Boddington Classic Final 2026

Just been on the Angling Trust’s two-day Boddington Classic Final, sponsored by Free Spirit. Big carp were the target for the 42 qualifiers and thankfully a bit of wind on the reservoir took the edge off the heat.

Day One I was on peg 101 in the Sanctuary, which is past the sailing club. For some reason the 100s were pretty devoid all weekend. I never saw a single carp show but finally had my one and only bite with 20 seconds to go; a 6.85kg common carp. There was just one carp caught on the peg to my left and the next two anglers to my right never saw a carp. The rest of the 21-peg A Section fished great, though. The usually poor 60s were THE place to be with weights up to 98kg!

On to Day Two and with the event on total weight I needed a good draw. We were all praying for end peg 2 on the dam wall, which Mark Williams had won off the previous day with 102kg. I sadly pulled out peg 10. Never mind…

I’ve managed four carp for 19kg. The next two anglers to my left never saw a carp, peg 4 had three carp for 13kg and Marian Buzatu on peg 2 won the match with 28 carp for 126kg!

Amazing how the fish were ganged up on peg 2 all weekend as it’s not been at all dominant leading up to the event. The wind wasn’t even blowing into it. Marian’s a really brilliant angler and I went up to congratulate him afterwards and you could still see the carp tailing up where he’d been casting!

So not a great weekend’s fishing for me, but still nice to be in the Final. As peg 2 won the match I got the £120 section prize by default, which was some consolation for a tough weekend. I shall put that towards some peg-drawing lessons!

Well done to Marian for winning overall with 151kg, Mark Williams was 2nd with 127kg And former champ Bogdan Mester was just 75g behind him in third place. Great event. Hopefully we’ll give it another go next year.