The Drennan Cup was started by Peter Drennan back in 1985 and is now the longest-running big fish competition in the UK. It rewards anglers who target and catch specimen fish (other than carp) by design over the course of the season with weekly Drennan Cup awards.
Weekly captures are submitted to Angling Times for publication and are then sent on to us here at Drennan to be considered for a weekly award. Weekly winners receive a £80 prize including a limited edition winners badge and cap (first-time winners).
Also, should an angler break the British record then they receive a special one-off reward of £300.
Once the season comes to and end, a list of weekly winners is published in Angling Times and voting cards are sent out to all previous weekly award winners from previous years. They are asked to vote for their top four anglers of the season, with four points going to their top pick, down to one for their fourth.
Votes are then gathered and counted by Angling Times and the overall winner is revealed. The angler with the highest number of votes gets their name engraved on the prestigious trophy and a cheque for £2,000.
With the Drennan Cup running for over 30 years some of the biggest names in specimen fishing have had their names etched into the trophy.The capture of exceptionally big specimen fish is often a solitary and secretive process, so devising a competition which recognised and rewarded the dedicated anglers involved was quite difficult.
However, we turned it into a photograph based contest where the captures were published in Angling Times on a weekly basis. This meant the size claimed for the specimen could be judged and it allowed individual anglers to publish or keep secret the venue.
At the end of each season, the annual winners are chosen by all the other expert anglers involved in the competition so nobody gets to win without thoroughly impressing their peers.
Back in 1984/85 Greg Buxton won with just six double figure barbel to 14lb, but things have moved on to the extent that 2015/16 winner Dai Gribble needed loads of double figure tench to 14lb 12oz and numbers of double figure bream to 20lb 10oz to win the trophy.
With its thirty-year heritage, nobody is too bothered by the prize money, it's the achievement and prestige that counts. - Peter Drennan
Weekly Drennan Cup prizes are awarded to anglers who have caught specimen fish by design.
Weekly winners receive a £80 prize including a limited edition winners badge and cap (first-time winners), while the overall champion each season gets a cheque for £2,000 plus their name engraved on the prestigious trophy.
To stand a chance of winning, entrants must email or post the photographs along with details of the capture including the weight to Angling Times as soon as possible after capture. The fish must be caught by design and not while fishing for other species or on a guided session. Good quality photographs are a must.
Submit your recent capture to [email protected]
At the beginning of each week throughout the season Angling Times will forward onto us the best contenders for that specific week. We will then choose our winner/s for that week, taking into consideration the quality of the photographs, the size of fish, the venue, and the details surrounding the capture. Each week will vary from the next, and some captures although impressive, may be 'unlucky' due to bigger fish of the same species caught during the same week.
Once we have chosen our weekly Drennan Cup winner/s, we will then notify Angling Times and they will be published in the following week's issue.
*Specimen fish caught during a guided session are not eligible for weekly Drennan Cup awards.
