Coventry’s Rob Swain won the big Christmas match at Packington Somers just in time for his 57th birthday this week.
Like most of us Rob, who used to fish the canals and rivers with Leamington DAM, has had to adapt from natural waters to the commercial scene and by his own admission it’s taken him 12 months to really get to grips with things – this 128-pegger is his first really big win.
The car dealer who is sponsored by Swan Baits of Coventry drew peg 9 on Gratuities and started on the feeder for the first 90 minutes, picking up half a dozen F1s.
He was priming two pole lines at 8m with chopped worm and caster all the time, and when he switched he found one of them alive with fish, and kept catching there for the next three hours for 36-11-0 of skimmers, perch, F1s, tench and a single 3lb carp, most of them taken on small pieces of worm.
“What I like about Packington is there are plenty of different species to go at and so it suits my canal style skills – I like to fish very light,” said Rob, who fished a 4×12 float with a size 18 hook and 0.12mm line for a £120 pay day plus a £60 Fosters voucher and plenty of Christmas booze!
In second spot not far behind was Beaufort AC’s Paul Parsonage with 34-7-0, with another Coventry based Swan Baits backed angler, Derek Hartshorne, in third on 30-6-0.