Fish‘O’Mania returns to Hayfield Lakes, Doncaster next Saturday, July 13 and alongside the Fish‘O’Mania Grand Final, the top six from the Angling Trust Ladies National Championship will once again compete in Fish‘O’Mania Ladies.
In additional to the Grand Final – qualifiers for which are open to both male and female competitors – the Ladies and Junior matches will take place for the 22nd time this summer with anglers fishing for a £1,000 top prize in each match.
The Ladies match will be fished over five hours, commencing at 11.05am using pegs 61, 63, 65, 67, 69 and 71 on Hayfield’s Island Lake, relabelled as pegs 1-6 for Fish‘O’Mania Ladies. Details of the peg draw will be available on this website once the draw has been made.
Samantha Sim (West Sussex)
Previous Ladies Fish‘O’Mania Appearances: 8 Best Finish: Winner x4 (2007, 2011, 2012, 2015)
Reigning Ladies National Champion Samantha shares the record for the most Fish‘O’Mania titles having lifted the prize on four occasions. The Sussex angler includes Team Gold at the Ladies World Championship and two Ladies National titles among her honours.
Emma Drysdale (Somerset)
Previous Ladies Fish‘O’Mania Appearances: 1 Best Finish: 4th (2016)
Emma returns for her second Fish‘O’Mania Ladies having come fourth in 2016. The 45-year-old has twice come third in the Ladies National and says she is outgoing, positive and says it as it is.
Linda Billington (Bedfordshire)
Previous Ladies Fish‘O’Mania Appearances: Debut
Luton angler Linda makes her Fish‘O’Mania Ladies debut this weekend. Linda describes herself as lucky to be alive after suffering a brain haemorrhage three years ago. As a result, she now suffers from double vision and says the worst part of that is seeing two floats and neither of them dipping below the water!
Sarah Taylor (Wirral)
Previous Ladies Fish‘O’Mania Appearances: Debut
Sarah came second in last year’s Ladies National to qualify for her first Ladies Fish‘O’Mania. The 18-year-old from Merseyside is a full-time student and enjoys the competitive nature of match fishing.
Julie Abbott (Nottinghamshire)
Previous Ladies Fish‘O’Mania Appearances: 7 Best Finish: Winner (2005)
Nottinghamshire angler Julie was FishO Ladies champ in 2005 and has finished second in the competition twice. She returned to FishO Ladies last summer having not competed since 2013.
Gemma Matthews (Wiltshire)
Previous Ladies Fish‘O’Mania Appearances: 3 Best Finish: 2nd (2016)
Gemma makes her fourth appearance at Fish‘O’Mania Ladies this year. The Wiltshire angler lists a 165lb catfish as her biggest catch and will be looking to go one better than her 2016 second place at this year’s Fish‘O’Mania Ladies .
Spectator tickets to attend Fish‘O’Mania are free of charge and available to download at www.fishomania.net. Fish‘O’Mania will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Arena from 11:30am on Saturday, July 13.
