179 young anglers took part in the Angling Trust Cadet, Junior and Intermediate National Championships on Saturday 3 July on the Trent and Mersey Canal in the Willington area of Derbyshire, H&C has learned.

There were just two teams that took part in the Cadet section with Worksop and District AA, managed by Doreen Butt, taking the Cadet Championship title by just one point with 16 points from Smartbait Leeds who had won this title for the last four years. Doreen said: “I am thrilled to bits with the win, as we have only kept one of the existing team members from last year and the rest of the youngsters are all new."

The Cadet winner was Harry Keedy (Smartbait Leeds) with 930g. Harry was fishing his fourth National and caught fifty small fish on squatt and pinkie from the far side of the canal. In second place was Reece Keirnon (Worksop & District AA) with a very similar net of small fish scaling 880g. There was a triple tie for third place on the day with Jake Hodgkiss (Worksop and District AA), Adam Thorne (Smartbaits Leeds) and Daniel Slack (Worksop and District AA) all weighing 340g.

The Junior age group attracted eleven teams of six with the match being fished in the Stenson and Swarkestone area. Local team Pride of Derby AA took gold with 53 points which proved to be too good for Tameside Fox Gold in second place with 49 points, leaving Maver Farnborough on 46 points (3kg 980g). The winning Junior was Jake Gallacher (Maver Farnborough) with eighty small squatt fish for 1kg 500g and in second place with a very similar net was Joe Kent (Wakefield AC) 1kg 480g. Matthew Ebbrell (Tameside Fox Gold), with 1kg 310g, came in third place also with small fish on squatt.

The Intermediate section attracted sixteen teams of six and ended up with Wakefield AC winning the gold medal with 87 points, and the Pride of Derby AA Juniors with 75 points in second place, and Smartbait Leeds Gold in third place with 68 points. This match was fished by Castleway Bridge and Josh Reynolds (Wakefield AC) had the top score with a well earned weight of 4kg 20g to take the winning individual title. Josh drew in the row of trees on the bend, on the Alrewas side of the bridge, where he fished chopped worm and caster to take chub to 2 lb and a few perch. In second place was Tom Sharpe (Barnsley and District AC) who was near the Findern Bridge where again chopped worm and caster did him proud, netting chub and perch for 3kg 450g. Eric Yeomans (Pride of Derby AA) came in third place with 2kg 880g of chub, skimmers and perch.