| Autumn Festival 2009 |
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No one expects hot balmy days when fishing the Autumn Festival but even the most hardy of us didn't expect the weather that was thrown at us this past week. With high winds and torrential rain on an almost daily basis it made fishing uncomfortable to say the least but fish it we did.
The wind made bait
presentation difficult at long distances and most anglers favoured the short
pole line or fished the tip. Unfortunately the weather did affect the results
and only one 100lb+ catch was recorded throughout the week. Festival favourite Chris Barley drew the Carp Lake on the opening day and after failing to weigh in on that lake the day before all eyes were on him to see if he could put together a winning weight. With a catch of 54lb 10oz off peg 23 he could only manage 3rd place behind Graham Block on peg 25 weighing 58lb 14oz and the winner Dave Pountley who fished from peg 21 and weighed in 67lb 12oz.
Down on the Tench Lake, local boy Mark Close fishing peg 28 brought 22lb 8oz to the scales to win the match, it was local boys in 1st and 2nd place as Ritchie Hogan came close with 20lb 4oz from peg 11. Chris Barley's travelling companion, Jason Binder claimed 3rd place with a weight of 18lb 4oz from peg 3.
Over on the Match Lake, true to form Alan McGuire drew yet another flier on peg 22 to win his opening match with a weight of 56lb fishing the conker to the edge of the island, closely followed by Richard Baldwin off peg 25 with 38lb. Richard has recently moved to Caerphilly to be closer to the Peter's Pie Factory. Over on peg 10 John Lowe took 3rd place with 34lb 8oz.
On Wednesday it was becoming apparent that pre festival favourite Chris Barley wasn't going to have it all his own way this year and took 3rd place from peg 23 with 14lb 8oz, taking 2nd slot was the wily old fox himself Ian Heaps with 16lb 4oz from peg 25. Peg 17 threw up the winner with Simon Swarbrick taking the honours with 19lb 9oz.
On the Match Lake Mark Close gained 3rd place from peg 28 with a weight of 38lb 8oz behind Mick Miles off peg 22 with 41lb 14oz. Top spot went to local boy Limpet from peg 8 with 49lb 11oz caught on the method feeder to the island.
Things were a bit closer on the Carp lake where only 4lb 9oz separated the top four places, top man on the day was Colin Miles off peg 27 with 56lb, Scott Heaps took 2nd place with 52lb 7oz off peg 14 while Dave Philips came 3rd with 52lb 4oz off peg 12.
Going into the final day Mark Close was leading the field on 4 points but as is always the case in festivals there were a few anglers one or two points behind snapping at his heels. Tension was high at the draw as Mark drew peg 21, a proven winning peg earlier in the week. Unfortunately for Mark he could only manage 4th place with 55lb 2oz to leave him with 8 points for the week, could it be enough to win his first festival? Former festival winner Neil Morgan took the top spot with 59lb 14 off peg 14 while former Pembrokeshire Fish Festival winner Ritchie Hogan came 2nd with a close 59lb 6oz catch off peg 25
On the Tench Lake, Mark's nightmare came true as Richard Baldwin weighed in 30lb 4oz off peg 17 to take 1st place to add to his previous win on the same lake the day before. Alan McGuire returned to form, taking 2nd place off peg 20 with 20lb 10oz while Dave Philips weighed 15lb 13oz off peg 7 to occupy the 3rd place spot.
It now seemed as though the top spot was all down to the result coming from the Match Lake where Dave Pountley had drawn the unfancied peg 13, a peg which had failed to produce all week, not to be undaunted he walked to his peg with a spring in his step telling everyone that he would catch there today. A man of his word, Dave fished a blinder weighing in 58lb 5oz to win the lake, unluckily for Tim Peters on peg 3 a few lost fish cost him dearly as he was ounced into 2nd place with 58lb 0oz. Simon Swarbrick took the 3rd spot with a creditable weight of 47lb 8oz.
So it was back to the caravan
for the final reckoning, Richard Baldwin and Dave \Pountley were tied for top
place with 7 points apiece so it was all down to overall weight. After a
nailbiting 5 minutes Dave Pountley was announced as the winner. Final results (weights
adjusted) were:
2nd Richard \Baldwin 7 points, 3rd Mark Close 8 points 4th Ritchy Hogan 8 points 5th Tim Peters 10 points 6th Chris Barley 10 points 7th Mick Miles 11 points 8th Simon Swarbrick 11 points 9th Dave Philips 12 points 10th Limpet 13 points 11th Alan McGuire 13 points 12th Ian Heaps 13 points 13th Scott Heaps 14 points 14th Graham Block 15 points 15th Colin Miles 15 points 16th Neil Morgan 16 points 17th Jason Binder 16 points 18th John Lowe 17 points 19th Dave Hicken 17 points 20th Baz Mcgee 19 points 21st Capt Joe 19 points 22nd Andy Bocock 21 points 23rd Bill Bryant 23 points 24th Dark Horse 25 points 25th Colin Bates 26 points 26th Steve Newman 27 points 27th Ed Pritchard 27 points 28th Del Francis 28 points 29th Steve Riley 28 points 30th Nobby 28 points 31st Graham Spencer 29 points 32nd Harry Haigh 30 points 33rd Clive Wright 31 points
Heaviest Fish
Mark Close 17lb 10oz £200 Steve Newman 14lb 12oz £120
One interesting footnote: On the final day Ritchie Hogan caught a carp which eventually snapped him taking his float with it, sometime later Mark Close hooked and landed the same fish with the float still attached. It transpired that this was the heaviest fish of the festival and earned Mark an extra £200. Taking into consideration the extra points it would have earned Ritchie on the day, overall and in the secret team payout it cost Ritchie £450 in lost prize money. The moral dilemma is, do you think Mark should give Ritchie £225 from his winnings to compensate Ritchie? Answers on a postcard please.
Secret Teams
1st Richard Baldwin Simon Swarbrick Jason Binder
2nd Colin Bates Chris Barley Ritchie Hogan
Heaviest Rat Nobby |
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