Taking a gamble is always a risk, but it worked for Steve Ringer in this year’s NuFish Feeder King Final at Southfield Reservoirs, winning him the match and the £10,000 top prize that goes with it.
Fished on the East Yorkshire venue in atrocious conditions, the Guru-backed AT columnist looked to be heading nowhere, with only the section to try and win at the halfway point. Deciding to risk it and go for bigger bream, he added more feed to the peg, and it worked a treat to see him home with 15-10-0, almost 5lb clear of runner-up Graham Lewis, Brett Clarke taking third.
“I’ve fished Southfield in the qualifiers for Feeder King through the summer, but always felt that I struggled to get to grips with it,” Steve said.
“After practising the Thursday before the match, I finally felt like I’d got my head around things. Even so, after three hours I wasn’t in the race.”
Drawing peg 53 in pouring rain and strong winds, Steve put in two feeder lines at 62m and 42m, but after two hours with just 3lb in the net, he was fishing for his section at best. Then an angler in his section caught two bream in two casts.
“I knew I had to fish for bream,” said Steve.
“More groundbait with lots of chopped worm and dead maggot went in at 62m and I followed it in with a window feeder, a bigger hook and three dead red maggots. After 12 minutes I caught a 2lb bream and then one of 1lb 8oz. I switched to a rocket cage feeder and nobbled two fish in two casts.”
One more fish followed before Steve changed to his 42m line and snared a big skimmer. Ten minutes remained when he took the decision to fish a bigger feeder, and he landed a 2lb bream. It was job done!
