Greg Ellis beats Rob Allen to take title.
If you’re a follower of social media we’re sure you will have noticed the competition we ran over the last couple of weeks on our Facebook page. We pitted 16 of the most successful anglers from the last year against each other in a public voting competition to determine who should win Carp-Talk’s Facebook Carp Angler of the Year.
It was a light hearted way to celebrate the anglers making the headlines over the last 12 months. There were no prizes involved other than the title, and of the many successful carpers making the news, we narrowed it down to the following sixteen: Scott Lloyd, Steve Briggs, Dave Levy, George Benos, Hewitt & Bartlett (BCAC Champs), Stuart Higgs, Adam Penning, Roger Bacon, Greg Ellis, Jason Walker, Simon Kenny, Rob Allen, Ed Betteridge, Mark Hopes, Dave Magalhaes and David King.
The competition followed the same format as 2016, with a knockout stage, quarter finals, semi finals and a final. The draw for the knockout stage took place live on a Facebook video and during the week there were a total of 8203 votes cast.
A lot of people expected Scott Lloyd to be crowned champion after his tremendous year on Burghfield, however, Essex carper Greg Ellis proved victorious in the end after having a tremendous year on several high-profile waters. The 28-year-old roofer landed 40-pounders from both Kingsmead One and the Island Lake, topped by a fish known as Roids at 54lb 6oz, taken on his first ever visit to the vast 65-acre venue. This was followed up with Cleverley Mere’s Most Wanted mirror, Hendrix, at 39lb as well as several other thirties along the way. Greg didn’t stop there either, as he went on to land one of the Lee Valley’s finest carp in the form of Baby Basil at 47lb. These captures clearly struck a chord with the public who thought Greg deserved the accolade.
Greg commented: “I’m overwhelmed by all the support I received throughout the competition. When I was first nominated I thought that I didn’t have a chance as there were some anglers that really stood out for their achievements this year. It’s a Facebook voting competition though and anything is possible. We are in a digital world right now and the power of social media has just proven that anything is possible. I had a lot of backing from anglers as well as my sponsors who showed me enormous support. It was a good laugh and most people could see the fun side of this, especially in the semi-final where I found myself up against Scott Lloyd. We went to war in that round and we did it for the entertainment. I have the utmost respect for Scott and what he has achieved in his angling. We are still Facebook friends; it was all a bit of friendly banter.”
“Everyone was a winner in this competition though. To be one of the lucky 16 anglers to be nominated means that you have stood out from the masses for what you’ve achieved throughout the year. It’s a knock out competition, I was the last man standing and that was all down to the public vote. My thanks go out to everyone who supported me and to all the anglers involved.”
