Seven five youngsters lined the banks of Phase 1 at BW Makin Fisheries, split up into three age groups on Lakes 2, 4 and 5, with young 12-year-old Sam Hunter, fishing for Barnsley Juniors, setting the field alight with a fantastic 79lb 2oz of mainly carp to take the top prizes and trophy in the third year of this brilliant event from peg 6 on Lake 5… and Sam has only been fishing for two years! I wonder if the legendary Denis White has been waving his magical ‘coaching wand’ again?

Pole, Method feeder and Pellet waggler were all the rage amongst the field as carp after carp were landed, accounting for the bigger weights on sweetcorn, red maggot and pellet, but 13-year-old Matthew Dickinson, fishing for Smartbait Leeds, had to settle for second spot with a level 78lb, despite netting no less than 32 fish from peg 20 on Lake 4.

The ‘seniors’ didn’t get a look in on the ‘top table’ as 14-year-old Brandon Fowler, representing Barnsley Juniors (another one Denis?), snatched 3rd place overall with 74lb of mainly carp from peg 13 on Lake 4. The closest the older lads and lasses, fishing over on Lake 2, got to the podium was with 16-year-old Adam Firth (Coventry Canal Juniors) who bagged 73lb 4oz of carp. 

No losers at Wolvey though as the sponsors ensured that every single youngster was presented with an excellent prize at the Axe and Compass PH by non-other than the ‘Makin Bagging Machine’ himself … Andy ‘The Fin’ Findlay!

Special thanks must go to competition organisers, Mark Perkins (Dynamite Baits) and Tim Aplin at Matchman Supplies in Nottingham, for all the hard work they put in to make this festival of young angling such a success. The future of match angling, both at home and at international level, looks safe and secure in these up-and-coming hands.