Emma Pickering put in a stunning performance from an unfancied peg to take the title and £10,000 winner’s cheque in this year's Drennan Ultimate Bomb & Feeder Champs Final.
There were high hopes that the venue would respond positively after a period of higher temperatures, but the fish remained moody and she pounced on that by using suitable tactics to catch 68lb 7oz from peg 79 on Bonsai Lake.
Emma’s regular visits to the complex gave her an edge when working out how to approach her swim and Angling Times caught up with her to find out exactly how she won the competition in its debut year.
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“There were four lakes being used for the final and I felt that Laurels would be the one to draw as it has been the most consistent when it comes to throwing up a big weight," Emma informed us.
“When peg 79 on Bonsai stuck to my hand, I was disappointed to say the least as I didn’t think it would be able to compete. That said, I’d drawn a few pegs away earlier in winter and won from it and that gave me food for thought," she added.
“My dad has installed the mentality of always fishing to win outright, and that is what I planned to do."
Emma decided on fishing three lines to keep her options open, but not spread the fish out too much. Fishing to an island with 6mm pellets, a Hybrid feeder off to the right of the swim and a corn line down the middle left her confident if the fish were there, she could catch them!
“I kicked off on bomb and corn into the gap, loosefeeding a few grains over the top every now and then. It’s been important to be cautious at Lindholme this winter as the fish haven’t wanted to graze over beds of bait, but with the temperatures on the up, I felt I had to be a tad more positive if I wanted to stand any chance of winning.
“I had 10 F1s on this in the first hour and while they weren’t particularly big, I’d been putting fish in the net while others struggled.
“Once that dried up my attention switched to the island on the left where I’d been dripping in 6mm pellets. It didn’t take long for my bomb and pellet attack to produce and another 10 came in 40-minutes. A couple of casts without any indications told me it was time to switch to the right island, and the Hybrid then threw up six better fish quite quickly."
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During the middle section of the match Emma decided to rotate the lines and just catch two or three at a time before switching. It worked well and made sure she was regularly putting fish in the net. She did experience a short period where every line seemed to be dying.
"I text my dad to tell him the pegs seemed to be fading, but he told me to stick at it and keep busy to try and find the next run of bites," Emma said.
“That’s exactly what I did and in the final hour the 6mm pellets line came alive again, producing 11 F1s in no time at all.”
“I’m terrible at estimating my weight and I thought my 51 fish would weigh around 50lb. In my mind, that wasn’t going to be enough to win the title.
“Once I’d weighed in just over 68lb, I saw my dad’s face. I knew he thought I had a chance, and I got a bit jittery to say the least!
“Laurels had supposedly thrown up a good weight, but when word got back to me it was 51lb, I knew I’d done it, and I was absolutely ecstatic!
“In truth it still hasn’t sunk in, but I feel so proud. It’s a big win for me, but it’s also a big win for female anglers. I hope this inspires more of them to get involved in big money matches because this proves that with effort and application, we can beat the lads!
“It’s my daughter’s 18th birthday this year so I’ll be treating her to a holiday and she’s also learning to drive so I’m sure the money will come in handy helping her on that front too.”
