Week Ending 31st May 2009
Thirteen anglers took part in the Airflo individual qualifiers at Stonebridge fishing lakes on Sunday 31 May in an attempt to secure a place in the International bank final which will be held at Elinor fishery later in the year.
The winner of the final will be crowned Airflo International bank champion and also the top five individual finishers at the finals will possibly form part of the England Small water squad in 2010 and gain an official England cap.
Of the thirteen entrants at Stonebridge, the top four anglers on the day would go through to Elinor but it wasn't going to be easy due to conditions on the day.
The heat wave leading up to the match had induced the sub-surface weed to life so pulling tactics on the day could prove difficult.
Paul Fenny, an inexperienced competition angler, had at the last minute decided to enter after he and his son Ashley had visited Stonebridge earlier in the week and had a super day's fishing with shuttlecock cdc's.
Paul stuck to his game plan and caught 7 fish with the cdc's and took a very well deserved win on the day outfishing some of the seasoned match favorites.
High temperatures met with a flat glass calm were a challenge to all forcing many of the anglers to change and adapt there methods to be in with a chance of qualifying.
Small dry flies and indicator methods were the acquired tactics on the day and wait for the fish to take.
A total of 30 fish were caught but with many missed takes and fish lossed on the barbless hooks there could have been a few more, all in all the anglers fished extremely well on a very tough day.
Qualifiers were -
- Paul Fenny
- Glen Appleby
- Fred Bainbridge
- Ben Bangham
