33 anglers made the annual pilgrimage to Holgan Farm this past week to contest the Spring Festival with the promise of good weather. The first half of the week was a damp, drizzly affair but gave way half way through to a couple of glorious days of sunshine and hot temperatures.

The first festival day got underway on Monday with Scott Heaps getting his first win under his belt on the Carp Lake with a bag of 94lb on peg 15 followed by Colin Bates with 66lb off peg 29,3rd on the lake was two time John Smith's winner and Witchhaven winner, Colin Perry from Mansfield on peg 19 with 61-1

The Tench Lake fished well with multiple festival winner Chris Barley weighing in 59lb off peg 16 followed by Ian Heaps on peg 22 with 50-6. In 3rd place was Tim Peters on peg 19 with 48-8.

Over on the Match Lake it was Gadgers Champion 2011, Nobby who led the field with a weight of 93-15 off peg 17, while Capt Joe took the runners up spot with 83-5 on peg 29. Graham Block took 3rd place with 82-2 off peg 20.

So after day one it was Scott Heaps, Nobby and Chris Barley leading the festival, causing Frenzee sponsored Steve Barraclough to have a sleepless night having been beaten by Nobby and only managing 4th place with 79-12 from peg 25.

Wednesday saw all competitors in brighter spirits after the dark clouds had moved away and promised a more comfortable days fishing.

On the Carp Lake Steve Barraclough (Frenzee) was determined to put his demons behind him and fished an incredible match  to weigh in the winning weight of 173-10 on peg 19. Local boy Limpet took runners up spot from peg 21 with 85lb while Neil Daniels took 3rd spot off peg 29 with 80-5. Early festival leader Nobby had a nightmare on peg 7, after starting well he lost a lens from his polaroids and had to fish most of the match with one eye closed.

Down on the Tench Lake it was continuing to fish well with Dave Cheetham taking top honours with 54-12 on peg 4 closely followed by Colin Perry on peg 13 with 51lb. Scott Heaps consolidated his top festival spot with 50-7 to take 3rd place leaving him festival leader with 4 points.

On the Match Lake former Fishomania winner Clive Wright (Willis Worms) took 1st place with a massive haul of 164-2 off peg 25 while 2nd place went to Bill Bryant with 86-2 on peg 20. Ian Heaps occupied 3rd position with 66-8 on peg 22.

So into the final day on Friday and the festival trophy was Scott's to give away.

On the Carp Lake Chris Barley showed that his poor result on the Match Lake was just a glich as he fished a blinder off peg 12 to weigh in 118-9, beating Tim Peters who als fished a good match on peg 27 with a weight of 114-14, also recording the heaviest fish of the week, a fish of 17-2.
In 3rd spot was Ian Heaps fishing peg 3 with a weight of 98-10.

Unusually the Tench Lake kept its form up until the final day with Neil Daniels on peg 28 showing that skill is permanent while luck is transitory (his words, not mine) weighing in 69-1. Steve Barraclough (Frenzee) on peg 2 came in 2nd with 50-2 while Mark venton took 3rd spot with 43-9 on peg peg 16.

So, after a less than perfect start to the week Steve Barraclough ( Frenzee) kept his cool and clawed his way back to the top with 7 points. Ian Heaps and Colin Perry tied on 8 points in 2nd plavce but Ian took the place with overall weight relegating Colin Perry to 3rd place. Tim Peters occupied 4th place with 9 points while Neil Daniels and Chris Barley tied for 5th place, both on 10 points, Neil beat Chris on overall weight taking the 5th position.

Another great festival week was over, fished in a good friendly spirit with Steve Barraclough (Frenzee) a worthy winner. Commiserations to Scott Heaps who drew the devil's peg on Match Lake 13, a peg which has been the downfall of a few good anglers in the past including Rob Jones and Nigel (Doris) Morris who were both in contention going into the final day, only to succumb the the peg 13 jinx.