Thirty one teams (310 competitors) battled it out on a tough Leeds and Liverpool Canal at Wigan in the Angling Trust Division 2 National Championship on Saturday 13th September. 

Red hot favourites Wigan Match Group fishing on their local water proved difficult to beat to amass a fantastic total of 273 points to become Division 2 Champions for 2014 with two section wins, two seconds and only one angler finishing outside the top 10 on their section.  

It put Wigan Match Group 28 points clear of their closest rivals Sensas North West who took second place with 245 points, and Middy Dams & Locks were third with 235 points.  The top 10 teams on the day were all promoted to the Division 1 National Championship next year. 

The canal fished hard for a lot of anglers with unexpected sunshine putting the fish off their food, and some sections suffered low water levels after lock gates were left open overnight which also didn’t help.  A very respectable winning weight was recorded though for the individuals, with Perry Follows (Team Eclipse) taking 13.440 kg of skimmers and bream to 3 lb from peg A5.  

Fishing worm, caster and pellet at 13 metres over groundbait and micro pellet.  Perry,  a butcher from  Rugeley, caught all day to record his resounding victory and claim the Individual trophy.  A long way behind, Winterton AC angler John Boyko (peg A 18) and George Robinson (peg D 1) finished second and third respectively with 4.140 kg and 3.800 kg.

The Angling Trust would like to thank Wigan AA for the use of their waters,  and to Trevor Smith and his team for all the excellent work they put in.

That draws the curtain on this year’s National Championships, with preparations well under way for next year’s events;  Division 1 on the Gloucester Canal, and Division 2 on the Trent at Newark.

Division Two National Angling Championships 2014

Top 6 team results;

1st Wigan Match Group 273 points
2nd Sensas North West  245 points
3rd Middy Dams & Locks 235 points
4th Winterton AC  221 points
5th  Browning Northants  214 points
6th  Maver Colemans MP  211 points

Top 6 Individual results;
1st  A5  Perry Follows  (Team Eclipse) 13.440 kg
2nd A18  John Boyko  (Winterton AC)  4.10 kg
3rd D1  George Robinson  (Winterton AC)  3.800 kg
4th B17 Steffan Johansen  (Team Eclipse)  3.590 kg
5th E15 Tony Foster (Middy Dams & Locks)3.380 kg
6th A28  Mark Derry  (Middy Dams & Locks) 3.340 kg