The whistle has blown, the points counted and it’s a massive congratulations to James who won this year’s Blogger’s Challenge! And also top work George for a very hard fought second place.
It was interesting to watch James’ pursuit of giant fish verses George’s more systematic approach. And I very much enjoyed George’s occasional commentary on the challenge as a whole.
| River | Stillwater | Canal | Overall | |
| James Denison | 595 | 307 | 257 | 1159 |
| George Burton | 295 | 349 | 299 | 943 |
| Brian Roberts | 449 | 354 | 58 | 861 |
| Russell Hilton | 284 | 140 | 259 | 684 |
| Danny Everitt | 244 | 245 | 160 | 649 |
| Ben Hennessy | 196 | 147 | 157 | 499 |
| Lee Poultney | 251 | 130 | 84 | 465 |
| Sean Dowling | 316 | 37 | 95 | 447 |
| Mick Newey | 376 | 10 | 33 | 419 |
| Dave Williams | 162 | 133 | 53 | 349 |
| Joe Chatterton | 242 | 105 | 0 | 347 |
| Dave Sargent | 195 | 0 | 0 | 195 |
| Harvey Burton | 29 | 38 | 31 | 99 |
| Nathan Walter | 95 | 0 | 0 | 95 |
Personally it was great getting out fishing for species I normally neglect, although if I enter the next one I’m going to have to spend more time on the canals - my poor canal total really let me down.
I tend to get obsessed with one or two species (normally pike and barbel) and I’m not one for sitting still, but the challenge has expanded my fishing - new locations and long forgotten techniques.
I know a lot of the guys don’t get much time on the water and have limited local venues, so I was lucky to have both. And I managed third place - bonus - I’m more than happy with that!
My full list of fish is here. But fish that spring to mind are stalking the orfe, beating my tench and crucian personal bests, my first Thames zander and poaching a river carp out of James’ swim - great fun!
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Apart from the obvious (James winning), for me your campaign was exceptional Brian
ReplyDeleteFor a self confessed predator hunter to target and catch the fish you have was a very impressive performance indeed
Well done matey!!
Cheers, was a lot of fun.
DeleteEven James was struggling to add points towards the end, and I thought you were going to get a lot closer. Next time I’m going to give the canals more of a thrashing - we can beat him :-)
Must admit I had a clear plan to put 100+ points on over the last four days but the weather scuppered that...again!
DeleteAs you say, next time...
Some cracking fish there Brian, I was watching your river points with interest as I wanted to maintain 2nd place and your last few captures really did put you out of reach.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest pools, lakes and fish other than Zander on the canal are not really for me but maybe if we do it again I'll make more of an effort.
I didn't even register some of the fish I caught for example, maybe I should have. Enjoyed it overall mind you. James is just a machine....:)
Thanks, I had a bit of a run on the rivers for the last couple of weeks - I seemed to catch everything I fished for!
DeleteCanals let me down, no excuse there are loads of them around here but they are so busy - I’ll dodge cyclists, joggers and nutters for pike but not bleak and rudd (perhaps next time).
And I didn’t get photos of my biggest perch, eel and gudgeon but I’ve worked it out and it wouldn’t have affected my overall position.
James is an exceptional fisherman - but I have a theory he’s actually twins and between them they maintain a 24 hour presence on the water - the only way to explain it!!
Good morning Chaps, it was great fun and hats to all for the effort, I honestly thought whilst I was in Asia to find myself down the table, not knowing the weather was atrocious pretty much the entire time I was away!
ReplyDeleteWe shall have to do it again, what with my bundle of joy on its way time will be a little on the restricted side.
pffffttt, who am I kidding! I'll be out everyday :)
Exceptional?? doubtful, just bloody lucky sometimes.
PS don't throw that rod away mate, I may need that again !!!
Yeah, you buggered off for six weeks and the weather turned to sh*t, can’t argue with luck like that! But some awesome fish, that brace of pike and the brace of carp - either would have made anyone’s season.
DeleteEven with the baby on the way I still vote we don’t tell you about the challenge until the rest of us are six months in next time!
And you told me to throw that rod away every time you saw it for two years... And now it has your PB crucian carved into it... Still makes me smile :-)
Well in everyone
ReplyDeleteGents, I've watched this with interestsonce starting a blog late last year... I can't help but wonder whether there's a bloggers challenge for this year? Cheers, Tim
ReplyDelete