Defending Supercup champions Stainforth Angling gave a clear signal of their intent to retain the silver trophy in this first of three regional semi-finals. The South Yorkshiremen finished on top by just a single point as they returned a 20-point, six-man team card for the victory.
Snapping at their heels were Old Hough on 21, with Sixfields Warriors completing the top three on 28 points. The remaining two final places went to Trafford Angling and Honeywell AC, who both ended the day on 32 points, with Trafford getting the nod for fourth thanks to having one section winner.
Held on the prolific match lakes at the North Yorkshire fishery, Stainforth based their attack around meat and mugging tactics. They began by trying to catch cruising carp on pellet or meat before changing to fishing on the deck with meat close-in on a top kit, leaving the margins for later on.
Strangely, the edges failed to produce on all lakes, and many anglers struggled for a handful of carp in the final hour – meaning the talking needed to be done early on.
Scoring section wins by Jamie Snedker, who won overall from Sycamore Lake, and Lee Hall, who was third overall from Ash Lake, Stainforth added a second in section from Keith Pearson on Sycamore, a fourth from skipper Mark Price, and two sixth placed finishes from Dave Burley and Gav Millward.
Despite Stainforth’s good showing, it was still mightily close, and Old Hough were left to rue lost fish as many sections were incredibly tight – a few extra pounds potentially scoring half a dozen more points.
Team result (top five qualify for the final): 1 Stainforth Angling, 20pts; 2 Old Hough, 21; 3 Sixfields Warriors, 28; 4 Trafford Angling, 32 (section wins); 5 Honeywell AC, 32; 6 Scunthorpe Pisces, 35; 7 Prison Service North, 37; 8 Hooks 2 Go, 38; 9 St Anthony’s AC, 42; 10 Mersey Dockers AC, 45..
300lb haul nets win for Snedker
In last year’s Supercup Final, Stainforth’s Jamie Snedker enjoyed a dream day at Meadowlands Fishery, winning with a 300lb-plus net to set a record weight for the final – and he was at it again in this match, taking top weight with a massive 311-10-0 off Sycamore Lake at The Oaks.
That was miles ahead of second-placed Bert Poole, of Old Hough, with 189-3-0 off the same lake. Jamie’s team-mate Lee Hall was third from a corner peg on Ash Lake with 173-15-0.
Getting peg 25 from captain Mark Price, Jamie fished the simplest of matches, using one rig in one spot on a top kit all day to land carp to 6lb. In practice, this line had been good only for the first hour or so before it fizzled out. But it kept on getting stronger and stronger until the final hour, 8mm meat on the hook over regular small feeds of 6mm meat giving him a bite or an indication on almost every drop in.
Jamie recalled: “There were so many carp in the peg that the float was never still.
“The fish were swirling on the surface at one point and, without sounding big-headed, with two hours to go I was getting a bit bored. It was a case of drop the rig in, feed and strike.”
Getting through 15 tins of meat as feed, Jamie fished a size 14 hook on 0.18mm line and a 4x16 float, gearing up with 17h Preston Innovations Hollo elastic to get the fish in quickly. The only reason he could give for catching so well was the nature of the bottom that he was fishing over.
“I’d fished other pegs on the lake in practice. They had a very soft, silty bottom on the top kit line, and things quickly died, but on peg 25 it was much harder, and the plummet bounced along it. I can only think that kept the carp grubbing around for longer,” he revealed. “Incredibly, I caught very little in the last hour, so God knows what I’d have weighed if it had been solid all day! I couldn’t do that type of fishing every week. Once is enough for me!”
Individual result: 1 J Snedker, Stainforth Angling, 311-10-0; 2 B Poole, Old Hough, 189-3-0; 3 L Hall, Stainforth Angling, 173-15-0; 4 N Evans, Trafford Angling, 166-2-0; 5 J Hodgkinson, Old Hough, 149-10-0; 6 C Merryfield, Sixfields Warriors, 146-3-0.