Ten (10) anglers attended our first September festival held over two (2) days across both main match lakes.
Conditions for the festival were the complete polar opposite of recent weeks with the sunshine and late 'Indian Summer' temperatures making way for grey skies, showers and a definite autumnal bite to the air. The weather on both days never really picked up with conditions being almost exactly the same at the end of the day as they were at the beginning of the day. Light levels were low, there was very little ripple on either of the pools both days and temperatures overnight dropped considerably. Autumn, it would seem, had arrived.
Fishing over the two (2) days also presented a few challenges with the sudden change on the weather front almost certainly playing its part in making sport in general a little up and down with normally productive pegs and methods failing to really come into their own. That said, despite angler's weights being a little below par, the conditions made for a closely contested event with little separating top placed anglers after the two (2) days.
DAY 1 - WOODSIDE POOL
Winner on the opening day of the festival was the ever-consistent Dan Hart. Dan drew unfancied peg 20 and struggled for the first half of the match managing only a handful of fish. A change of tactics was in order and Dan switched to his left hand margin having exhausted all options to his right and immediately found carp willing to feed just inches from the bank. Dan wasted no time and put together a good run of fish on paste to end the match strong and offer 53-02-00 to the scales to save what would have otherwise been a desperate start to his festival bid.
Finishing in second place was Mick Jones from peg 16 on the dam wall. Although not a particularly good draw at this time of year, it is an area that has enjoyed some recent form and Mick wasted no time in getting among the fish. Mick was straight out the traps catching carp on maggot down his edge for the opening half of the match. However, as the day progressed, Mick's fish began to back off and turn funny on him. Despite a great start, Mick limped to the finish line and had to settle with a level 38-00-00.
Rounding off a very odd day indeed was Brandhall Conservative rod, Lee McKnight. Lee has found a good run of form here at Woodside at the moment and put that to use from unfaniced peg 1. Fishing the long pole with 6mm pellet both up in the water and later to depth, Lee managed a handful of carp to weigh in 29-15-00 and keep his hopes of being in contention going into day two alive.
POSITION | ANGLER | PEG | WEIGHT | METHOD |
1st | D. Hart | 20 | 53-02-00 | Paste in the margins |
2nd | M. Jones | 16 | 38-00-00 | Maggot in the margins |
3rd | L. McKnight | 1 | 29-15-00 | Pole & pellet |
DAY 2 - ISLAND POOL
Expectations going into day two were not high with the opening day proving much tougher than expected coupled with an undeniable lack of recent form on Island pool and the promise of rain before the end of the day. That said, there was very little separating anglers across the board as well as some festival favourites having a lot still to do to be in with a chance of denying any upsets.
Winner on the Island pool was Mick Jones, who drew peg 15. Again, sticking to his guns and fishing maggot down his edge, Mick found carp willing to feed in numbers of all shapes and sizes. Mick caught for the majority of the day to weigh in 60-04-00.
Second place was Dave Bowyer on peg 14. Dave fell victim to a poor draw on day one and fell outside the mainframe finish so had some ground to make up. Dave also managed to find some quality carp as well as some decent roach and skimmers to maggot down his edge to put together a better day two weight on the scales of 52-08-00.
Third place was taken by Lee McKnight from peg 12 opposite the island. Fishing pellet long over to the island, Lee found plenty of slightly smaller carp to confirm a consecutive third place finish with 40-09-00.
POSITION | ANGLER | PEG | WEIGHT | METHOD |
1st | M. Jones | 15 | 60-04-00 | Maggot in the margins |
2nd | D. Bowyer | 14 | 52-08-00 | Maggot in the margins |
3rd | L. McKnight | 12 | 40-09-00 | Pole & pellet |
OVERALL
POSITION | ANGLER | RESULTS | CUM. WEIGHT | PRIZE |
1st | Mick Jones | 2nd & 1st | 98-04-00 | £135 |
2nd | Dan Hart | 1st & 4th | 88-05-00 | £115 |
3rd | Dave Bowyer | 5th & 2nd | 76-04-00 | £90 |
4th | Lee McKnight | 3rd & 3rd | 70-08-00 | £70 |
5th | Ken Hayes | 4th & 5th | 52-03-00 | £50 |
6th | Josh Sutterby | 6th & 7th | 37-02-00 | - |
7th | Zach James | 10th & 6th | 27-14-00 | - |
8th | John Latham | 7th & 8th | 25-12-00 | - |
9th | John Mawdsley | 9th & 10th | 13-05-00 | - |
10th | Nigel Hart | 9th & 9th | 11-13-00 | - |
A very strange couple of days indeed made for a tight and difficult to call festival with very little separating anglers across the board going into day two (2). Dan took a slender 15lb advantage through with him into the second half but there was less than 15lb separating second place right the way through to fifth place. It really was anyone's festival going into the final day!
As is the nature of the sport, often fate is decided at the draw and day two (2) saw festival leader Dan pull peg 7 out of the bag - completely the wrong end of the lake and perhaps cost him the festival. Dave Bowyer had drawn badly on day one, but drew the right end of the lake on day two (2) and managed to make up a lot of ground with Lee McKnight also drawing well and putting in another good performance. Ken Hayes, who had finished in fourth place on the opening day also found himself on a reasonable peg ahead of the final day with the rest of the chasing pack spread across both good and not so good draws.
Congratulations to Mick Jones on the overall win. Unlike the other anglers in the mainframe, Mick defintely didn't forget his drawing arm, but still had it all to do in tricky conditions with Dan and Dave in the end both breathing down his neck.
Despite an unkind day two (2) draw, Dan still managed a respectable 35-03-00 on the final day to hold on to second place, which given his draws over both days, was quite an achievement.
Dave Bowyer put in a strong day two (2) performace from what can be a difficult peg to right a tough opening day finishing a little over 6lb ahead of Lee McKnight, who was without question, the most consistent angler over the two days taking fourth place overall.
Ken Hayes recorded two decent performances placing himself firmly in the middle of the field on both days to take the last of the payout places.
Well done to the framers and thank you to everyone who took part and made the festival possible.