39 anglers gathered last weekend to contest this year’s annual Spring Festival. The field was a lot more open than in previous years so hopes were high that with an element of  luck and good fortune at the draw they would be leaving at the end of the week with an extra few pounds in their pockets.

Sunday’s draw for the first open match of the week was all important as it dictated the order in which the lakes were fished. Ian Heaps and Chris Barley both drew the Match Lake so results on their lake were always going to be close with two good anglers vying for the spoils.

The first festival match on Monday got off a fairly predictable start with current Fish o’ Mania champion Clive Wright from Wolverhampton winning the Tench Lake with a weight of 33lb 8oz off peg 23 beating Dave Pountley into second place by a mere 10 oz. On the Match Lake, local boy and Club Angler of the Year finalist, Neil Morgan got his festival off to a blistering start with a weight of 49lb 14oz off peg 21 fishing banded pellet on the tip tight to the island. 

On the Match Lake, Clive Wright was hoping to maintain his winning streak but drew an unfancied peg 10 and could only manage 6^th place with a weight of 22lb 10oz. Steve Riley on peg 23 knew exactly what he had to do after Terry Schofield had the winning weight off the same peg the day before in the Open Match. He fished worm to his left in the margins to weigh in a bag of 78lb 1oz of carp. Rick Francis, two pegs to his right took the runner up spot with 55lb 4oz including a carp of  13lb 3oz.

Up on the Carp Lake, Steve Davis drew peg 29, still sulking after breaking a section of his new Airity pole on Monday, he fished maggot and caster at 14 mtrs to the corner of the island and started to catch early on only to break two sections of his Tourny pole. Now spurred on by the need to make money to replace his broken kit he upped his efforts and weighed in a magnificent 100lb 4oz, gaining him first place on the lake and a Holgan Farm ton-up T shirt. Ian Heaps on peg 21 weighed in 95lb 2oz  to take the runner up spot while festival favourite Chris Barley on the next peg caught a total of 82lb 8oz  including a carp of 15lb 10oz to take 3^rd place.

Into the final day with Tom Thick on two points only needing to finish in the first three to end up as festival winner on his first attempt. A hushed silence descended at the draw as mild mannered Tom nervously dipped his hand in the draw bucket to pull out peg 25 on the Match Lake. Surely it was all over, peg 25 has always been a fancied peg and had produced two third placed weights on the two previous festival days. Could he control his nerves and fish to his previous ability? Whether he bottled out or the fish didn’t oblige we will never know but he failed to replicate his previous success and weighed in a poor 8lb 4oz and came 10^th on the lake. This left the race wide open.

On the Tench Lake Chris Barley was going for gold, winning the lake off peg 30 with 37lb 12oz, 4lb ahead of Limpet off peg 14. Neil Morgan, still well in contention kept his head above water claiming 3^rd place with 32lb 4oz off peg 28.

Up on the Carp Lake Terry Schofield on peg 25 was fairing well to weigh in 51lb 8oz to take 1^st place on a wet and windy day. Four pegs to his right, festival regular, Capt Joe was having the time of his life ensnaring a few big lumps to bring 41lb to the scales and sneak into 2^nd place.

So the festival was over and it was back to mission control to work out the overall points  positions. First and second places resulted in a tie on 8 points as did 5^th position on 12 points. After taking into consideration weights overall, Neil Morgan was pronounced the winner with a total weight of 157lb 10oz to Chris Barley’s weight of 146lb 0oz. Ian Heaps took third place with 9 points. Neil Daniels filled the 4^th place spot while Tom Thick, after his earlier successes eventually took 5^th place over Rick Francis on weight.

Once again the festival went well with most of those present booking their place on the October Autumn Festival to take place between October 12^th and 17^th. This is going to be a sell out so if you want to enter please phone Ian as soon as possible to reserve your place.

Overall Positions (Adjusted by weight)

