BEN Leach blasted away the opposition to win the four-hour 24-angler winner-take-all Parkdean Masters Grand Final at Cornwall’s White Acres Country Park and trouser the cool £25,000 winner’s purse with 68-3-0.
Jenny’s Lake was once again the scene for Parkdean’s Blue Riband fishing event backed by the company themselves and despite changeable weather sport was good for most.

With the final reformatted to double the entry from 12 to 24Milo backed Daiwa Dorking ace Ben amazingly drew the same peg – Jenny’s 15 – as he did in last years Grand Final and confidently proclaimed that he’d messed up a chance to win back then, but wasn’t going to make the same mistake again.
The confident prediction came true as he imparted an impressive display of accurate crumb feeder fishing to net carp to 12 lb plus around a dozen F1’s.
With a 1 lb 8 oz carp on his first cast dropping a large Drennan Gripmesh feeder packed with casters and lightly plugged with Sensas Crazy Bait Gold and Marine tight to the marginal island grasses the tone was set.
Adding a 3-pounder and several 12 oz F1’s 24-year-old Ben Latched into a big fish after 40 minutes that had him hurriedly releasing the line clip.
After a tense five minute battle Ben slipped the net under a 12 lb ghostie to leave the rest of the class field playing catch-up.
A good second hour when double hair-rigged luncheon meat proved most effective saw the gas safety technician forge even further ahead with several carp and F1’s.
The third hour saw him slow up and small roach upset the rhythm but a brief flirtation with the pole line produced just one skimmer and a roach.
Back on the feeder, Bath, near Bristol based Ben finished with a flourish adding four late carp to 5 lb for a clear win.
‘I can’t seem to win a festival having been a runner up at best but I really wanted to win this final,’ said Ben.
‘I’ve been through a series of mixed emotions today, at one time I couldn’t bait up because my hands were shaking, but when I had a really good spell I just thought it was going to be my day,’ he went on.
However he revealed that he had luck on his side: ‘I was given a lucky charm – a piece of wood with “worlds champion angler” inscribed on it and ever since I’ve carried this in my pocket I’ve been winning.
‘I let Grant Albutt touch the charm the other day and he won his lake!’
Ben, a previous White Acres match record holder, plans to use the money to go towards the deposit on a house as well as treat his mates to a skiing holiday.
White Acres would like to thank Coca Cola, Coors beer, and 3663 food suppliers for their assitance in staging the event.

Ben’s Winning Gear
Milo MK II New Era Feeder rod
8 lb Maxima reel line
Milo Ghost Krepton 0.16 mm diameter trace (15 inches)
Large Drennan Gripmesh feeder
Preston Innovations PR 27 eyed hook attached with a knotless knot
Plumrose garlic sausage luncheon meat
Sensas Crazy Bait Gold and Marine
4 pt casters


LAST IN SIMON ALMOST CLINCHED IT
GARBOLINO backed Simon Fry made it to the final by the skin of his teeth winning a four way points tie for the last and 24th qualifying place on weight aggregate and ended up as runner-up in the cliff hanger event.
A tidy performance on the feeder at peg 3 saw the 40-year-old bang out several carp to 3 lb for a 48-14-0 effort.
‘I wasn’t unhappy about coming second because I always knew after the start that Ben Leach had that I and all the other anglers were playing catch-up,’ reasoned Simon who had enjoyed a couple of lake wins on his way to the final.

RINGER’S VALIANT DEFENCE
LAST years big money winner Steve Ringer again made the final after winning the five-day qualifying festival and drew peg 19, one along from his winning pitch last time, and put up a strong meat feeder based battle to bring 47-13-0 of carp to 9 lb to the scales but had to settle for third.
‘I would have liked a longer feeder chuck,’ said Steve who also added fish from his long pole line.

PARKDEAN MASTERS GRAND FINAL POSITIONS
1st Ben Leach (Milo) 68-3-0 peg 15 £25,000.
2nd Simon Fry (Garbolino) 48-14-0 peg 3
3rd Steve Ringer (Shimano Van Den Eynde) 47-13-0 peg 19
4th Simon Willsmore (Milo D & A Tackle) 43-12-0 peg 7
5th Andy Dare (Daiwa Trentman) 39-6-0 peg 45
6th Micky Hughes (Simon’s 2000) 34-8-0 peg 9
7th Kieron Rich (Mosella SW) 32-6-0 peg 5
8th John Chapman (MAP Elton Tackle) 30-12-0 peg 14
9th Graham Tappenden (Eastleigh Mosella) 29-6-0 peg 27
10th Lee Murray (Daiwa Goldthorpe) 28-6-0 peg 18
11th Darren Clarke (Breakaway Tackle) 28-5-0 peg 40.
12th Paul Greenwood (Sensas Viaduct) 27-12-0 peg 43
13th Steve Cooke (Garbolino) 25-12-0 peg 32
14th Mike Jones (Shimano Tipton) 21-6-0 peg 20
15th Lee Richmond (Daiwa Trentmen) 20-10-0 peg 36
16th Martin Cocks (Thatchers 2000 Van Den Eynde) 20-5-0 peg 12
17th Jim Barrowman (Barford Match) 16-10-0 peg 21
18th Bob Yeomans (RN RM Culdrose) 15-10-0 peg 28
19th Mick Dagnall (Starlets) 14-4-0 peg 38
20th Dave Pimlot (MAP Elton) 14-2-0 peg 47
21st Simon Middleton (PI Delcac) 13-4-0 peg 16
22nd Des Shipp (Preston Innovations) 11-14-0 peg 17
23rd Chris Davis (Veals) 11-0-0 peg 34
24th Darren Cox (Garbolino) 10-14-0 peg 23


