Chaos reigned in the aftermath of this event, as an admin error saw Sensas Manor Angling crowned champions, only to have the title taken back days later and Stroud AC declared the new winners.
That sparked a firestorm of anger on social media, never mind the deep disappointment felt by the Manor lads, the change seeing the original top three teams bumped down a place, with Cresta Peterborough losing their bronze medals and Drennan NW demoted to third.
Why it took so long to spot the error is unknown, but on a National event carrying this level of prestige and importance for the 32 teams fishing, all that can be hoped for is that such a blunder and the resulting fallout never happens again.
And although Stroud can now celebrate being champs, their 15 minutes of fame was denied, with no chance to receive the applause of their angling brethren and no team photos to look back on and cherish. It’s a victory, but a bit of a hollow one.
Double delight for Stroud lads
Scoring 108 points was enough to see Stroud win – just two points clear of Sensas Manor Angling, with Drennan NW and Cresta Peterborough tying on 112 points apiece in third, but total weight seeing Drennan get the nod by 23-665 to 23-265. Stroud also supplied the individual winner in Greg Wood, making it a win double, rarely seen at a National.
“It’s all a bit of a shame really. Human error happens, and we’re not complaining as we were delighted just to be originally promoted, never mind win!” said Stroud skipper Andy Freeman.
“We’re just a club team, so to compete with and beat some big names gives us a lot of satisfaction – and the Division One National next year is on our local Gloucester Canal, so practice won’t be a problem. The only thing that took the shine off it was not being able to go up and get the trophy in front of everyone else – but we certainly made up for it with the celebrations in the days after we were announced winners!”
Small-fish attack pays off
“The river didn’t suit us because we’re more canal and commercial fishery anglers, but a few lads went down for a recce for a week,” explained Andy. “We also walked the Evesham Festival a few weeks before and had one of our lads, Sean Grange, fish the Individual National.
“It seemed that 2kg a man would get good points in every section, so it would be a case of keeping something going in the net and only trying for a big fish if you felt the peg had one in it.
“If the peg had slack water close-in, bait-dropping worms for perch was an absolute must, otherwise it was the waggler or stick float, feeding hemp and caster for a bit of everything until this died. Then it was on the pole until the end,” he revealed. “Hemp played a part at Evesham, where Sean fished it all-match long and Greg drew the best peg on the match and had one of the easiest days’ fishing I think he’ll ever have.
“Like I said, promotion would have been enough so to win, even four days after the event, is brilliant and we can’t wait for the Division One next year – Lobby’s Tackle are our local rivals who sort our bait for us, so it’ll be great to go up against them and see who comes out on top!” he added.
Top man helps Stroud up a peg
The race for individual glory once again centred on a few pegs in H section on Evesham common, where the Individual National had been won from the week before. Lifting the trophy was Stroud AC’s Greg Wood as he won relatively comfortably off peg 6, netting 12-000 of skimmers and pommies on groundbait feeder and maggot or worm, which more importantly secured top points towards his team’s winning score.
Second off next-door peg 7 was Brian Bygrave of Colin Barlow AC as he found the skimmers and pommies on the feeder, taking 7-910 of them to the scales to just edge past Alan Barnes of Cadence NW on peg 7 with another net on the feeder worth 7-820 when the scales came calling.
“Around two hours in, a bank walker told me I was on the peg that had won the Individual National the week before – no pressure then!” Greg said. “I’d had a really good start though, casting the feeder three quarters of the way over into deep water catching skimmers and pommies, so I could see why it was such a good peg.”
“As the match went on, the bites did fade a little, so I changed from a worm head on the hook to double maggot and that kept the bites coming,” he continued.
“My fish also seemed to be a bit bigger stamp than those around me. I fed fishmeal groundbait, so perhaps that’s why, but at one point I was getting a little worried as Alan and Brian near me were catching well and when you can’t see the size of fish they’re landing, you can never quite relax.”
Team result: Stroud AC, 108pts; 2 Sensas Manor Angling, 110pts; 3 Drennan NW, 112 (23-665); 4 Cresta Peterborough, 112 (23-265); 5 Cadence NW, 118 (25-765); 6 Tri-Cast Calder, 118 (20-295); 7 Wagglers AC, 120; 8 Colin Barlow AC, 130; 9 Loughborough Soar AS, 133; 10 Future Fishing, 135 (20-082); 11 Sensas WS, 135 (19-405); 12 Tubertini Ludlow, 134; 13 Sensas NW, 145; 14 Bridgnorth AS, 151; 15 Notts AA, 153; 16 Sensas Worcester, 160; 17 Radcliffe on Trent AS, 166; 18 Mosella Bathampton, 170; 19 Storey’s Halesowen RBL, 178; 20 Matlock AS, 179; 21 Maidenhead AC, 184; 22 Clanfield AC, 188; 23 Worksop DAA, 189; 24 Sensas Storey’s Tackle, 190; 25 Alcester AC, 191; 26 Northampton Nene AC, 196; 27 LF Red, 200; 28 LF Orange, 204; 29 Swindon, 213; 30 CRT AC, 225; 31 CRT Ladies, 230; 32 LF Yellow, 274.
Individual result: 1 G Wood, Stroud AC, 12-000; 2 B Bygrave, Colin Barlow AC 7-910; 3 A Barnes, Cadence NW, 7-820; 4 S Reidy, Sensas Manor Angling, 7-660; 5 K Tallett, Wagglers AC, 6-860; 6 D Harpin, Maidenhead AC, 6-220.