1^st    Neil Morgan             8 points

2^nd   Chris Barley             8 points

3^rd    Ian Heaps                 9 points

4^th    Neil Daniels             10 points

5^th    Tom Thick               12 points

6^th    Rick Francis             12 points

7^th    John Lowe                13 points

8^th    Clive Wright             13 points

9^th    Steve Riley               15 points

10^th  Terry Schofield         15 points

11^th  Steve Davis               16 points

12^th  Limpet                       17 points

13^th  Dave Pountley           18 points

14^th  Bill Bryant                 18 points

15^th  Richard Baldwin         19 points

16^th  Keith Tuson                19 points

17^th  Charlie Barnes            19 points

18^th  Craig Thompson         20 points

19^th  Mark Venton               20 points

20^th  Bernie                          20 points

21^st   Phil Bossum               22 points

22^nd  Colin Bates                 22 points

23^rd   Dave Atkins                22 points

24^th   Capt Joe                     23 points

25^th   Alan McGuire             24 points

26^th   Harry Haigh                25 points

27^th   Colin Miles                  25 points

28^th    Mark Close                 25 points

29^th   Michael Fell                 25 points

30^th   Baz McGee                  26 points

31^st   Andy Phyllis                 27 points

32nd   Mick Miles                   27 points

33^rd   Dave Philips                 27 points

34^th   Scott Heaps                   28 points

35^th   Dave Hicken                 30 points

36^th   Steve Newman              31 points

37^th   Paul Clarke                    33 points

38^th   Simon Swarbrick           34 points

39^th   Nobby (Bad draws)    36 points

Heaviest Fish   - 

1st Chris Barley  -   Carp 15lb 10oz  -  £90

2^nd Richard Baldwwin  - Carp  - 13lb 12oz  (£25 voucher kindly donated by Mainwaring’s Tackle of Swansea)

Secret Teams

1^st

Dave Atkins

Bill Bryant

Ian Heaps

2^nd

Keith Tuson

Steve Newman

Neil Morgan

Daily Festival Results

Monday Carp Lake

1^st  Tom Thick        67lb 14   peg 27

2^nd Colin Bates       42lb 7oz  peg 3

3^rd  Neil Daniels      41lb 12oz  peg 23

Monday Tench Lake

1^st  Clive Wright     33lb 8 oz     peg 23

2^nd  Dave Pountley  32lb 12oz    peg 30

3^rd  Craig Thompson   26lb 4oz   peg 2

Monday Match Lake

1^st   Neil Morgan     49lb 14oz   peg 21

2^nd   John Lowe        26lb 0oz    peg 27

3^rd   Ian Heaps          25lb 14oz  peg 25

Wednesday Carp Lake

1^st   Steve Davis     100lb 4oz   peg 29

2^nd  Ian Heaps          95lb 2oz   peg 21

3^rd   Chris Barley     82lb 8oz   peg 23

Wednesday Tench Lake

1^st   Tom Thick     48lb 10oz   peg 12

2^nd   Keith Tuson   30lb 4oz    peg 10

3^rd    Dave Atkins   27lb 10oz  peg 8

Wednesday Match Lake

1^st   Steve Riley     78lb 1oz peg 23

2^nd  Rick Francis    55lb 4oz  peg 19

3^rd  Dave Pountley  37lb 4oz  peg 25

3^rd  Bill Bryant   37lb 4 oz  peg 13

Friday Carp Lake

1^st  Terry Schofield    51lb 8oz   peg 25

2^nd  Capt Joe               41lb 0oz   peg 21

3^rd   Bernie                  40lb 12oz  peg 3

Friday Tench Lake

1^st   Chris Barley    37lb 12oz    peg 30

2^nd   Limpet            33lb 2oz      peg 14

3^rd    Neil Morgan   32lb 4oz     peg 28

Friday Match Lake

1^st  Neil Daniels    43lb 8oz    peg 17

2^nd  Richard Baldwin  38lb 2oz    peg 29

3^rd  Mick Miles    34lb 2oz    peg 29

Daily Open Results

Sunday Carp Lake

1^st  Mark Close    70lb 14oz    peg 29

2^nd  Tom Thick     56lb 0oz     peg 25

3^rd   Mick Miles    44lb 9oz     peg 23

Sunday Tench Lake

1^st  Dave Pountley   16lb 6oz   peg 14

2^nd Steve Riley         10lb 0oz  peg 8

3^rd  Craig Thompson  9lb0oz   peg 2

Sunday Match Lake

1^st  Jonathan     64lb 0oz   peg 4

2^nd  Ian Heaps   33lb 8oz   peg 27

3^rd  Chris Barley  30lb 14oz  peg 29

Tuesday Carp Lake

1^st  Chris Barley   142lb 8oz   peg 27

2^nd  Limpet           69lb 0oz  peg 3

3^rd   Neil Morgan  62lb 13oz  peg 29

Tuesday Tench Lake

1^st  Keith Tuson    52lb 12oz     peg 30

2^nd  Dave Atkin     27lb 9oz      peg 2

3^rd  Mick Miles      24lb 2oz      peg 6

Tuesday Match Lake

1^st  Terry Schofield    63lb 0oz   peg 23

2^nd  Craig Thompson  56lb 0oz   peg 25

3^rd   Phil Bossum        41lb 12oz   peg 21

Thursday Carp Lake

1^st   Clive Wright     87lb 4oz   peg 19

2^nd   Nobby               64lb 0oz   peg 7

3^rd   Steve Riley        60lb 12oz  peg 13

Thursday Tench Lake

1^st  Ian Heaps      41lb 14oz    peg 23

2^nd Limpet           36lb 4oz      peg 8

3^rd  Chris Barley  35lb 0oz      peg 30

Thursday Match Lake

1^st   Richard Baldwin    58lb 10oz     peg 4

2^nd   Mark Venton         45lb 4oz       peg 23

3^rd    Mark Close            33lb 1oz      peg 13