He likes it here and could do well.
Matty Barker has not held the title since Jason stole it off him at that match 2 years ago so he will be desperate to win it back for the north. He isn't as sharp as he has been though so that makes the match more wide open than other years, despite being favourite again !
Julian Barker should feature if he turns up, as should CB Senior Barker who wants to have the best birthday present ever by taking the title. He has improved each time in the last 3 years.
Rick Barker is the current champion after a hard fought win last year at Porth but flopped here 2 years ago only managing 7th ! He can only improve on that, and won 2 of his 3 titles here back in 1999 and 2000. Brother Bear on the other hand has tried and tried to take glory but has failed each time. He won a weak novice event with his school here 8 years ago but his match figures at Retallack since that day read 3343. Never write him off but has a reputation as a lazy angler sometimes.
Justin Metherell is fishing better than ever after taking up the sport 2 years ago and is another big challenger to the title. He won biggest fish honours last season, but isn't too familiar with the venue here so that could be a disadvantage to him perhaps...we'll see.
Sean Haley is a newcomer and they usually get taught a lesson but his determination is strong and he has practiced more than anyone in the build up to this match. He looks to take over the Haley name where Gary used to be.
Jack Keeling struggled here 2 years ago but can get better no doubt, Dash has never done much in recent seasons while Matt Johns has a nasty habit of being late on match days.
Jemma Girdler is the woman's champion and if entering will be looking to get a good catch in the bag.
HOURS 1-2
The weather was quite warm and windy as the anglers kicked off the match and it was Matty who set the early pace by bagging several pounds of fish in the early hours to take a commanding lead.
Jason got off to a slow start and didn't have much more than an average sized bream in his net come 2 hours while Bear was targeting very small roach out in front of him. Rick was struggling at this stage having took a few small roach and was now fishing in some reed beds on worms.
Sean Had very little in the way of fish after 2 hours with just 3 or 4 roach and couldn't find much in his swim despite fishing into some weedy cover spots. Justin had had no luck so far on his rod as he targeted some larger fish early doors.
HOURS 3-4
As the match progressed, some anglers began to struggle. Matty had been taking a few small skimmers just out from the bank when suddenly he stopped getting bites as the fish just seemed to move away. Other anglers who were now catching had a great chance of taking the lead. However, Justin was in real trouble as he began the final hour still without even a bite and his tactics seemed to be going wrong.
For Sean, he began picking up some small fish during hour 4 but wasn't catching them as quickly as he'd like to. For Bear, the fish just kept coming thick and fast but the main problem was that they were really tiny but at least he was catching.
Jason continued to wait for better fish on worms and put another good bream in the net at the half way stage to possibly grab the lead. Rick gave up fishing the margins and decided to fish for the roach that kept rising in front of him after only getting an average sized perch in the reeds.
FINAL HOUR
Things turned from bad to worse for the high peg numbers as Matty and Justin couldn't get a bite in the final hour between them. Sean was still catching too slowly to make an impact on the leaders and it seemed the winner was going to come from the lower pegs contested by Bear, Rick and Jason. Rick was now catching furiously and the weight was sacking up while Bear was netting them at a similar rate but the fish were so much smaller and he could only look on as three to four
massive bream cruised by his peg basking on the surface ! Jason looked confident as he slipped the net under a monster bream in the final hour and a good sized tench bringing back memories of FM2000 when he did the same thing right at the death.
With jus20 minutes to go, Jason could do no more as he had got his fish for the day and Bear may have been just slipping behind at this stage. Rick though continued his amazing blitz on the shoal in front of him and took at least 12 fish in the final 10 minutes to set up a real tense finish.
Had Jason done enough with his biggies? , had Rick done just enough or perhaps Matty or Bear had more than they all thought. The weigh in was exciting.....
The match went right to the wire while there were a few shock poor performances along the way. Read the review below;
Rick Barker - 1st- It's taken a while to find his form again after some poor matches but now he is back to his best. Retaining the title is a different kettle of fish altogether than just winning it on it's own and now Rick has the chance of grabbing the hat trick next year. Had to fish very hard to get the amount of fish he needed to pip Jason on the line but in the end timed his catching almost to perfection. This was his 4th FM title in 8 years. ! 9/10
Jason Hoare - 2nd- Showed real class to catch some monster fish during the 5 hour event. He did it in 2004 to win and almost did it again. A few more struts would have given him victory. However, his patience and light tactics gave him a great net of quality fish in the end. No one else had a fish over half a pound so he easily won the biggest fish title for the 3rd time in 4 years. Well done beardo ! 9/10
Bear Barker - 3rd- This was his 8th match and who would have thought that he would still be seeking his first win after all this time ? His best match is still a weak runners up spot at FM2003 and he again only managed a place here at Retallack. He caught more fish than anyone on the day but was again beaten quite easily. He doesn't seem to have the killer instinct to get his neck in front and the long wait for silverware continues for now... . 5/10
Matty Barker - 4th- His glory days are becoming a bit of a distant memory these days. That's 3 years without the title after 3 years of pure domination when no-one thought he could be stopped. This year he was well beaten again as his peg dried up of fish he said. Needs to dig deep to return to the glory years 5/10
Sean Haley - 5th - Newcomer Sean is still very young and learning and will improve as the years pass no doubt. On this day he didn't really find any decent fish or put that many struts in his net and was eventually outclassed. Still, he wasn't last and there's been worse performances in matches so he should be back next year. 4/10
Justin Metherell - 6th- Went all out to catch a monster which is very risky in itself as if nothing shows up, the keep net remains very dry and that is exactly what happened. You never know if the fish may be there but it seems that those tactics were the wrong choice on the day. He should bounce back though but this is a big defeat to take on the chin. 1/10
Page last updated
on 15 / 7 / 2008
It was back to Retallack for the 5th time in 8 years for the 2006 fishing match and this was deemed to be the most wide open contest ever. Jason Hoare was in red hot form, Rick Barker was the current champion, Matty Barker was due to recapture his glory days, Justin Metherell said he would win, Sean Haley the newcomer was a very interesting entry and Bear Barker was desperate to avoid defeat this time.
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