Veterans & Masters National Championship
Springvale Fishing Lakes
Wednesday 23rd July 2025
The Veterans & Masters National Championship is open to anglers who have individual membership of the Angling Trust. To compete in the Veterans category anglers must be 66 years old or above on the day of the Championship and those wishing to enter the Masters category must be aged 55-65 years on the day of the Championship.
Headquarters: Springvale Fishing Lakes
Lakes reserved are: Veterans – 1st Spring, Golden 1, Newcastle. Masters- Duke & Duchess
Draw: 08:30am
Fishing: 11:00am – 4:00pm (duration of 5 hours)
Closure of waters for practice: TBC. Important notice: Anglers must check with Fishery directly as depends on the matches they are hosting.
Rod Licence: Competitors must be in possession of a valid Environment Agency Rod Licence. Failure to possess a rod licence will result in disqualification from the event.
Rules / Bait bans: Fishery & Angling Trust rules apply.
Refreshments: TBC
Tickets go on sale 21st March 2025
CHECK OUT OUR HIGHLIGHTS VIDEO FROM THE 2024 EVENT…
VETERANS AND MASTERS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP 2023
WEEDER AND OPENSHAW CLAIM MASTERS AND VETERANS NATIONAL TITLES
TWO of match fishing’s most consistent anglers have scooped the top prizes in the 2023 Angling Trust Masters and Veterans Nationals at Partridge Lakes.
Bright sunshine in the morning gave way to downpours by the afternoon at the beautiful Warrington, Cheshire venue but it didn’t dampen the spirits of the 127 rods who’d travelled from all over the country to compete in the two big events for over 55s.
It was a pair of North West legends who shone the brightest though, with Chris Weeder Snr taking the Veterans National honours with an impressive 93k 300g – the biggest weight on the day – and Moreton, Wirral ace Steve Openshaw netting 60k 950g for the Masters title.
When St Helens-based Chris drew peg 123 on the in-form Covey 5 there were some who thought it was all over from the start, especially given his recent record on the venue.
But the swim proved tougher than initially predicted with an early look down the edge yielding just three fish. By regularly feeding maggots at five metres, it wasn’t long before Chris could see fish swirling in front of him and a switch to a 12ins deep, shallow rig with double maggot on the hook soon got his landing net wet again.
“It was a case of feed, drop in, keep feeding and at that point hopefully get a fish and then feed again ready for the next one,” explained Chris who revealed he worked his way through six pints of mixed red and white maggots during the day and finished with a 60 fish total.
“The key to picking out the better F1s was selecting the biggest maggots from the tub; it didn’t really matter what colour they were as I’d got the fish competing and it was a case of picking them off with a big bait.”
Chris’ haul was too strong for Kelvin Emlyn who finished in the runners-up spot with 77k 500g from peg 119 on Covey 5, ahead of regular framer Phil Barwell who took 63k 775g from Covey 3’s peg 54.
Natural baits also scored for Masters National winner Steve Openshaw who opted to fish casters shallow on the pole.
Last weekend’s Fish O Mania finalist piled 60k 950g on to the scales from Ribbon lake’s peg 10 to hold off the challenge of Dave Brown Snr who was over on Willow peg 4 and took 54k 425g on the pole fished tight to far bank reeds. This was just a couple of fish ahead of third-placed Mike Astbury on 53k 700g, his weight coming from Pine peg 11.
It was Spey, Marsh, Willow, Ribbon, and Pine which hosted the 55- to 65-year-old Masters contest while the Veterans were pegged on Covey 1 to 6 for their over-66’s match. The top three in each National led a strong field with some close section scores across all the lakes.
“This event is getting harder to win,” added Chris.” You only have to look at who the anglers who are fishing these Nationals these days to see the standard you have to beat.”
* The Angling Trust Competitions Team would like to extend a huge thanks to Nellie, Ellice, and all the team at Partridge Lakes for hosting this year’s Nationals, and to all the anglers who support the events.
FULL RESULTS FROM BOTH NATIONALS ON HOTFISHIN.COM
MASTERS – https://www.hotfishin.com/…/Angling-Trust…/PX95EQQM/…
VETERANS – https://www.hotfishin.com/…/Angling-Trust…/EFLMJH82/…
2022 VETERANS & MASTERS RESULTS
Veterans & Masters National 2021 Report
Angling Trust Veterans & Masters National Championships 2021
Drennan Lindholme Lakes
Wednesday 21st July 2021
Masters 41 fished
Veterans 67 fished
This was the inaugural Masters National after being postponed from last year. This new category is open to 55yr to 65yr olds pulled only a modest turnout of 41 anglers but hopefully will gain a bit more momentum next year. Fished over 2 lakes, Bennys and Loco saw Bennys bounce back into fantastic form taking all but one of the top 13 weights. Fishing at Bennys 4, Chris Kendall smashed the opposition with a tremendous 92.450Kg haul of F1’s and saw Chris crowned as the very first winner of the Angling Trusts Masters National Championship trophy. Kevin Feast had a feast at Bennys 37 where he netted 76.800Kg, a weight normally good enough to win but only claimed the runner up spot today and Joseph Winning finished 3rd with 66.175Kg from Bennys 12. A respectable 58.300Kg was the best weight from Loco for Philip Turner from Loco 27 but was only good enough for 7th place.
Result:
1st Chris Kendall 92.450Kg
2nd Kevin Feast 76.800Kg
3rd Joseph Winning 66.175Kg
4th Michael Moore 64.150Kg
5th Paul Hart 59.675Kg
6th John Marshall 58.450Kg
This revised category of competition is now open to the over 66yr olds after the introduction of the new Masters National. A reasonable turnout of 67 anglers fished over 3 lakes, Bonsai, Laurel and Willow and all 3 lakes featured in the top six. Reg Fearn was crowned Veterans National Champion 2021 after netting 49.925Kg of carp & F1’s from peg 64 on Bonsai. A very close battle then ensued between 2 England Internationals with Tom Pickering just edging out Danny Sixsmith by 25gms to take the silver medal. Tom weighed 36.875Kg from Willow peg 48 and on Willow peg 14 Danny weighed in 36.850Kg for the bronze medal.
Result:
1st Reg Fearn 49.925Kg
2nd Tom Pickering 38.875Kg
3rd Danny Sixsmith 38.850Kg
4th Roger Marlow 36.425Kg
5th John Jones 34.450Kg
6th Tony Watling 29.525Kg
The day also saw a heart-warming and unprecedented occurrence in 85 year old Ken Woods fishing in the Veterans category with his 3 sons Shane, Stephen & Tony who were now eligible to fish in the Masters match. Here they are pictured after the match.
The Angling Trust would like to thank Aaron Grantham and his team at Lindholme for a great day.
Next year’s Veterans & Masters National will take place at Makins Fishery on Wednesday 20th July 2022.
