Chris Ellet from Hulme in Manchester secured his place in the final of PartyPoker.com Fish ‘O’ Mania by winning a tough qualifier at Heronbrook Fishery this weekend.
Anglers found the normally prolific venue of Heronbrook tough going as the fish refused to take the bait, producing considerably smaller weights than one would expect from such a venue. To illustrate the troubles experienced, Lee Barrett had a swim full of fish, which could be physically seen from the bank side, however despite all his endeavour and of no fault of his own, the fish would just not feed.
The eventual winner, who hails from the North West has fished the Staffordshire venue a number of times. However, drawing peg 27 on Meadow Lake, Chris was not expecting to be victorious having fished the same peg a number of times, but never winning. Thankfully for Chris, Saturday’s form proved the exception to the rule.
Chris, who fishes occasionally for Edgeley Sports, fed pellets down the edge in an attempt to lure the fish towards him which resulted in a mixed catch of F1’s, mirror carp and tench. The match was won in the first and last hour as he had an explosive start landing an impressive 15 fish and some good sized mirrors in the final countdown taking him clear of his rivals. Chris also did well to catch steadily throughout the day, to give him a final weight of 56lbs 6ozs.
Talking to Chris after the match he commented, “I was really pleased with the performance today, despite tricky conditions I managed to keep catching some small F1s and tench up to about 1lb. Winning a qualifier for PartyPoker.com Fish ‘O’ Mania has to be my greatest achievement in fishing. I have never fished Hayfield before so I am pleased that the final is on Browning Cudmore this year. Plus knowing the fishery, any of the pegs can produce a win on the day, so everyone will be in with a chance”.
In second place was Civil Servant Gary Kirkby, who fished on Meadow Lake and used pellet on the pole to record a final weight of 51lbs 4ozs. The top three all fished Meadow Lake with third placed angler and fishery owner from Liverpool, Stephen Openshaw finishing with 49lbs 4ozs.
