*** SUPER STEVE WINS ANGLING TRUST ZEROFIT SILVERFISH FINAL 2024 ***

ENGLAND international Steve Hemingray has won the 2024 Angling Trust Zerofit SilverFish Final in a star-studded clash at Barston Lakes.

This year’s final was a who’s who of match fishing with nine England internationals, multiple World Champions, Fish O Mania winners, and previous SilverFish champs on the bank.

Over 400 anglers took part in 14 nationwide qualifiers starting in October 2023 with 33 earning an invite to the grand final. A prize pot of over £10,000 was up for grabs, including £5,000 to the winner.

This year also saw our youngest-ever finalist as teenage superstar Lauren Stevens made her debut at the event which saw Barston’s silverfish feed in a more conservative manner than the previous day’s practice match.

The final proved a close affair, with new champ Steve, from Leicester, needing a 68lb 7oz net of quality skimmers to claim victory and the £5,000 first prize.

That came from peg 38 on the river bank side where he employed pole at 13m with maggots over micros for his catch. Incredibly, he didn’t manage a fish in the first hour.

Runner up Dave Wilmott was on peg 121, the same swim which dominated the practice match, and finished a close second with 65lb 10oz to collect a cheque for £2,000.

Third and fourth both came from the river bank with Andy Oldham taking chunky skimmers and bream on peg 50 for 63lb 8oz and Adam Wakelin ending a busy day in fourth with 58lb 1oz from peg 52.

The final berth fell to last year’s champion Andy Bennett who took 56lb 8oz of skimmers from peg 96 on the road side.

* The Angling Trust would like to thank Nigel and his team at Barston Lakes for hosting a superb final, all the qualifier organisers and anglers who took part in 2023-24, and to sponsors Zerofit for their continued support of the SilverFish competition.

ANGLING TRUST ZEROFIT SILVERFISH FINAL 2024 RESULT

1 Steve Hemingray 68lb 7oz Peg 38 £5,000

2 Dave Wilmott 65lb 10oz Peg 121 £2,000

3 Andy Oldham 63lb 8oz Peg 50 £1,250

4 Adam Wakelin 58lb 1oz Peg 52 £900

5 Andy Bennett 56lb 8oz Peg 96 £500

Section winners

Pegs 12 to 24 Steve Harwood 50lb 13oz Peg 28 £200

Pegs 38 to 57 Rich Reynolds 46lb 15oz Peg 57 £200

Pegs 79 to 99 Sam Collett 39lb 7oz Peg 87 £200

Pegs 101 to 124 Matt Godfrey 52lb 15oz Peg 112 £200