It's been said that death, taxes, and leaky waders are inevitabilities in an angler’s life, but Daniel Woolcott might add ‘winning the Drennan Cup’ to that list. For the past five seasons he’s finished in the top four, including two second-placed finishes.
Now, after a blistering 2023/24 campaign, he has his hands on the coveted title. Awards for tench, bream, grayling, roach and chub put him comfortably ahead of Duncan Hayward, who won five awards for fish from the Thames. We caught up with Daniel after breaking the news...
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“It’s been a long journey, but to finally have my name alongside my angling idols on the cup is incredible, I can’t find the words to explain how I feel," he told us.
Daniel began his campaign with an 11lb 1oz tench, followed soon afterwards by a 15lb 15oz bream.
“I plan my season around targeting specific fish at the right time of year,” he said.
“But, when I got those early few awards, plus a 3lb 3oz grayling that winter, I realised I might have a chance. I don’t think you should ever fish specifically for the Cup though."
"You have to do what you enjoy and catching specimen fish shouldn’t just be about ticking a box, it takes effort and the reward is the sense of achievement you get releasing a fish you can only dream of."
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One of the great difficulties of catching big fish by design is the logistics of it, with countless hours on the bank and many hundreds of miles by car being required.
“Some people believe that certain waters are stitched up and can only be fished by a privileged few, but that’s not so,” he said.
“When I caught my grayling this winter, I rang up lots of tackle shops in Scotland to get an idea of where I might find them."
"Temperatures of minus 8C, meant I could snap my worms in half and when I awoke from sleeping in my car, I was greeted with 5 inches on snow."
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It’d be easy for Daniel to put his feet up and spend his year admiring the iconic Drennan Cup. But he’s already back at it, already catching a 3lb 4oz roach with crucians next on the agenda.
How the voting panned out
1st Daniel Woolcott: 22.5%
2nd Duncan Hayward: 14%
3rd Lloyd Watson: 12.5%
4th Dave Robinson: 12%
5th Adam Riches: 10.5%
6th Mark Hewett: 10%
7th Simon Ashton: 9.5%
8th Paul Scowen: 8%
Others: 1%
CAUGHT YOURSELF A FISH THAT IS WORTHY OF A DRENNAN AWARD? FIND OUT HOW TO REGISTER IT HERE.
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