The Maver Match This final went right down to the wire, and it was James Howarth that just about did enough to lift the prestigious title.
A close encounter was expected with such an elite standard of competitor, but nobody envisaged just how tight it would be as the Guru-backed angler banked a last-gasp carp to edge past commercial match fishing icon Jamie Hughes.
That lump saw the eventual champion bring 187lb 12oz to the scales to stop Jamie’s 184lb 1oz netful from claiming back-to-back titles. Tom Edwards finished third on 173lb 13oz and over half of the 25-man field caught over 100lb.
Angling Times caught up with James to get an insight into the tactics that helped him come out on top.
FANCIED HOTSPOT
“Match peg 11 on Big Adams (permanent peg 35) had been in great form in the lead up to the event and I felt I had a chance of competing when I drew it.
“The plan was to start on hard pellets on the short pole, but when that didn’t produce a single bite in the first 15-minutes, it was time to go on to the long pole line.
“I’d been feeding 6mm hard pellets over it and my 8mm hookbait presented over the top produced two carp, but it just didn’t feel like there were that many big fish on the deck.
“Andy Bennett was my bank runner, and we decided to start blasting in casters on the long pole to try and get the fish competing shallow.
“This was something that I’d never considered ay Hayfield until Andy gave it a go while struggling a few weeks ago at the venue and caught well.
“I started loosefeeding the area to draw the fish in and as I primed it, I used a mugging rig to try and pick off the occasional cruising carp. That produced another two carp before I felt it was time to drop shallow.
“With over an hour gone and a few people getting into a rhythm, it really needed to work to make sure I didn’t fall too far behind and out of the race.”
THE BEST FISHING POLES ARE ESSENTIAL FOR COMPETING AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL.
SHALLOW SUCCESS
“The long pole line was well over 10ft deep and I set my rig to 2.5ft. Hayfield is also home to a lot of skimmers, and I had a feeling they’d play a big part on the shallow line if it worked.
“That is exactly how it panned out, and by making slight depth adjustments the float kept going under and in the next three hours I caught plenty of carp, with around 45lb of skimmers going into the net too.
“I wasn’t alone in catching well though, and I felt my margins would need to come good to keep me in contention.”
MARGIN FRUSTRATION
“The margins felt a little too deep and I potted some dead maggots in and let them settle for a period. When I dropped on top I caught one, and lost four that were almost certainly foul hooked.
“More bait was added to try and get them settled on the deck and while I allowed that to settle, I went shallow and caught another two carp and a couple of big skimmers.
“My next visit down the edge was a different story and I caught three in as many chucks, before it was manic in the final 20-minutes. Another five went into my nets in that period, with one just before the whistle went.
“Andy had been keeping a tally of what I’d caught, and he’d estimated I was on 166lb which was going to be short of what was needed.
“But I’ve been slightly short on estimating big carp weights in the past and hoped that I was off the mark again this time!
“Thankfully I was, and my 187lb 12oz was just over 3lb better than what Jamie had. His last-gasp fish was a skimmer and mine was a 9lb carp, and that’s what has made the difference.
“It’s a struggle to explain what this means to me as I’ve worked so hard to land one of the big titles. My better half and I are expecting our second child soon and the money will come in very handy for that, but I think a celebratory holiday will be on the agenda too!”
RESULT: 1 J Howarth, Guru, 187-12-0; 2 J Hughes, Matrix/SonuBaits, 184-1-0; 3 T Edwards, Daiwa, 173-13-0; 4 R Swan, Guru, 173-6-0; 5 J Brooks, Drennan, 161-12-0; 6 R Lidgard, 155-5-0.
