Anglers Paradise just held their annual Lure Weekend which was a great success. Full report from Zenia. The weather was testing, rain, wind and hail but every Angler still stuck it out till the end of the Competition!
There were 20 Lure Anglers that took part and the 4 Teams were Captained by Nathan Edgell from Fladen, David Watkin-Smith from Quantum, Kevin Cox from Fox Rage and David Drake from Drennan. The Competition ran over 2 days of fishing on 4 different Lakes that consisted of our Predator Lake Valhalla, the Specimen Cat Lake, the Trout Lake and the Bottom Cat and Carp Lake at Eldorado of which all Teams fished each Lake in rotation.
In total, there were 11 Pike, 14 Perch, 2 Trout and the 1st ever Anglers Paradise Lure caught Koi and Golden Orfe to come out in the annual Competition, there was also a big Catfish lost, so no Cats were landed this year!
The Winner of the whole Competition was Damon Braxton who caught 3 different Species at a combined length of 108cm, Damon caught a 39.5cm Koi (which is the 1st ever Koi to be caught on a Lure here!) a 10.5cm Rudd and a 58cm Pike. Fladen and Anglers Paradise Sponsored this Event meaning Damon Won a Week’s Holiday for 2 at Anglers Paradise and a huge range of Fladen Predator Tackle, including a Rod, Reel, Lures and Clothing. Damon’s Team Captain was Fladen’s very own Pike King – Nathan Edgell, who was very proud of his Team Member to Win the Competition!
The Runner Up was Lee Paynton who had a Perch and a Pike at a combined length of 92cm, Sponsored by Quantum. Third Place was Tom Wilson who also had a Perch and a Pike with a combined length of 80.5cm, Sponsored by Fladen.
Tom Wilson took the Crown for the Biggest Pike with a respectable 68.5cm Pike from the Specimen Cat Lake, although Nathan Edgell actually caught the Biggest Pike measuring 86cm but as he’s a Team Captain – it doesn’t count!! Tom was in Team Quantum with Captain David Watkin-Smith leading him to Victory! Tom won some pretty special prizes from Quantum including a Spinning Rod, a Spinning Reel, a Specialist Bag, a Rod Guard and other goodies – Thank you so much to Quantum for the amazing Prizes.
Ben Taylor Won the Biggest Trout Category with a lovely 45cm Rainbow Trout, it was hard going on the Trout Lake all weekend but in the end he and Joe Drury were the only 2 to catch Trout on the last day of fishing!! Ben was in Team Fox with Kevin Cox from Fox as Captain (and Joe Drury as stand in Captain on Sunday) who both gave Ben plenty of tips and inspiration to help him win this title! Ben won a Fox Rage set up of a Rod, a Reel and some Lures – Thank you to Fox Rage for the great prizes and for sponsoring this Category.
Lee Paynton caught the biggest Perch measuring 33cm from the Specimen Cat Lake. Lee was in Team Drennan with the wonderful Dave Drake as his Team Captain, Lee won an absolute superb selection of Drennan Lures – he could start up a new Lure Shop with them!! Special thanks to Drennan for the amazing prizes and for sponsoring this category. This was Lee’s 1st ever Lure Weekend with us, and we are so happy that not only did he win but he also shared with us that he loved every minute and will be back for next year’s Anglers Paradise Lure Weekend!
The Winning Team was Team Fox – which consisted of Jim Williams, Ben Taylor, Bex Nelson and Father and Son Dominic and Dylan Cooke, Captained by Kevin Cox, (with help from Joe Drury as stand in on Sunday) knocking Team Fladen’s Nathan Edgell off his Thrown!! They won with 5 species, Pike, Perch, Rudd, Trout and the winning/deciding fish was a Golden Orfe caught by young Dylan Cooke just 10 minutes before the end of last session!!
