This new event for 2022 looks like being a firm fixture in the match calendar for years to come, following well-supported qualifiers and a final at Soudley in which anglers from the North West dominated. Four of the top six places went their way, including that of winner Gareth Charnock.
The Liverpool AS man weighed in 13-13-8 from peg 28 to win the £2,000 main prize and be crowned inaugural Canal Masters champion. Second, from peg 16, was Wigan MG’s Dave Edgerley with 11-2-12, which earned him £1,200, with team mate Dave Walmsley rounding off the top three at peg 27 with 10-8-0 to pocket £1,000.
“I’ve only fished Soudley a few times and it’s totally different to my local Leeds-Liverpool Canal – it’s got more colour in it to begin with!” Gareth said.
“Where I’d drawn, in what’s called the Woods Section, was fancied to win the match so I couldn’t wait to get cracking. The peg looked great, with brambles across where the skimmers and perch lived.
“Keeping it simple, I only fed three lines, one down the middle, one across at 13m to the brambles for skimmers and one at 14.5m down the peg with hemp for roach, then started across,” he continued. “To begin with, I fed groundbait with a little chopped worm and caster, but was plagued by little gudgeon, so I quickly cut the groundbait out and Kinder potted in minced worms and casters. That was miles better, and I caught my first skimmer about 30 minutes later.”
A dozen more skimmers to just over 1lb followed, all on inch-long pieces of worm on a 4x12 rig to an 0.10mm hooklength. The line down the middle failed to produce a bite, which surprised Gareth, because that’s where he expected to catch any big fish.
“With two hours to go I turned to the hemp line down the peg that I’d been feeding from the word go and caught well on this for the rest of the match,” he revealed. “I do a lot of hemp fishing on my local canal and although the roach weren’t massive, there were lots of them – I reckon I had 5lb of them.
“When the scales came, there were only three of us left to weigh, and Dave Edgerley was leading on 11lb. I felt I’d got that but didn’t want to say in case I hadn’t!” Gareth explained. “It was always going to be tight, but 13lb put me in charge, and only Dave Walmsley next to me could ruin the job. He’d caught only one skimmer and reckoned on having 9lb of roach to go with it, which was right, as he finished on 10lb.
“The £2,000 pick-up was very welcome, but what’s more important is seeing the event be a success. I’m sure there’ll be more qualifiers next year and it’ll be even bigger with more venues, more anglers and more money in the pot,” he concluded.
Result: 1 G Charnock, Liverpool AS, 13-13-8; 2 D Edgerley, Wigan MG, 11-1-12; 3 D Walmsley, Wigan MG, 10-8-0; 4 S Preece, Cresta/Gamakatsu, 9-5-4; 5 S Dudley, Sensas Black Country, 8-12-8; 6 R Yates, Matrix Leigh Tackle & Bait, 6-15-8.
An Angling Times membership enhances your experience of being part of a fishing community. Alongside the award-winning magazine content, a membership gives you all the tools and inspiration you need to put more fish in the net, whatever you fish. BECOME A MEMBER BY CLICKING HERE!