Fishweek Pembrokeshire

Pembrokeshire Fish Week 2011. The FBM Holiday Coarse Fishing Championships

Venue   Pembrokeshire Coarse Fishery.                 Date June 2^nd to July 3^rd 2011.

The FBM Holiday Coarse Fishing Championship  had a change of format for the 2011 competition. Previously it was held during the last week of June as part of the Pembrokeshire Fish Week celebrations. This year to provide an opportunity to local anglers and angling coaches who are normally helping out in other events around the county, it was decided to hold the competition over the full month of June. It also gave the tourist anglers a wider time scale in which to visit Pembrokeshire.

Heats took place every Sunday and one evening over the month at the Pembrokeshire Coarse Fishery where forty anglers fought it out to be in the final on July 3^rd 2011 and compete for a winning a share of the £750.00 in prize money.

The first heat on June 5^th got off to an early start with anglers arriving at 7.30 am. On arrival they all walked the banks discussing the pros and cons of each peg which they would prefer or not as the case may be.  By 8.00am the competitors had gathered for a bacon and sausage rolls and tea and coffee, which was on offer at the fishery. At 8.30 am the draw for pegs took place giving the anglers a full hour and thirty minutes to set up before the 10 am start whistle for the five hour match. This was the pattern for the next four heats with the exception of one Thursday evening match which was held during fish week to give visitors who entered in previous years or had specifically booked their holiday to coincide with Pembrokeshire Fish Week an opportunity to participate.

A brief synopsis of the heats.

Heat 1. A bright sunny day, this made the fishing more difficult. Some local anglers of note had entered this heat but found the conditions and layout of the lake more challenging than they had expected. It was won by Major Chris Kidd who adapted quickly to the conditions and changed his tactics accordingly. He finally weighed in a 17.8 kilo bag from peg 20. Mark Close and Tim Peters were second and third respectively so all three had won through to the final.

Heat 2. The weather had changed and the match was fished in a cool wind and heavy persistent rain.  The eventual winner was Kevin Roberts from peg 5 with Pete Edwards and Steve Harrison joining him in the final as 2^nd and 3^rd. Interestingly, Steve was the only angler throughout the whole competition to only weigh in silver fish.

Heat 3. The weather was overcast which is considered good conditions.  Some anglers who had failed to qualify from earlier rounds had returned to try again. There were a few of them who had even been at the venue practising during the week!  The eventual winner was Ian Heaps from peg 3 with 16.1 kilos of carp and silvers. He edged Johnathan Davies 14.4 kilos into 2^nd place. Third was Chris Harrison with 8.7 kilos.

Heat 4. Another warm bright day greeted the anglers. Many the anglers in this heat were pleasure fishermen who normally fish for carp. Match conditions proved to be more difficult as you are limited to pegs and areas where you can cast to. Also certain baits are banned during matches.

As a result it was the lightest bag of all the heats that won through. Keven Abbot  took 6.1 kilos from peg 3 this was enough on the day as second and third place only took 2.5 kilos between them.  But on the day it placed Chris Watts and James Young into the final.

Heat 5. A 3 hour evening match with only two anglers going through to the final. It was won by Colin Bates on peg 1 with 5.3 kilos. Paul Basset joined him in the final from peg 12.

The Final Sunday July 3^rd, a very warm sunny day.

It was notable during the pre match rolls and coffee that through the banter there was an under lying tension amongst the anglers. All had had fought hard to get to this stage and none wanted to be beaten, all hoped for a top four place to be amongst the cash prizes.  As there was now only fourteen anglers through to the final and the water was pegged for twenty, there was great debate about which pegs should remain and which should be removed for the days final.  Having eventually settled on the day’s layout the peg draw took place as normal at 8.30 am.  During the setting up a film crew from Pembrokeshire Fish Week wandered around and recorded the process a copy of which will be available online at a later date. The final match duration was 6 hours and started at 10 am prompt.

As the day progressed it became apparent that most if not all were taking fish. It would eventually come down to who had decided to concentrate on carp as they are bigger , heavier fish or who would chance their arm on the silver fish, roach and rudd  which are smaller but far more plentiful.

Steve Harrison on peg 3 was one who stayed with silver fish and ended the day just under 2 kilos away from the prize money. He stated in an interview after the match that if he had not spent an hour or so trying for that one big carp and stuck with the roach that he could have caught and over taken the winners .Steve ended up in fifth place.

Fourth place and £50.00 went to Jonathan Davies (Narberth) from peg 12   who returned a credible 9.9 kilo bag of mixed fish.

Third place and £100.00 went to Keven Abbot (14^th Signal Regiment Brawdy) from peg 2, he nearly spilled his carp back into the water whilst transferring them to the  weighing sling . Seeing him leaping about trying to lift the carp back into the net and almost falling in the water himself brought a lot of laughter amongst those around him.

Second place and £200.00 went to Chris Kidd(14th Signal Regiment Brawdy)from peg 4. He had a mixed bag but mainly carp of 10.3 kilos.

The winner of the first prize and a cheque of £400.00 and trophy was the fore mentioned fisherman of note. Former World and European champion Ian Heaps (Llawaden). He bagged 11.3 kilos of mixed carp from peg 5.

Mr Tim Brace a partner in FBM Holidays represented his company who sponsor the event  by presenting  the winners with their cheques .

Mr Huw John owner of Pembrokeshire Coarse fishery, also  presented Ian Heaps with the venue’s winner’s trophy.

He then offered his and the competitor’s appreciation to both Mr Tim Brace FBM and Joanne Welch from the fish week team at Pembrokeshire County Council , thanking them for their continuing support in the competition.  All present agreed it in its new format the competition had been a great success and gave an undertaking to run it again in 2012.

Tim Brace, partner of FBM Holidays at the prize giving of Pembrokeshire Fish Week Coarse Fishing Competition