Each of our 11 regions will host a qualifying heat with the top five pairs going through to the 110 peg final. These are being held along the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal on Saturday 24th October.
The dates, venues and host clubs for the qualifiers and the final are listed below:
- Sunday 12th April - Grand Union Canal - Loughborough Soar Angling Society
- Sunday 26th April – Shropshire Union Canal - Hodnet Angling Club
- Sunday 3rd May – Grand Union Canal - Northampton Nene Angling Club
- Sunday 24th May – Kennet & Avon Canal - Devizes Angling Association
- Sunday 21st June – Gloucester & Sharpness Canal – Winget Angling Club
- Saturday 11th July – Aire & Calder Navigation – Boothferry Aire & Calder Joint Canal Committee
- Sunday 26th July – London Waterway – Venue to be confirmed
- Saturday 15th August - Rochdale Canal – Heywood & District
- Saturday 5th September – Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal – Wolverhampton Angling Association
- Sunday 20th September – Beeston Canal – Nottingham Anglers Association
- Sunday 27th September - Leeds & Liverpool Canal – Wigan & District Angling Association
- FINAL Saturday 24th October – Birmingham & Fazeley Canal – Dams & Lock Angling Club
Tickets are priced at £20 per angler (£40 per peg) and are on sale through the Angling Trust. A 50 peg junior canal championship match will be held on the 24th October.
Our national fisheries & angling manager, John Ellis, said: ‘It's been a long held ambition to see a major national event of this type launched on the canal network. I feel sure that many club anglers will fancy their chances on qualifying for the final on their own local patch and then who knows what might happen.”
Angling Trust senior competitions manager, Ben Thompson, said: “We are delighted to be working with the Canal & River Trust on this competition. Last year's pilot programme on the Shropshire Union Canal went very well and we hope that the introduction of a series of qualifiers followed by a grand final will create opportunities for more anglers to compete in their local area.”
