Angling Trust and Matchroom have announced today that the Fish O Mania qualifier scheduled for Wednesday 21st April at Barford Lakes in Norfolk has had to be moved to Makins Fishery in Warwickshire on the same date for fish welfare reasons.
Barford suffered an outbreak of KHV last year, and although the fishery is now well on the road to recovery, Fishery Manager Sarah Thomson did not want to run such a large, tightly-pegged match so early in the match calendar and risk the recovery of the fishery.
Sarah said: “obviously we are very disappointed not to be able to host such a high-profile match with the Angling Trust, but the welfare of our fish is absolutely paramount.”
All anglers who were successful in drawing a ticket for Barford will be eligible for a refund if they don’t want to fish the new venue. If they require a refund then they must return their unwanted ticket by the deadline date issued when they receive their ticket. Makins Fishery is the nearest venue which could accommodate such a large match to the standards required by the organisers.
Tickets for all Fish O Mania successful applicants will be dispatched to anglers by the end of February.
The competition has proved as popular as ever this year, despite the requirement for all those entering the draw to be members of the Angling Trust. There were more than 4,200 entries this year, and all venues were oversubscribed, some by more than 200 anglers.
Sandra Drew, Competitions and Events Manager for the Angling Trust said:
“we apologise to any anglers who have drawn a ticket for Barford and who will now have to re-arrange their travel and accommodation plans, but we will do all we can at the Angling Trust to manage the administration of this change smoothly. Anglers must return their tickets promptly if they require a refund so that we can re-allocate the tickets and offer them to those on the reserve list.”
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