Two Guru's In The Final!

The weekend was filled with success for the Tackle Guru gang, as both Pemb Wrighting and Mark Griffiths won Golden Rod £50K Final qualifiers, each booking their spot in the big money match taking place in September at Larford Lakes!

Pemb won the qualifier taking place at Colemans Cottage, catching 151lb of F1s and carp. He also had a bit of a twitchy time when he actually went over by a couple of pound in two of his nets, but thankfully it didn't cost him!

Ecstatic to be in the final he told us: "At first I didn't think I'd won, estimating that I had about 120lb, but the fish weighed a lot more than I expected, hence going over in a couple of nets! I was also a bit worried when I did go over and expected that to cost me too. Thankfully, luck went my way and I'd done enough.

"Tactics wise, I started on the short pole fishing shallow with pellets, feeding 4mm Mainline Match Activated Coarse Pellets and fishing either a 4mm or 6mm of the same on the hook. I geared up quite heavy on this swim too, because you can often clatter them for a short period before they wise up. My rig was on 0.17mm N-Gauge to an 0.15mm hooklength and size 14 Super LWG with a hair-rigged band - just one of our Ready Rigs to be honest! A 0.1g Mick Wilkinson Cookie float finished it off with Grey Hydro.

"When the shallow swim died, the only other option I had was to fish across to some reeds opposite. Here, I simply chased fish up and down, catching some shallow and some on the deck, again on pellets. It was a simple match, but most of the big ones you win often are! I'm really looking forward to the final, and plan on getting my teeth stuck into some carp fishing and practice sessions at Larford! I love the buzz of big matches like this and really can't wait!"

Sunday was Mark Griffith's turn to qualify, winning the sellout Glebe qualifier with a staggering 272lb from Peg 1 on Lake 1! Griff was over the moon with his result, and gave us the lowdown on qualifying and his tactics.

"I drew a rocket of a peg, and was really excited, knowing that I had a very good chance from where I was. A few weeks ago, I had watched David Burley catch on a waggler from the same area of the lake, and after seeing fish boshing out across, that's what I fancied fishing.

"I simply set up a waggler and a bomb, plus the pole to fish long down the edge to my left, all with pellets. I needed quite a big waggler to cast to the boards opposite, using a 10g thin 10mm Gur Balsa Waggler, coupled with 6lb Pulse mainline and an 0.19mm N-Gauge hooklength to a size 16 Super MWG hook, with a hair rigged band and 8mm pellet in there.

"Interestingly, I never fed a single thing on the waggler, and most bites came just after the waggler landed, as the fish came to the noise. If I did sense a slow spell, I simply put the waggler down and had a quick look up the bank on the pole swim with 6mm pellets to keep putting fish in the net.

"It was an epic days sport and I'm pumping for the final already! I really enjoy fishing at Larford, and I'll certainly be putting some time in to practice there now I've qualified early! A big thank's must go out to fellow Guru's, Mikey Williams and Ben Hagg, for all the help and advice they've been giving of late with my fishing!"