Airline engineer takes off

Fish 'o' Mania: first finalist through

Dave Swain, from Stockport was the first angler to qualify for the 2008 Fish 'O' Mania final as he bombed his way to victory at Viaduct Fishery last weekend.

The anglers had to fish under tough conditions as cold winds made every angler fight for every bite. Dave led a two horse race for the winning ticket as he and Dwayne Seed from Eastleigh battled both the wind and themselves to book his place in the final.

Dave is an airline engineer who fishes for Mosella Garbolino and is by no means a stranger to the big time as he has now qualified for the final an impressive four times. As well as fishing the final of Fish 'O' Mania, he has also qualified for the final of Kamasan and last year he got through to the Drennan Super Cup final.

The eventual winner had been practising the day before and managed to pull out over 200lbs of fish, so he knew there were some big weights to be caught. On the day, he was fishing on the bomb with 8mm pellets at 35 yards, and ended the day with a winning weight of 124lbs 13ozs.

The key to Dave's success was consistent catching as he bagged up an average of three fish an hour. He caught 14 carp, with his largest fish being a 12lb specimen, although it was the smaller fish and some extra tench and skimmers that gave him that bit extra to take him clear of Dwayne in second place.

Receiving his golden ticket, Dave commented, "I hadn't fished Viaduct before, however following a good practice session the day before I knew that there were some good weights to be achieved on the day. I was lucky on the day with the draw pulling out a good peg and fished it well so am delighted to be heading to Browning in July. Coming from Stockport, Browning is near enough my local venue and I spend almost every weekend fishing there. I really can't wait for the final and am really excited about it."

Second placed angler Dwayne Seed from Ford in Eastleigh, pushed Dave all the way although he will be kicking himself for losing 12 fish, which would have made it very close at the end of the match and possibly taken him to the winning post first. Dwayne still did well though catching carp up to 7lbs on the pole, giving a final weight of 121lbs.

Craig Gilroy came a distant third with 100lbs 14ozs and Andrew Lloyd of Frome was in fourth with 86lbs 12ozs. Tony Gilbert from Melksham took the fifth spot with 86lbs 6ozs and well known angler Alex Bones finished in sixth with 86lbs 1oz.