The quest to be crowned 2022 Maver Mega Match This champion went right down to the wire in a tense final at Maver/Dynamite Baits Hayfield Lakes. Any one of three anglers was in with a shout as the final minutes ticked by – but there could, of course, only be one winner.
That was Sam Brown, the Hinckley-based angler lifting the famous trophy and pocketing the £50,000 winner’s cheque after weighing in 98-5-0. It was a performance that saw the Maver/Dynamite Baits-backed ace finish just 2lb 8oz clear of former champ Jamie Hughes on 95-13-0, another ex-winner Andy Power taking third on 86-13-0.
With an hour to go, all three anglers, pegged on Little Adam’s Lake, were in the running – Sam turning his attention to his margins on peg 6, Andy on peg 10 flogging the pellet waggler relentlessly while Jamie, at peg 2, went on the waggler after a fine run on his secret perch line.
At the whistle, early front runner Sam felt he had just over 90lb, Jamie around 80lb and Andy 90lb or so. Power seemed favourite with many, but it turned out that the carp that he’d caught were smaller than first thought, and he had to settle for £2,500 in third.
Jamie caught well early and had a little run on the waggler late, filling an hour in between with a fast and furious perch session on a top kit that caught him 20lb of them. Weighing 95lb, it seemed that he might become the first angler to have his name on the trophy twice.
That was until the scales got to 30-year-old Sam. A super start mugging, a few on the bomb and pellet waggler mid-match and then a run of margin fish added up to his winning finish.
“I’ve been fishing the big qualifiers since 2013 and they’re the only things I fish in summer, but I was beginning to think I’d never win one!” Sam said. “I’ve been in five Match This finals and was second in Fish O’Mania last year. It all went right for me this time, because I went with a plan, and it worked.”
Here, Sam explains how he became the 2022 champion…
That’s the plan sorted
“On three practice matches I’d worked out what was needed to catch in the edge, so I went with a game plan of catching what I could early on and then having a strong finish in the margins.
“Drawing peg 6 on Little Adam’s was ideal, giving me a bit of room down my left-hand margin and when Griff (Mark Griffiths, Sam’s bankrunner) and I arrived, the wind was blowing slightly into the bank and a lot of fish were cruising about.
“The plan was to start on pellet short, then go long on the pole with pellet deep and shallow, alternated with the bomb, and then finish in the edge.
“With 10 minutes to go before the start, the wind picked up and there were a lot of fish in front of me, swimming around slowly just under the surface – perfect for mugging. Anywhere from 5m to 30m out I could see fish, so I set a mugging rig up at the last minute and agreed with Griff to start on this. It knocked me off my stride, but there were too many fish to ignore!”
Off to a flyer
“Fishing a 6mm pellet shallow, it was a case of spotting a fish and whizzing the pole out quickly to it. In the first hour, I had seven carp around 5lb apiece for just over 30lb and was happy. Then a layer of scum got blown into the peg. It meant the muggers didn’t stay long, so I went out to 14m shallow with 6mm pellet where I’d been feeding, slapped the rig twice and had the elastic pulled out! But that was my only bite there for 30 minutes.
“Moving on to the bomb at 30m where I could fire in 8mm pellets, I picked off two more carp, but I didn’t feel there were many fish there. Ben Bell, on my right, had a good run of fish on the pellet wag, so I decided to try it, casting to where I’d been feeding the bomb.
“I caught one carp, but it was my only bite as the wind had got stronger and I couldn’t feed far enough! Nothing happened on the bomb or pole, so I switched to the margins.”
The edge – it’s all or nothing
“With three hours to go, I began to trickle in a few 6mm pellets to the platform in the swim to my left. Andy Power was leading, but I wasn’t far behind. The margin had to produce, though!
There were 90 minutes to go when I had a look, fishing a 6mm pellet and tapping in just six pellets over the top. After 10 minutes, I had a liner and then a proper bite from an 8lb carp.
“Normally, you’d big pot an edge with groundbait or micro pellets, but this brought in too many small fish. By feeding a few pellets at a time, I could pick out the bigger carp. It was never going to be one a chuck, but one carp every 15 minutes would be as quick as how anyone else was catching on other methods, and the fish should be a bit bigger.
“It did take a lot of nerve to sit and wait, but I had utter confidence and I think I ended up with six carp between 6lb and 8lb, including one with five minutes to go.”
Have I done enough?
“Andy was my main threat and I reckoned on having around 95lb, which might not be enough if he had caught 100lb, as some people thought he had.
“The spanner in the works was Jamie Hughes opposite me on peg 2. I never had him in the equation, but when he weighed 95lb, I told Griff that I reckoned I was going to just miss out.
“To see those fish go 98lb was an immense relief, but then I had to do it all over again when the scales got to Andy on peg 10! I felt better when I saw that he only had three nets in and that his carp were on the small side.
“I’d got it – only just, but who cares? After so many finals with nothing to show, to finally get over the line is brilliant.”
