The 2018 Angling Trust Division One National Championship was held on the non-tidal River Trent on Saturday 18th August. The team event was held a week after the Individual National Championship, on the same sections of the river.
There were 47 teams who took part in the match, meaning there was a fairly staggering 470 anglers in total. Many had expectations of big weights. The river had been fishing well through the summer and the short spell of cooler damp weather meant the river had risen slightly and had some extra pace.
As with the match the week before, it wasn’t really clear which species or tactics would win the match. With anglers stretched over such varied sections on the river it was unclear if bream, barbel, chub or silverfish would be the target. It must have been quite tough to decide what tackle to take, walking the bank it seemed like most opted for the kitchen sink approach – take one or several of everything!
The team event was won by the pre match favourites, Barnsley & District. Their score of 387 points was 26 ahead of Team Daiwa Dorking who took second place. Worms fished with a maggot feeder paid dividends for Barnsley.
The individual winner of the match was Ian Paulley who fishes for the Preston Innovations Thatchers Team. He drew a peg that every angler in the match would have loved to have pulled out of the bag! The peg at East Stoke was on a section that is owned by the Nottingham Piscotorial Society. Ian fished a feeder over to the far side of the river, which produced 14 barbel and 14 chub and tipped the scales round to 45.800kgs. The day must have given James Robbins from Cadence Fishing a touch of the Green Eyed Monster, he went back a few weeks later to fish the same peg and had a great days fishing. He filmed the session in this fantastic YouTube video.
Top 10 Team Results
- Barnsley & District – 387 points
- Team Daiwa Dorking – 361 points
- Lincoln & District AA – 327 points
- Starlets AS – 325 points
- Lifestyle Match Group – 318 points
- Daiwa Gordon League – 317 points
- Daiwa Doncaster D A A – 311 points
- Scunthorpe Tackle – 309 points
- Shakespeare Superteam Bait Tech – 306 points
- Browning Hotrods – 283 points
Top 10 Individual Results
- Ian Paulley (Preston Innovations Thatchers) – 45kgs 800grams
- Andy Bradley (Mirfield A.C) – 44kgs 200grams
- Darren Taylor (Sensas North) – 43kgs 550grams
- Steve Joy (Matrix Image) – 1kgs 050grams
- Adam Nurse (Wellingborough & District Nene) – 28kgs 0grams
- Bob Ball (Sensas North West) – 23kgs 500grams
- Richard Vaughan (Daiwa Doncaster D.A.A) – 20kgs 950grams
- Roger Wakenshaw (Lincoln & District AA) – 15kgs 520grams
- Craig Halksworth (Browning Hotrods) – 14kgs 540grams
- Steve Webster (Tri-Cast Calder) – 14kgs 50grams
Division One National Championship Photos
These pictures were taken at the Clifton section of the match just after the whistle went. Larger versions of the pictures are available – please drop a line through the contact form with details of your email address and the images you’d like.
