Eleven (11) anglers fished the second annual summer festival here at Woodside. Anglers were pegged across both main match lakes with proceedings starting on Woodside pool for the opening day of the competition before concluding on the in-form Island pool on day two (2). This year's event saw a slight change with final placings being decided by way of points with weight only becoming a factor in the event of a tie.
Conditions for this year's festival were relatively typical for the time of year with both days starting off quite cool with brief periods of rain keeping temperatures a little lower than in the weeks leading up to the event. As we've seen on both of these events now, the end of August / beginning of September seems to signal the beginning of the transition into Autumn and, with that, comes a definite change in the fishing. That said, with fishing proving a little indifferent, it made for an interesting and closely contested festival again with anglers all jostling for the top positions right until the final whistle.
DAY 1 - WOODSIDE POOL
'A' Section
Winner of 'A' section on Woodside pool was Adam Lees. Adam drew permanent peg 5 in the channel close to the island and offered 8mm pellet down his edge to take mainly carp up to approx. 8lbs. Come the end of the five hours, Adam weighed in a modest 47-15-00 to get his festival off to a perfect start scoring a single point finishing just ahead of second place.
Finishing close behind Adam, and finishing the match with two (2) points, was Josh Gaunt. Josh drew permanent peg 8 and opted to fish paste down his edge over fishery micro pellets to find mainly carp for a final weight of 42-13-00.
Third in section was Steve Hilton from peg 6 weighing in 35-10-00. Steve had a difficult first day with his margins failing to really produce, but sticking to his guns with maggot over groundbait, Steve managed a respectable three (3) point score.
'B' Section
Winner of 'B' section on the opening day of the festival was the ever-consistent Dan Hart. Dan drew peg 13 and started his match by mugging fish in the upper layers with pellet before they became wary and backed off. Dan then went down his left hand edge offering paste to find some better stamp fish to end the day with 101-12-00 confirming a section and an all important single point taking out the match comfortably in the process.
Finishing in second place was Dave Bowyer from permanent peg 18. Most of Dave's fish fell to 6mm expander fished down his edge giving him a final opening day weight of 44-00-00 and a two point score to remain in contention.
A little way off the pace, but still managing to secure a decent three (3) point score was Josh Sutterby from peg 20. Josh caught most of his 26-08-00 from down his edge on paste and dead maggot hookbaits with a handful of carp also falling victim to the method feeder.
SECTION A | ANGLER | PEG | WEIGHT | METHOD | PTS |
1st | A. Lees | 5 | 47-15-00 | Pellet in the margins | 1 |
2nd | J. Gaunt | 8 | 42-13-00 | Paste in the margins | 2 |
3rd | S. Hilton | 6 | 35-10-00 | Maggot over groundbait in the margins | 3 |
SECTION B | ANGLER | PEG | WEIGHT | METHOD | PTS |
1st | D. Hart | 13 | 101-12-00 | Pellet shallow & paste in the margins | 1 |
2nd | D. Bowyer | 18 | 44-00-00 | Pellet in the margins | 2 |
3rd | J. Sutterby | 20 | 26-08-00 | Paste & dead maggot in the margins | 3 |
DAY 2 - ISLAND POOL
After a relatively indifferent opening day for most anglers, and with this year's event not being decided on weight in the main, everything was still very much to play for going into the second and final day. Dan had put himself in a great position not only by winning his section, but by doing so with a big weight, giving him an advantage over the chasing pack.
Adam Lees was also looking favourable going into day two also having a section win under his belt and a formiddable record on Island pool with his respective club, Metal Closures. However, any chance of the two of them tying on points were blown out of the water upon them drawing alongside one another in the same section for day two!
Venue regular Dave Bowyer was also still in the running with two (2) points and can never be written off, especially after recording his latest open match win from this lake just a week or so before the festival. Unfortunately for Josh Gaunt, however, his 2024 festival ended prematurely after aggrevating a back injury on the opening day resulted in the Stourport-rod having to drop out making way for the likes of Steve Hilton and Josh Sutterby, who both scored three (3) points on day one.
