After a successful practice session on a warm Saturday 10th April where weights were in 200s and high 100s everyone was really looking forward to round 3 of the Fish to Win pairs match at Tylers Common in Brentwood Essex where everyone fancied Willow Lake to pick up the bigger weights, however with a very cold North Easterly wind blowing made things difficult and the fish had moved out away from the margins into deeper water at 14 metres, whereas on Ash Lake the fish were in the mood to have a good munch.

The day was also the Semi Final of the Individual Knockout element of the comp which saw Alec Roberts (Middy) Pete Upperton (Middy) and Tony Lock (Garbolino Apollo) progress to the knock out final.

Ash Lake Section A

Geoff Vallance (Preston Innovations Delcac) on his first visit to the Essex venue took the honours with 198lb 14ozs on peg 9, second place in peg 3 was Robbie Taylor (Preston Innovations Delcac) with 146lb 2ozs fishing in close and down the edge, in 3rd place was Mark Parrett again on his first visit to the venue weighed in with 141lb from peg 10 and these were the top three weights overall over the 2 lakes.

Willow Lake Section B

Pete Upperton (Middy) scooped maximum points from peg 24 on Willow with 141lb 8oz and began the match fishing close or up in the water at 14 metres and only have 7 fish in the first couple of hours, so a change of tactics and fishing on the deck at 14 metres found the fish and caught on pretty much every put in for the remainder of the match.

In second place local knowledge came into play as Graham Dack (Middy) from unfavoured peg 17 weighed in with 135lb 4oz who jokingly mentioned that he fished pretty much every line possible from waggler to pole at long and short and even down the edge to find the carp and to avoid the Rudd.

In close 3rd place was Zac Brown (Preston Innovations – Delcac) weighed in with 135lb from peg 4.

Round 4 of the pairs moves to Fairlight Fisheries near East Grinstead on Saturday 24th April 2010 with promises to be interesting as a majority of the field have never seen or been to the venue before.

Fish to Win South East starts on Wednesday 7th July 2010 at Marsh Farm in Surrey
Fish to Win National starts on Wednesday 14th July 2010 at Partridge Lakes in Cheshire

Full details and ticket availability can be found on the website www.fish-to-win.co.uk