ROYAL Forest of Dean club member, and top Ross angler, Richie Hoskins stormed through the Fish O Mania qualifier at the Octoplus Boldings Fishery in the West Midlands to claim his place in the prestigious Sky Sports final. On July 17th, he will be fishing against fifteen other qualifiers for a first prize of £25,000. The event is to be broadcast live on Sky TV and the local interest is at a maximum because Richie will be joined by his friend, Steve Seaborn, who also qualified at the end of April. The big event takes place at the Cudmore fishery near Stoke on Trent and both Richie and Steve will be focussing their attentions on this major honour and hope that some local people might be able to come up and support their endeavours.
A married man, 39 year old builder, Rich, is at his peak in match fishing terms and is well supported by his wife, Rhona. Whilst he is a prolific individual angler, he also is a regular in the team stakes, fishing for Gloucester-based, Daiwa Gordon League. He picked up over £1500 recently at a major festival in Ireland, winning the 250 peg Open on the Saturday and finished 5th overall in the 300 angler Irish Classic, winning his section on four out of the five days. He then came back to represent local side Wye Angling in the Regional Team event, and promptly won the match at Drummonds Dub!
Wen he drew his allotted peg at the qualifier he was told by the local "experts" that he had no chance Richie took no notice, got his head down, and fished a blinder taking 143lbs of carp to 8lbs fishing his Daiwa pole at 12 and 14 metres using caster on the hook. As he put it: "After my recent results, I felt confident of doing well so I didn't let the negative comments bother me. The match went like a dream and everything I tried worked. I'm now in the big final in fishing terms and look forward to flying the flag for Ross, and the Forest of Dean".
The "Dynamic Duo"of Richie and Steve Seaborn both get excellent help and support from Dennis and Kevin at Wye Angling in Ross.