'A' Section
Winner of 'A' section, and securing a valuable single point was Steve Hilton, who drew peg 15. Offering pellet up in the water over to the island, Steve found carp patrolling the far margin to offer 61-03-00 to the scales putting a decent amount of daylight between himself and second in section and adding to his cumulative weight.
Second place was John Latham from permanent peg 2. Fishing worm and pellet both short and down his left hand edge later in the match, John put 40-00-00 on to the scales to pick up a very handy two (2) points after a difficult first day.
Third in section was Jason Bird from peg 3. Jason had, by his own admission, a bit of a disaster losing fifteen carp during the course of the day, which saw him finish with 18-02-00. Fortunately for Jason, the remaining pegs in the section fished uncharacteristically hard, resulting in him seeing just three (3) points added to his total despite losing a significant number of fish.
'B' Section
Picking up top spot from section 'B' on day two was Dave Bowyer, from unfancied peg 5 on the dam wall. Following his two (2) point score from day one, it was imperative that Dave matched or bettered his opening day score to remain in contention and he did just that offering an impressive 83-03-00 to the scales. Dave caught mainly carp on maggot fished over groundbait to pick up a single point.
Second in section was secured by festival leader, Dan Hart. Dan also drew a difficult peg in peg 9 on the dam wall, but put in a good performance when it was needed to end the match with 64-14-00. Dan had to incorporate a number of methods to keep fish coming to the net with no two fish coming from off the same line! Dan caught on the long pole with pellet, method feeder and later on paste down his edge.
Finishing third in section on the day was Adam Lees from peg 11. Adam caught most of his fish from down his edge, again on 8mm pellet, to weigh in 40-07-00.
SECTION A | ANGLER | PEG | WEIGHT | METHOD | PTS |
1st | S. Hilton | 15 | 61-03-00 | Pellet shallow | 1 |
2nd | J. Latham | 2 | 40-00-00 | Worm & pellet short & in the margins | 2 |
3rd | J. Bird | 3 | 18-02-00 | Pellet over groundbait in the margins | 3 |
SECTION B | ANGLER | PEG | WEIGHT | METHOD | PTS |
1st | D. Bowyer | 5 | 83-03-00 | Maggot over micros in the margins | 1 |
2nd | D. Hart | 9 | 64-14-00 | Method feeder, paste in the margins & long pole | 2 |
3rd | A. Lees | 11 | 40-07-00 | Pellet in the margins | 3 |
OVERALL
POSITION | ANGLER | POINTS | CUM. WEIGHT | PRIZE |
1st | Dan Hart | 3 | 166-10-00 | £150 |
2nd | Dave Bowyer | 3 | 127-03-00 | £120 |
3rd | Steve Hilton | 4 | 96-13-00 | £90 |
4th | Adam Lees | 4 | 88-06-00 | £60 |
5th | John Latham | 7 | 53-06-00 | - |
6th | Josh Sutterby | 7 | 44-02-00 | - |
7th | Jason Bird | 7 | 39-11-00 | - |
8th | Nigel Hart | 8 | 49-04-00 | - |
9th | Josh Gaunt | 9 | 42-13-00 | - |
10th | Scott Banks | 10 | 33-03-00 | - |
11th | Ken Hayes | 10 | 29-13-00 |
As the weights above suggest, it was quite a tough couple of days, which made for a tight and difficult to call festival with very little separating anglers across the board going into day two (2). Dan gave himself a decent weight advantage going into the final day, which would ultimately be the difference between him and second placed Dave Bowyer. Dan came into the festival fresh off a great performance on the four-day festival at Moorlands Farm, and clearly carried his run of form into the two days here at Woodside to put right just missing out on last year's festival.
Congratulations also to Dave Bowyer on a second place finish overall after a valiant effort on day two (2) saw him gain ground on Dan, but it just wasn't quite enough. Steve Hilton also put in a couple of solid performances to finish inside the mainframe as did Adam Lees, who did the best he could after drawing in the same section as Dan and Dave on the final day, which saw him slip down the leaderboard a little because of weight.
Well done to the framers and thank you to everyone who took part and made the festival possible. We will definetely be running this again, so be sure to look out for the 2025 dates!
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