What a good man! Peter scoops £1,000

Published: 9:48 AM July 28, 2006 Updated: 10:11 PM February 22, 2021

HE MAY not have won the biggest cash prize in match fishing, but Chatteris angler Peter Goodman still walked away from Fish O Mania with a cool £1,000. Peter, 26, of Tithe Road, Chatteris, joined 15 other anglers in the thirteenth Totesport Text Betting F

HE MAY not have won the biggest cash prize in match fishing, but Chatteris angler Peter Goodman still walked away from Fish'O'Mania with a cool £1,000.

Peter, 26, of Tithe Road, Chatteris, joined 15 other anglers in the thirteenth Totesport Text Betting Fish'O'Mania final on Saturday and the five-hour event, fished at Hayfield Lakes, Doncaster, was shown live on Sky Sports 1.

After winning May's qualifier in Staffordshire, Goodman was confident of his chances in the £25,000 winner-takes-all final but the draw did not favour him.

The bookmakers made Peter the 33/1 outsider after he picked peg six but he made the most of his poor position to land a total weight of 39.15kg and a good seventh place finish.

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Peter said: "I was drawn on the worst peg at the venue and I knew straight away that it would be very difficult to win the competition.

"I was disappointed not to win it but I fished quite well and my total would have won last year's tournament."

Indeed it turned out to be a record-breaking final, with winner Neil Machin landing 98.69kg, almost double the previous best of 39.6kg set by Nathan Watson in 2002.

Machin, from Stoke-on-Trent, briefly lost the lead once during the final but he powered ahead to finish 6.71kg ahead of second-placed Watson and take the massive prize.

However, Machin's victory was also good news for Peter, as he explains: "I spent a week practising in Doncaster before the event and I met up with Neil.

"I knew that he had a really good chance and he was also impressed with my preparations so we made a deal that if either of us won the competition, we would give £1,000 to the other."

He added: "I was happy with the tactics I was using but as the final went on I knew that I was out of it. After that I was certainly shouting for Neil."

Despite missing out on the big prize, Peter has vowed to try again next year.

He said: "The experience was amazing and I am proud that I got so far in a very tough competition."

He added: "I will be attending every qualifier next year to make sure I get to the final and then hopefully I will get a better draw and challenge for the top spot.