakes, it was clear that anglers on The Strip,
Beeches and Loco had struggled, while the best weight from Bonsai was John
Clay with 75-0-0 meaning that Tim had comfortably won the match.
The
aftermath
After the match
most of the anglers stuck around for the raffle, which had an extensive
list of prizes.
Once again, Lindholme showed why it is a top class fishery,
with food and drink facilities after the match. This included bottles of
beer, which on a boiling hot day, was clearly a God send!
The
presentation and the raffle lasted about an hour after the match and
spirits were high and banter was commonplace as the usual suspects
collected their prizes.
Lindholme boss
Neil said: “It’s been a great day and all the anglers have enjoyed it.
Credit must go to Kevin Allen who put in so much work to help raise such
an excellent amount for Cancer Care.”
Kevin said:
“Thanks to everyone who helped with organasition and prizes, as well as
to all the anglers who showed up to fish the event and bought raffle
tickets.”
WINNERS
DETAILS
Name:
Tim Hayes
Team/Sponsor:
Unnattached
Based:
Derby
Weight:
131-12-0
Peg:
54 on Laurels
How he did
it: “After two hours I was treading water,
really struggling, so I went down the edge at four metres towards the
end of the point, just past the stick-ups.
“Here I had
been trickling in a few pieces of meat and first cast my 4mm piece of
meat was gobbled up by a decent carp.
“From there on
in, I caught carp regularly up to the 9lb mark, feeding a dozen or so
cubes of meat after every fish.
“With an hour
to go, I stepped up my gear from 0.15 to 0.17 and my purple hydro-lastic
was more than enough to tame every carp I caught
The peg
obviously had a few fish in it, but all the same, I am delighted to have
won such a big match!”
