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 MICK BULLis the Party Poker . com Fish 'O' Mania XV ChampionSky Sports Party Poker . com Fish-o-Mania Finalat Cudmore Fisheries
Final Scoreboard
1. Mick Bull (Peg 16) – 29.64kg
2. Chris Ellett (Peg 1) – 23.41kg
3. Andrew Neal (Peg 15) – 22.08kg
4. Andy May (Peg 13) – 15.63kg
5. Neil Machin (Peg 12) – 13kg
6. Darren Cox (Peg 8) – 12.87kg
7. Dave Swain (Peg 11) – 11.50kg
8. Les Thompson (Peg 4) – 11.08kg
9. Jamie Hughes (Peg 10) – 10.09kg
10. Matthew Smith (Peg 7) – 9.62kg
11. John Coster (Peg 3) – 9.37kg
12. Greg Cooper (Peg 14) – 7.90kg
13. Jon Arthur (Peg 9) – 7.73kg
14. Paul Haines (Peg 2) – 4.43kg
15. Matt Hall (Peg 6) – 2.16kg
16. Peter Rice (Peg 5) – 1.18kg
 Mick Bull surged to the top of the leaderboard with an hour and a half remaining at the Cudmore Fisheries in Staffordshire. Bull, 39, had been fourth but caught 7.30kg worth in only 30 minutes to catapult himself into first place and then did enough to stay in front to win £25,000.
Warwickshire-based Bull has been fishing for 30 years but admitted this was the biggest moment in his angling career. "It's brilliant - it's about time I won something," said Bull, who had been taking part in his first ever Fish'O'Mania final.
"I had a really slow start but the wind was blowing and I was on the end of peg. "They've been hard to catch but there was a lot there. I was feeding lots of meat and they were queuing up. I've been a bit panicky but I tried to blank it.
"I'm going to go on holiday with my lad Jamie and going to buy a few beers!"
At 3.30pm
Mick Bull moved into the lead as Andrew Neal, who had led for the early stages, dropped down to second, while Chris Ellett moved up from seventh to third. England international Darren Cox and Andy May were also still in contention with former champion Neil Machin still having an outside chance of becoming the first man to win the event twice.
At 2pm
A FINE second hour from Andrew Neal saw him jump up the leaderboard to lead the PartyPoker.com Fish'O'Mania XV final.
At 1pm, Neal, the only Welshman to have qualified in the 15-year history of the event, was fourth but caught 6.74kg worth in the second hour to lead the field. Chris Ellett on peg one lied second and was only 1.57kg behind. Former champions Neil Machin and Matt Hall had not enjoyed the best of luck so far and were sixth and 14th respectively.
At 1pm
MATTHEW Smith was the early leader of the Fish'O'Mania XV final. The competition, which was being shown live on Sky Sports 2, was being staged at the Cudmore Fisheries in Staffordshire for the first time.
In wet conditions, Matthew Smith took an early lead by catching 4.58kg inside the first hour, while Jamie Hughes was the only man out of the 16 competitors that had failed to catch anything. But there was still a long way to go in the race for the £25,000 top prize.
 BEST-YET FISH O’ FINAL Cyril Brewster's Cudmore triumphThe Grand Final of Fish O Mania XV was the first to be held on Cudmore's Arena Lake, and I think it's fair to say it was one of the best, if not THE best, so far. The field was high-class and the result was in doubt right down to the wire. Despite foul weather, with several unseasonal squalls wreaking havoc, the fish fed very well, especially the Barbel. I have mentioned it before, but these fish are immaculate. The biggest recorded from the lake is over 91b, one of those remaining from a stocking in 1991. Considering that bream, far more common in Stillwaters, are estimated to live for less than 10 years in commercial fisheries stocked with carp, the Barbel are doing very well. Mick Bull fished a great match to win his £25,000 - that 'Lucky 16' peg seems to follow the event around. Although these are VERY early days, moves are already afoot to peg the venue differently to remove as many end pegs as possible. Although to peg 'in the round' is currently not an option for several reasons, not least that the anglers would be 30m apart, there are ways and means to improve on what is already a marked improvement in competitiveness. All in all I believe the decision to change venues was the correct one, although Hayfield has been a magnificent host for 11 years. The carp there have got a bit too big, removing the variations in tactics that were required in the past. Arena Pool at Cudmore - Home to One of the Best Finals EverOne thing that cannot be denied is Cyril Brewster's desire to make his fishery, and any event held there, work. He is a real live wire and as managing director of Cudmore Fishery has more forward-thinking ideas and plans for the future running around under that wide-brimmed hat usually perched on his head. Quote of the match has to be from Sky Sports darts commentator Sid Waddell, who had Captain Alan Scotthorne as a pole rest at the front and Steve Ringer behind. Sid described Steve's role as 'my puller-backer'. You can't buy that kind of humour, Congratulations to all the Winners: Alan Scotthorne’s Celebrity Team; Josh White for Junior Fish o Mania, Ladies Champion Emma Pickering, who has also been Junior Champion; John Coster for winning the £2,500 prize for the biggest I fish, a 4kg common carp; and, of course, Mick Bull, who qualified at Willinghurst with the highest qualifying weight of the series. They provided the spectators and Sky Sports viewers with over five hours of enthralling viewing while demonstrating the highest levels of sportsmanship. Roll on Fish 0' XVI.  