PARKDEAN MASTERS FESTIVAL
Ringer Rolls On
WITH 24 places up for grabs in the 2004 Parkdean Masters Grand Final at White Acres Country Park the battle was intense to make to cut but winning the 180-entry five day festival was the irrepressible talent of Steve Ringer with 35 points worth £3000.
Steve, the 2003 Parkdean Masters Champion was on top form as he strung together three section wins and two seconds to finish as a clear winner.
He opened his account with a fantastic 185-13-0 of meat caught carp at Pollawyn 27 that also earned him £100 for the biggest match weight of the week.
‘I’ve had a good week and with the extra finalists it’s added a lot of extra interest, it was nice to know that I had done pretty much enough by the last day to make the final again,’ said Steve.
Milo backed England Six Nations cap Simon Willsmore was one adrift in second place with 34 points securing the runners up cheque for £1500 thanks to a superior 5th dropped score of 8 after tying with Paul Greenwood and John Chapman.
Somerset based Paul (Sensas Viaduct) took third and £1000 with a 6-point dropper leaving MAP Elton Tackle backed John in fourth.
Fishery manager Clint Elliott made the decision to double the number of finalists giving more anglers a chance of a crack at the £25,000 winner take all purse.
‘It always ended up with pretty much the same anglers in the final and I wanted to give more people a chance, the pegging might be more variable but I’d rather have the extra anglers in it than not in it,’ said Clint
‘People have been showing more interest than ever before with many more anglers still in with a chance of making the final on the last day,’ he added.

Day 1 Pollawyn Steve Ringer (Shimano VDE) 185-13-0; Python / Trelawney Simon Fry (Garbolino) 79-1-0; Twin Oaks/Acorn/Nelson Andy Dare (Daiwa Trentmen) 85-11-0; Porth Vince Sicklemore (Tonbridge Cardinals) 27-0-0; Bolingey Paul Greenwood (Viaduct Sensas) 139-0-0.
Day 2 Pollawyn Darren Clarke (Breakaway Tackle) 133-4-0; Python / Trelawney David Bales (Browning Wickford) 97-15-0; Twin Oaks/Acorn/Nelson Nathan Watson (White Acres) 99-7-0; Porth Calvin Lemon (ALS VDE) 18-9-0; Bolingey Paul Carnwell (Holts Blake Hall) 103-12-0..
Day 3 Pollawyn Skip McCabe (Harefield Tackle) 109-2-0; Python / Trelawney John Chapman (MAP Elton) 44-8-0; Twin Oaks/Acorn/Nelson Grant Albutt (FAPS Vde) 99-9-0; Porth Jack Harness (Simon’s 2000) 23-2-0; Bolingey Tommy Pickering (Preston Innovations) 111-4-0.
Day 4 Pollawyn Kieron Rich (Mosella) 111-12-0; Python / Trelawney Mike Jones (Shimano Tipton) 76-10-0; Twin Oaks/Acorn John Chapman (MAP Elton) 89-7-0; Porth Roger Cannock (Atlantic Angling) 19-10-0; Bolingey Simon Fry (Garbolino) 73-8-0..
Day 5 Pollawyn Nigel Evans (Thatchers 2000) 118-11-0; Python / Trelawney Kevin Arathoon (Isis Oxford) 90-0-0; Twin Oaks/Acorn Kevin Shone (Browning Team Cudmore) 75-3-0; Porth Paul Greenwood (Sensas Viaduct) 27-14-0; Bolingey Grant Albutt (FAPS VDE) 98-6-0..

GOULDY’S GOLDEN LUMP
SIMON Gould earned the £50 biggest fish prize for the second week in succession after taming a Bolingey ghostie of 21 lb 7 oz on the final day.
The man who brought hydro elastic to the UK had a similar sized carp in the Preston Innovations festival immediately before the Parkdean event.
Winner of the £100 mystery weight prize was Paul Connell with 96-7-0 in 72nd place.

PARKDEAN FESTIVAL TOP TEN
1st Steve Ringer (Shimano VDE) 35 pts dropping 8 £3000
2nd Simon Willsmore (Milo) 34 pts dropping 8 £1500
3rd Paul Greenwood (Sensas Viaduct) 34 pts dropping 6 £1000
4th John Chapman (MAP Elton Tackle) 34 pts dropping 2 £700
5th Ben Leach (Milo) 33 pts dropping 7 £600
6th Darren Clarke (Breakaway Tackle) 33 pts dropping 6 £500
7th Dave Pimlot (MAP Elton Tackle) 33 pts dropping 4 294-2-0 £400
8th Kieron Rich (Mosella) 33 pts dropping 4 208-13-0 £300
9th Mike Jones (Shimano Tipton) 33 pts dropping 2 £250
10th Darren Cox (Garbolino) 32 pts dropping 7 228-4-0 £200