The second Mainline Baits Carp Open Pairs competition of the year was held at Upper Tamar Lake from Friday 30 June to Sunday 2 July.

On arrival at Upper Tamar on the Friday morning the anglers were greeted with some classic Tamar drizzle, not nice to walk in but perfect for fishing. With fish seen topping round the lake, the anglers were keeping tight lipped on where they wanted to go and what they had seen on the walk round.

The 11am draw was completed and set up an interesting competition with the March competition's first place winners Nigel and Rich were next to second place Matt and Chris in pegs 32 and 33, two of the fancied pegs to do well. A big team effort from the South West Lakes team and the bailiffs ensured everyone got to the swims in time for the 2pm start. Once the anglers were set up there was a sense of anticipation for the air horn to start proceedings. 

2pm arrived and the anglers started working the water to find features and get the rods out in the areas they had found. It didn’t take long for the first fish when Jason McEvoy landed a stunning common from peg 14, this was closely followed by Matt and Chris in peg 33 and Steven Folland in peg 19. This set the tone for the competition as fish kept getting caught around the lake throughout the evening and into the night. 

The next morning arrived and the tired faces on the bailiffs confirmed that there were plenty of fish caught during the night and the early hours of the morning. Nathan Bunting and Mike Stemp were placed in first, Nigel Woods and Rich Ford in second and Darren Walter and Richard Bradley in third.

Through the day the competition heated up as more fish continued to get caught and the bigger fish started to make an appearance, the lead changed four times through the day leaving it all to play for in the final night. The new format for the competition was definitely making it a more exciting and competitive competition.

There was a real buzz in the air on the final morning with everyone keen to know how the night had gone, there had been more fish caught but by who, that was the question and it was great to see the messages on social media from people wanting to know. The final horn sounded and that was it, the competition was over. The scores were calculated while the team ferried the anglers back to the car park.

The final results were in, Mike Stemp and Nathan Bunting in peg 27 took the £2,000 first prize, Paul Thomas and Jason McEvoy in peg 14 took £1000 for second and the ever consistent Nigel Woods and Rich Ford in peg 32 took £500 for third.

A big thank you to the team and bailiffs for the help with the competition, Mainline and John Kneebone for sponsoring and helping with presentation, Tamar Lake Cafe for supplying food and everyone who entered and was keeping updated at home, we thank you for your support.

Results

1^st Peg 27 Mike Stemp and Nathan Bunting three biggest fish equalling - 65lb 1oz (biggest fish winners 25lb 6oz)

2^nd Peg 14 Paul Thomas and Jason McEvoy three biggest fish equalling - 54lb 10oz

3^rd Peg 32 Nigel Woods and Rich Ford three biggest fish equalling – 52lb 9oz

Section winners

Section 1 : Dean Willoughby and Jason Head in peg 6

Section 2: Needed a draw for section winners and Joe Dietrich and Charlie Fowler won the prize

Section 3: Steven Folland and Rob Nicholson peg 19

Section 4: Darren Walter and Richard Bradley peg 30