South Yorkshire outfit Stainforth Angling finally got their hands on the Supercup in this year’s final after several near misses, scoring 30 points from their six anglers to take the title by just three points.
Their nearest rivals were Mansfield sides Tackle Shack Silver on 33 and Springvale Dukes in third on 37.
Barston and Meadowlands produced the perfect team match, with a mix of both carp and silverfish needed for good points.
Leading the way for the champs was skipper Mark Price, with the overall win at Barston, and Jamie Snedker, who did the same at Meadowlands. They were backed up by another section win from Keith Pearson at Meadowlands and a third from Mick Owen at Barston.
Brendan Haigh chipped in with 10 points, yet it was Gav Millward’s 14-point score that made Mark and the lads think they were going to just miss out once again.
“We thought we’d be second or third, even with three section wins, as we felt we couldn’t carry a second from last in a section and still win.” Mark explained.
“As it turned out, it was a higher-scoring final than normal and most of the leading teams had a bad one in their score.”
Price leads from the front
Most eyes were on famed peg 124 at Barston for the individual honours, but it only came in second as Stainforth skipper Mark Price put in a great captain’s knock to win with 107-14-0 off peg 24 on the river bank. JVAC’s Guy Dew took 97-2-0 for second from 124, with Team Martin’s Dan Martin completing the top three on 87-2-0.
Mark’s match saw him kick off on bomb and pellet at 30m, firing 8mm pellets over the top to net a couple of early carp before changing to skimmers on the short pole with maggots and groundbait, a tactic he didn’t stay on for too long.
“There was a snag and I lost two rigs,” he said.
“Although I caught around 15lb of skimmers, it didn’t feel right. Everyone seemed to be fishing or feeding for carp, so I took a punt on going for big fish.”
Meadowlands form peg winner
While his captain Mark Price was doing his bit at Barston, Jamie Snedker was doing the same at Meadowlands, being handed arguably one of the country’s best match pegs in 1 on Lambsdown Lake – and he made no mistakes with 290-8-0 of carp!
That saw him miles clear of second-placed Paul Stirland, of runners-up Tackle Shack Silver, who had 168-4-0 from next-door peg 3. Elgin AC man Tony Bailey was third from end peg 72 with 139-5-0.
“It was a simple match to fish off what was an absolute dolly of a draw,” Jamie said.
“I spoke to Simon Skelton, who had over 300lb off it in midweek, and he put me right. He told me to stick to the bomb and pellet waggler at 20m and that’s all I fished. I didn’t have to pick the pole up or even think about the margins!”
