The AKIOS INOVA Welsh Open Pairs Festival 2025 was held on the beaches of Pwllheli and Aberech in Wales over Friday the 12th and Saturday the 13th of September 2025.

I was lucky enough to get a place partnering Phil Pape, as this competition is seen as one of the best sponsored and well-run events on the match fishing circuit.

There were competitors from England, Wales, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and mad keen anglers even travelling from the Netherlands. This is a testament to the quality of the competition!

Travelling down from West Cumbria, a journey of approximately four and a half hours, we took the opportunity to call in the Anglesey Bait & Tackle shop on route, well, slightly off route! A well-stocked shop with really helpful staff, we bought a number of items that are hard to get in the tackle shops up our way.

Also heading down to Pwllheli was the AKIOS Ambassador, Scot McCartney, travelling down from the Glasgow area. Scot had kindly picked up some excellent ragworm for us from David Neil’s Bait Supplies on route. So, Scot handing us over a white poly box in the Chester Services car park didn’t look at all dodgy!

Arriving a little early to book into our accommodation, we went round to the Pwllheli Sailing Club, the HQ for the pairs competition. We found Martin McGowan and his wife, Tonya, busy setting up the AKIOS INOVA stand for the event, along with other AKIOS staff.

I find that the AKIOS INOVA brand is one of the most innovative tackle manufacturers around, with regular new products on the market. So, I topped up with a few goodies from Martin’s shop for our upcoming trip to the beautiful County Kerry for a week of fishing in October. There are 21 members from Maryport & District Sea Angling Club staying in Dingle for just over a week. Fishing in three matches and running a species competition over seven days, that will keep us all busy, and not to forget, downing a few pints of Guinness in the Dingle and local hostelries!

There were a couple of new products that caught my eye. One of the highlights was the AKIOS Airmaster Surf 420 CBR multi-tip rod, for which Scot McCarney gave me a rundown on. The build quality of the blank was excellent, and the multiple tips that come with the rod will definitely be a forthcoming favourite for the match angler. One to keep a lookout for in the near future!

The other rod that impressed me was the AKIOS Iron Spin 2-piece, which measures just over 11 feet and is capable of casting up to 120 grams. Its travel version, a 5-piece, is capable of casting up to 90 grams. The build quality in these rods stood out, a great-looking blank with line guides that look great quality. For the bass, pollock, and coalfish angler, they look the business. The travel rod would be a great weapon in the armoury for spinning and lure fishing in Norway.

The other products that stood out were the range of AKIOS fishing luggage, some really practical items for both the match and pleasure angler. The rod holdall is on my list for purchase soon!

Once settled into the accommodation, with the portable fridge and freezer plugged in, a quick shower was taken, and then it was up to Wetherspoons for some food and a few pints. It was nice to meet up with a few of the southern-based anglers, and everyone was looking forward to the next day and the start of the competition.

The area of concern for everyone was the strong south-westerly winds forecast over the 2 days of competition. The rough sea had a lot of stringy weed in the water, and when we started fishing on Day 1, it was a challenge to hold bottom long enough for your baits to fish. Getting washed in with large clumps of weed clogging the tip eyes and masking rigs was frustrating.

You never cease to learn new methods and approaches when match fishing. It was a learning curve watching nearby pairs who regularly fish these Welsh beaches using 10 and 12-ounce bucket leads to hold bottom long enough to allow their baits to fish. The technique definitely worked, as the two anglers next to us managed to land about 15 fish. A mixture of black bream, bass, and eels. A lot of the bass were very small in the 8-10cm range, obviously the area is an important nursery area for the species!

Day 1 proved to be frustrating with only two fish on the card a 31cm bass and a weaver fish! However, watching the local anglers tackling the weed and managing to catch fish was a learning experience. Some pegs throughout the zones managed to fish without too much hinderance from the weed and some excellent scores were recorded.

After the match a quick sort out of our gear and baits and another visit to the local Wetherspoons for a burger and a few pints. Exchanging experiences of the days fishing with other competitors was interesting and as always you learn something. Bucket leads, if required, light line rigs and small hooks!

Day 2 and the wind had dropped off slightly and the weed in our peg was not has bad as day one. Still getting dragged in at times , but on the whole able to fish for longer. Phil and myself winkled out 5 five fish for a score of 119m, a mixed bag of flounders, eels, and a dragonette. This put into a respectable 5th place in the zone. The zone was won by Henry Randall and Bev Self with a bag of 20 fish for 341cm. Congratulations to Henry and Bev the pairs winners over the weekend.

The competition was a pleasure to fish and extremely well ran, by Ben Price and his team. AKIOS INOVA and their team are commended for their fantastic sponsorship of the event. I would keep an eye out for next years competition and get your names down if you can. Here’s a link to the Facebook page: Welsh Pairs