Picturesque Boldings Pools in Shropshire hosted the latest round of Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifiers with 81 anglers making their way from all around country to chance their arm for the £50,000 final place. In stark contrast to wild weather earlier in the week, competitors were met with favourable conditions and this showed in the results with four ton-plus weights being banked.

Top rod on the day was Chris Weeder Jnr with 132lb 2oz fishing peg 23 on Ash Pool. Cheshire-based Chris caught a mixture of F1s and carp to 9lb alternating between maggot shallow and pellets on a short line. He might well have recorded a bigger weight had he not run out of maggots with most of the final hour still to go. Chris was one of several anglers who came on spec on the morning so his decision to make the journey was vindicated.

Runner-up was former Fish ‘O’ Mania champion and the ever consistent Andy May (MAP), who ran Chris close with 122lb 1oz. Andy drew Chestnut Pool peg 23 and caught F1s and carp to 8lb with the popular caster shallow.

Third place went to West Midlands angler Simon Christian who amassed 114lb 6oz in the five hours. Simon drew on Acorn 1 pool and caught carp and F1s feeding pellets and fishing banded pellet on the hook.

Fourth on the day was David Brown with 101lb 10oz from Chestnut Pool peg 7 and Welsh international Jonathan Harvey completed the top five with 85lb 8oz from Larch Pool peg 16.

Our thanks to Ed Turner and his team at Boldings Pools for hosting another cracking qualifier. Next round of the Fish ’O’ Mania qualifiers is at Partridge Lakes. Online bookings are closed for the event, but there will still be a small number of tickets available on the day at the fishery.

Result:
1st Chris Weeder Jnr 132lb 2oz
2nd Andy May 122lb 1oz
3rd Simon Christian 114lb 6oz
4th David Brown 101lb 10oz
5th Jonathan Harvey 85lb 8oz