By Martyn Russ
Once again its the time of year where the Carp fishing competitions begin starting with the Junior Welsh Carp Championship being held at Peterstone Lakes in Newport, South Wales. Again the owner of the Birch Carp Syndicate was the host and organisers of the competition ensuring that some of the top tackle companies across the UK sponsored the competition and there were some great prizes up for grabs. The competitions is to run is 3 parts, the first 2 being the main qualifying rounds with the top 5 anglers of each round going through to the final. The young lads that didn't actually qualify will not loose out as they will all receive a medal for taking part and will also receive a free fishing session with all their baits supplied by Pro Baits UK one of the main sponsors.
Like most other carp fishing competitions it was being held over 2 days, 48 hours, with all the anglers having to fish through the night and to try and catch as many carp as they can totalling up the weights as the largest weight of carp caught would win the competition. As this is the first qualifying round the top 5 weights would go through to the final and it wasn't long from the start of the competition the boys were catching and landing those carp and building up the important weight totals.
Qualifier 1 - half Way Results:
Jamie Peg 1- 44lb
Joe R Peg 2- 35lb8
Jacob Peg 3- 20lb 12
Daffydd Peg- 4 8lb
Luke Peg 5- 24lb
Lloyd Peg 6- 70lb 6
Joe T peg 7- 44lb 12
The results at the end of the first day showed that most of the anglers were managing to catch the fish and were slowly building the weights. Last years champion had taken an early lead in the competition and was showing just why he won last year. All the young anglers were showing great skills and fish care when handling the big carp and its nice to see so many newcomers to the sport.
Qualifier 1 final result
1st Lloyd - 79lb 10
2nd Jamie - 74lb 4
3rd Joe T - 62lb
4th Luke - 48lb 6
5th Joe R - 39lb 8
The competition turned out to be a close call as the top 3 anglers to qualify were only one or two fish away from each other and they managed some amazing weights for junior anglers.
The above 5 anglers qualify for the final on the Birch Syndicate Lake and the 2 that's didn't qualify but still did extremely well will get a free session on the Pencil and Swan lake at the same complex with all their bait supplied for them, not a bad runners up prize!
6 th Jacob - 29lb 12
7th Daffydd - 16lb 6
The second round (Qualifier 2) will be held this weekend the 30th April and is set to be yet another good competition. I personally wish them all good luck and can't wait to see what the final brings. Some great young anglers entering the sport and its a great thing for the future of carp fishing.
Wet Nets & tight Lines