Despite being battered by strong winds and driving rain, the competitors in this year’s Barbel Masters final certainly delivered, landing nearly 100 fish between them over the 48-hour final. Competing for £13k in cash and over £10k worth of prizes from the event’s sponsors, the 50 finalists battled it out during Storm Amy on the River Trent at A1 Pits.
The winner was Mark Kirkham, who caught 22 barbel for a 198lb 4oz total. Speaking to Mark after the event, he revealed the slightly surreal story behind his path to victory.
“After registering, I wasn’t drawn as one of the anglers to fish in either of the event’s 100-peg qualifiers,” he told us.
“I was one of the last reserves, so I was shocked to get a call months later from Liam Willis, the organiser, asking if I was able to fish the next day!”
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Mark duly accepted and quickly prepared his kit, and around halfway through that match, drew end peg 100, from which he won the event outright with two barbel for 18lb.
“Then, in the 50-peg final, I drew peg 50, which turned out to be the same swim that I qualified from, which I felt could be a good omen!” Mark explained.
Mark’s intuition was certainly proved right, as he caught well from the off and stormed into a healthy lead.
“I’ve got arthritis in my hands, and around halfway in that match, I couldn’t physically hold the rod, so I had to reel in for 14 hours,” he revealed.
Thankfully, Mark’s early run of fish did the damage, with his ‘old school’ tactics scoring.
“I only fish Spam hookbaits and don’t like to feed a bed of bait,” he said.
“I fish one rod on a straight lead and the other on a light feeder, and after the first hour or so, once there’s a little bit of feed in the swim, I switch them both over to leads.”
Mark picked up £5,000 in prize money plus a huge selection of prizes.
“I’ve treated myself to a new bivvy and have got some new wellies — my others had a hole in and I fished the final with a soaked foot!” he told us.
“Although I now automatically qualify for next year’s final, I’m going to volunteer at one of the qualifiers. The lads that run the event were superb throughout, and I want to give something back.”
