To win this prestigious feeder-only event twice was thought to be too tall an order – until Lee Kerry had his say, that is!
The Preston Innovations-backed England feeder international took the crown for the second year in a row (well, not strictly as last year’s event was cancelled due to Covid), following up his 2019 triumph with more of the same. Finishing with 65-8-0 across the two days, it was incredibly close as Dave Berry ended up second on 63-4-0, Jamie Harrison following him in on 59-6-0.
Lee took the £12,000 top prize with 32-14-0 on day one and 32-10-0 of day two, both matches seeing him net 49 skimmers.
“Tamar is a venue where almost every peg needs a slightly different approach to catch these fish... it’s all about how far out you fish, the depth you have and even how the bottom of the lake is,” he said.
Lee takes up the story of his win...
Making the switch gets results
“Saturday’s match put me on peg 54 of the Devon bank, a good area for skimmers, but, like many, I began by fishing short for roach. After an hour I only had 25 so I switched to the skimmer line at 27m out in around 20ft of water.
“Beginning with a 20g medium window feeder loaded with chopped worm and dead maggots along with F1 Dark and Thatcher’s groundbait, I’d get four or five skimmers quickly and then have to wait a bit.
“I took them whenever they came and fished every cast differently, as in trying a different hookbait or less or more worm in the feeder.
“I changed to a cage window as the match went on, catching on redworms or half a dendra on size 14 N20 hook to a 50cm hooklink of 0.16mm Accu Power. Ending with 49 skimmers and those roach for
32-14-0 I was very happy, being seventh overall but only just over 3lb off the leader. I was in the race most definitely.”
All-out attack for skimmers
“At the draw for day two I got peg 16 on the Cornwall Bank, a good one where skimmers had been showing. This area was much shallower than the one the day before, with about 9ft at 15m out, and it was my main line. Not bothering with roach this time, I fished a cage feeder due to the shallower water with the same groundbait mix, feed and hookbaits and had a good first hour with 10 skimmers.
“Then I had a problem. An hour in, four cormorants turned up, working the water in front of me and the lads nearby. Things went slow and I felt deep down that the birds were going to cost me! After two hours of catching very little, they cleared off and the skimmers came back and got stronger and stronger in the last two hours.
“At times I was catching five or six fish in 10 minutes – casting out, putting the rod in the rest and then getting a pull after 30 to 40 seconds.
“The scales came and I had 49 skimmers again for 32-10-0! I was hoping for a little bit more and felt it was going to be incredibly tight. People kept telling me that no other angler would have enough to beat me, but after seeing how close the weights were on day one, I wasn’t sure.
“And that’s how it was, as Dave Berry was only 2lb 4oz behind me. From first to 10th place overall, there was 13lb covering it. That’s a great match in anyone’s book!”
