Browning Youth Masters Qualifier
I had been going to Woodlands Lakes in Thirsk to fish all the different types of ponds and getting use to the range of different styles of fishing that is required for commercial venues. At the time, Alan Gregory took me under his wing and taught me literally everything I needed to know about fishing a commercial.
When I heard that there was a junior match coming up, I soon got my name down for it. I didn’t expect to do well in the match, let alone come second and qualify for one of the biggest Junior finals at The Glebe and Mallory Park Fisheries in Leicester. The day of the final arrived, I managed to finish in the top 10 and won top female.
Following the
success of the first Browning Youth Masters qualifier and mainly the buzz of
been part of a big final. I decided to enter the qualifiers each year and this
meant that most years I dedicated my school holidays, sometimes traveling the
length and breadth on the UK trying to qualify for the final.
I remember one year that I’d been just out of qualifying at my local venue. So we ended up travelling to varies venues such as Cudmore Fisheries in Stoke-on-Trent, Llyn Y Gors in Anglesey, White Acres Fisheries in Newquay (that’s just naming a few!) trying to get into the final. I managed to scrape through the last qualifier at White Arces to make the final for that year. I took the whole experience as a learning curve and the knowledge that was gained from fishing the different venues was invaluable.
I became member of Leeds Junior team. I managed to be consistent and do well with section wins and seconds, on a variety of mainly different commercial venues in the UK. I then decided to join Wakefield Juniors to venture onto the natural waters. It took me a while to get my head around the natural venues. There were many matches I got beat, but I continued to go every week and I eventually started to do okay on the natural waters too.
I soon secured myself a sponsorship with Browning. This just shows that you don’t need to be winning everything you enter to gain a sponsorship - hard work, dedication and consistent results is enough. But always remember the most important thing is to love what you do.
After years of dedicating myself to my fishing, I decided that it was the
right time to take a break. I am now dusting off the cobwebs after 9 years. I
am having to learn how the fishing and the tackle has developed since I’ve been
away. I hope you will enjoy reading my journey back into the Angling world.Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog. I am looking forward to sharing my journey with all you ladies and gents 😊