The Catch that Won the £25,000 - Mick Bull shows his Barbel-Dominated 29kg 640gr Professional oven cleaner Mick Bull wiped the floor with the opposition in a storm-lashed PartyPoker.com Fish'O'Mania XV final at Cudmore Fisheries Black clouds and heavy rain didn't deter around 3,000 people from turning up to watch the first final at the Staffordshire venue, which made Warwick angler Mick £25,000 richer. Strong winds made long pole presentation difficult, and cool weather put the carp off the feed, so it was Barbel that won the day. But for the third year running it was end peg 16 that provided the winner, despite the change of venue from the final's home for 11 years Hayfield to Cudmore. Before the event there were grumbles about the decision to arrange anglers on circle-shaped Arena Lake in two groups of eight, creating four end pegs. And three of these end pegs finished in the top four, despite tapes across the water to restrict the fishing area of anglers on the ends. Peg 16 was the one every angler wanted, with the wind blowing into that bank, including winner Mick, who was third from last to go up for the draw and praying he'd pull out 16. He went on to land 20 Barbel to 4Ib 8 oz, three carp to 6Ib, three skimmers, three tench and a few roach for a total of 29kg 640gr. But halfway through the match he was nowhere in the reckoning, though he had been feeding his margin line and letting the fish settle on the bait. I started on Method feeder and pellet feeder and couldn't catch on either, 'he said,' so I went on 14-metre pole and I couldn't hold it. It was blowing all over the place. I came down the edge with two hours left of the match, when I had about 3kg, but I didn't expect to win from down there after such a terrible start. I thought I was gone. I had fed it down there from the start with big potfulls of chopped luncheon meat, and when the float buried first put-in it was brilliant. I had four Barbel in four put-ins, on the bottom in 2.5 ft to 3 ft of water, and it was just a question of how many I could catch before the end. With an hour to go it went really slow on me and I thought I had thrown it away, but I chopped another tin of meat up and put some down and more fish came over it. I got through five tins of meat and started running out of it, so I ended up feeding caster, worm and hemp, fishing worm, worm and caster and meat on the hook. The more I caught, the more I could see people coming round behind me, and I could hear all the commotion. People were shouting: "Come on Bully." I didn't feel nervous, though I could hear my heart beating, but when they put a microphone on me and Tom Pickering said l was 6kg in front and no one was going to catch me up, that put me at ease. But my brother, Tim, who was my helper for the match, was saying: "Don't listen to him. Catch as many as you can.'" Mick qualified from Surrey's Willinghurst in June with 247Ib, his sixth attempt this season after other unsuccessful tries in previous years. The 39-year-old Dynamite Baits- sponsored angler backed himself at 14/1 with a £100 bet to add £1,400 to his prize money, and a mate put £1,000 on him at 16/1. He lost only four fish, one a very big carp that took him into his neighbour's peg before straightening his hook. 'I was hoping to get it out and win the biggest fish prize,' Mick said with a smile. Mick fished practice days in the two weeks leading up to the match and was hoping it would be a carp day but knew the rain and cool weather would make Barbel a better bet. Local Pride RestoredFISH'0'MANIA might have left the North East to head across to the North West, but there were some crumbs of comfort for the region in the big final. The home of the £25,000 winner-takes-all jackpot final had been staged at Hayfield, near Doncaster, for 11 years until the shift over to Cudmore. It was a decision the organiser said was 'not easy' and the loss of what had become a local one-day festival was much missed. But some local pride was restored on the bank. The Ladies event, and £1,000, went to South Yorkshire lass Emma Pickering with 24.510 kg, while the junior prize of £500 was won by Josh Wilde of Worksop with 9.110 kg. And five times World Champion Alan Scotthorne helped the darts team of commentators Sid Waddell and Rod Harrington. Together with 1998'0'Mania champ Steve Ringer they weighed 16.670 kg. |
