Daiwa Hallcroft Dealer Day June 2011

When I arrived the atmosphere was already building, the café crowded with anglers stocking up on large breakfasts and steaming mugs of tea and coffee. As I walked round taking a few pictures, talk of tactics, baits, and peg potential kept coming my way as I passed the tables. Soon it was time for the draw and a long queue of anglers found out their fate and made their way out to the car park and off to their pegs. The café was empty, suddenly quiet, as the serious business of the day got underway.
Although there is a social element to the day, the fishing is taken very seriously, and as I wandered round taking a few pictures, as with previous events I have attended, I was totally impressed by the thought and organisation that goes into match angling these days.
As everyone was setting up the weather was glorious, if you like sun bathing, with a strong sun shining down from a cloudless sky, but the forecast was for showers, some of them heavy. The sunny weather was to be a factor as it was also apparent as I walked round that spawning had recently taken place and that not all the fish where focussed on feeding. As the day progressed Moat and Canal were producing the more consistent fishing, with some of the anglers on Bridge finding the fishing hard going and a downpour (one of the forecast showers!) around midday didn’t help. It was obvious that tactical decisions were going to be vital to the results, as some anglers focussed on the silver fish, whilst others targeted the carp.
With the final hooter, I followed the Hallcroft weighing squad, first round the Canal Pool, and then onto Bridge Pool, (another weighing squad were covering Moat inner and outer). I’m always totally impressed with the speed and efficiency that the weighing team can get round a Pool, and it’s also interesting to see the tension in the anglers faces as they try to get an idea of who is in the frame and who has just missed out. I suppose it’s just like us carp guys as the fish circles just off the net.
Then it was back to the café, where the Hallcroft staff had put on a superb buffet, and as I stood in the queue to fill my plate, again I caught snippets of conversation, from how well to how badly they had done, to next time, when I get that dream draw, it will be different. I couldn’t help think, if it’s like this for a social event, what must it be like for a Fish-0-Mania final or something similar.
The results were compiled, Robin Morley, Daiwa Director (Sales and Marketing), thanked everyone for coming along, and hoped they’d had a great day and then it was time for the presentations. The full results follow this write up, but a special mention to the overall winner Phil Allton. I spoke to Phil afterwards and he’s had some good results in previous Dealer Matches so obviously the man to beat in future years.
As the winner, I thought it would also be interesting to get Phil’s take on the match so I asked him for a brief summary of his match he told me …
“When I got to my peg, it looked good with the wind blowing right to left. As I was setting up there were fish topping in front of me and with the sunny conditions I thought they might be up in the water so thought I would try shallow. Started with half cups of pellet and meat on the hook, but nothing. Switched to feeding 6mm pellet with same on the hook and had four carp on the trot. I kept with the same tactics and continued to pick off odd fish until the downpour which wiped out all of my 6mm pellets. I switched to 8mm and the same tactics and despite the angler in the next swim switching to the same tactic and catching steadily, I just managed to stay ahead”.
So we’d come to the end of another Daiwa Dealer match, I got the impression that although the fishing had been a bit tough in some sections, everyone had had a great day overall, in no small part to our hosts for the day, so just to finish could I on behalf of Daiwa thank all the Daiwa Hallcroft staff especially Terry, Luke, Nick, and all the girls for helping make the day such a success.
Time for me to get my bivvy out and go fishing, I’d really enjoyed my day at Daiwa Hallcroft and I’d been treated to some great displays of angling skill, but this match fishing scene seems a lot like hard work for me, I think I’ll stick to getting the buzzers out and waiting for the fish to hang themselves on!
Daiwa Trade Match 2011 - Overall results
1st Phil Allton (Carters) - Moat Outer 10 - 84-2-0
2nd Jason White (Subfish) - Moat Outer 14 - 65-2-0
3rd Martin Ulyett (Wickersley) - Canal 10 - 61-12-0
4th Aiden Borden (Tight Lines) - Canal 12 - 61-0-0
5th Eddie Buxton (Leegem) - Canal 8 - 60-2-0
6th Mike Holmes (Fisherman) - Moat Outer 24 - 59-6-0

Section results

 
Section winner
Runner up

1
Eddie Buxton - 60-2-0
Darren Stanton (Fisherman) - 56-4-0

2
Mike Holmes - 59-6-0
Keith Jones (Elton Tackle) - 41-12-0

3
Chris Hall (D&S Angling) – 17-4-0
Geoff Hogden (Tight Lines) – 15-1-0

4
Paul Kenmore (Smithy’s) – 16-1-0
Pete Swan (Angling Direct) – 14-6-0

5
John Smalley (Mill View) - 54-11-0
Wullie Scott (Springwater) – 44-8-0

6
Colin Perry (Nathans) – 28-9-0
Mark Wilkinson (Chapman’s) – 26-9-0

7
Dean Swift (Angling Direct) – 29-15-0
Richard Swan (Gone Fishing) - 19-6-0

8
Gary Underwood (Gone Fishing) – 45-6-0
Martin Kaye (Elton Tackle) – 34-4-0

9
Franck Staniuszko – 28-10-0
Robert Minnikin (D&S Angling) – 23-12-0

10
Colin Spender (Guiseley A. Cen.) – 30-0-0
Roger Finch (Dudley Tackle) – 21-12-0

 
Other prizes
Biggest Fish - Dean Swift (Angling Direct) – Moat Island 49 – 15-0-0
Silverfish - Winner – Franck Staniuszko – Bridge Outer 37 – 28-10-0
Second – J Halliday (Angling Direct) - Bridge Island 20 – 20-5-0