The Commercial National

The Commercial National was a new national that was being trialled this year and featured teams of 10 split across Hayfield, Hallcroft and Lindholme Lakes, all in the Doncaster area. Neil recruited me to fish for one of the Garbolino Lindholme teams and the draw for who would fish was done independently by the Angling Trust weeks before. Thankfully I ended up at Lindholme though unfortunately I got the draw time wrong and arrived almost an hour late. With an 11am start however there was plenty of time. I wasn't too pleased to be given peg 35 Oasis however. This peg has a good history of results as it's on a bend with lots of water but this year it hasn't been great after some of the trees on the far side were pulled out, leaving less cover, plus the wind has been hacking down to the other end of the lake for the past month! The pic below was taken by my mate Alex Malham and put on Facebook with the caption 'three hours to get ready and Ben Fisk still aint!'

I had an awful start to the match with only an odd fish across and an occasional fish shallow but eventually the shallow line kicked in, as it often does on this lake. I fished it at 13m towards a large bush in a wider section of the peg in the direction where I thought there would be more F1s and in the last hour it really was solid. I ended up with 42kg 800g which is about 94lb and I think I finished fourth on the lake, winning my six peg mini-section which was paid out in the post. Josh Newton drew the end peg at the other end with the wind and caught 56kg to win Oasis.

Unfortunately our team didn't fare very well with several very dodgy pegs on the day, although we did have Andy Whitehouse on peg 69 Bonsai! The match was decided on total weight and I think John Allerton was our heaviest with 51kg from Hayfield. Barnsley walked the match, a good performance but not a surprise looking at their team sheet, most of their squad are utter class and know these fisheries well.

James Dent paralysed the match with an epic 96kg on a windward end peg at Hallcroft. A quick word on James. All of us northern anglers have witnessed how good this lad has been for several years now but it is only this year that he has really enjoyed a bit of the rub of the green and come to the fore nationally with some incredible results. Yes he's had more than a few pegs in 2013 but when he gets on them the match is as good as over. Well done mate and keep it up!

Match result
 

Individual
1st James Dent (Barnsley & District) – 96.900 kg
2nd Mark Taylor (Shakespeare Superteam) – 76.060 kg
3rd Andy Geldart (Barnsley & District) 71.400 kgTeam
1st Barnsley & District – 428.365 kg
2nd Matrix Dynamite Trentmen – 360.295 kg
3rd Garbolino Lindholme B Team – 352.745 kg
4th Drennan North West – 348.845 kg
5th Bag Em Finesse – 342.845 kg
6th Shakespeare Superteam – 319.760 kg
7th Maver Gold Bag Em – 284.215 kg
8th Maver Midlands – 269.975 kg
9th Garbolino Lindholme A Team – 253.515 kg
10th Tackle 2 Fish – 253.175 kg
11th Daiwa team Dons – 246.835 kg
12th Dunlop Worksop DAA – 187.195 kg
13th Pelham AC - 184.270 kg
14th Washington & Harraton – 159.140 kg
15th Vale AC ‘A’ Team – 150.990 kg
16th Tang Hall MG – 130.365 kg
17th Vale AC ‘B’ Team – 96.785 kg
18th Billericay & District AC – 90.325 kg