Easter 2005, Day 1 - Results

Dan Jones

Ton Up Baits

24 c

171lb 8oz

Bob Johnson

Rolfslake

6 b

110lb 6oz

Pete Wedgbrow

Slapheads

26 c

103lb 08oz

Dave Wightman

Simons 2000

8 c

61lb 4oz

Stan Robak

Ton Up Baits

13 a

60lb 8oz

Section Winners

A

Stan Robak

Ton Up Baits

B

Bob Johnson

Rolfslake

C

Dan Jones

Ton Up Baits

Easter Friday - Day 1 Review

Dan Jones enjoyed an early stroke of luck at the draw bag to record a section win from C Section Peg 24 with an easy day's fishing at 15m on the rising shelf. Dan took Carp to 13lb throughout the 5 hours and never looked anything other than a match-winner from the ‘all-in'. Fishing sweetcorn over 4mm Ton Up Pellet at 15m was the key to bites, by coming of the deck was the key to getting into 5 th gear early. Bob Johnson fished 14m on Peg 6 for a surprise section win at Peg 6 with a belting 110lb 6oz in a peg that he described as solid – interestingly, should any of the anglers around him fed sweetcorn, his peg would die for a short period – however the Rolfslake angler kept a level head and produced one of the results of the festival. Stan Robak, Ton Up Baits, produce a 10 Carp from Peg 13 in A section for an easy win ahead of Pete Coxhead, Rolfslake, who had turned up an hour late and drew the favored peg 18 in A section – Pete produced 5 Carp from the peg in what was to prove the most important 4 hours over the weekend.

I had draw Peg 21, and was getting fed up anglers walking past telling me how they hadn't wanted to draw my peg today. With a little wind the fish looked settled between peg 30 and 24, as Chris Davis would confirm on peg 23 who took 2 Carp on the peg next to match winner Dan Jones. Like Chris, I fed heavy in an attempt to draw some fish and finished with 2 Carp each of 10lb and 5lb of Perch. In the last 2 hours I had fed 8 pints of pellet and as the whistle blew a fish swirled under my float and as I packed up my peg transformed into a Jacuzzi – just to rub salt into the wound. However, worse was to come on day 2.

Easter 2005, Day 2 - Results

Section Winners

Easter Saturday - Day 2 Review

The lake fished its' head of on the Saturday. Ginger, Slapheads, bagged up on Peg 26 and eventually hauled 201lb onto the scales to blow away all contenders on the Car Park Bank (pegs 32 to 21) – the 9 anglers drawn on these pegs shared an incredible 1000lb plus of muscle packed Carp. Most had caught up in the water or at half depth with sweetcorn and hard pellet over pellet. The sun had produced a warm day for those out of the wind and the Carp moved into the warmer thermals and fed well for the first time this year. The shock of the day was the two weights from the previously barren pegs 21 and 23. Matt McDermott had taken 161lb 4oz from 23 and Mark Bowerman hauled 118lb of mostly double figure Carp at 21! Talk about the wrong peg on the right day! Kevin Arathoon took 142lb from Peg 7 for a section win in B and Mark Bowerman dominated A with this lumps at 21. Such was the dominance of C section today that lake expert and GOT Baits match angler Gary Thorpe returned 80lb for 6 th in his ten man section.

My day has started of with the bad news that my Grandmother had passed away in the night and never really got my head around the day. I had drawn peg 37, which was in the wrong corner of the small lake in the ‘bad' section. The peg had not been drawn the previous day and no feed would not of helped my plight. Notwithstanding a few Roach, my day's highlight was a foul hooked Lump that was unstoppable on 4 hours and I tipped my silvers back in disgust – This cost me a Point, bloody marvelous. Peg 38 took 2 Carp and 40 just 1. One thing was for sure – no one wanted to draw near me on Day 3.

Gary Thorpe lost £1 to Rolf in a side bet that Stan Robak wouldn't catch 50lb from Peg 2, but again Stan plodded away for 10 Carp close to the reconstructed peg 1 in the corner for 2 nd in the section and overnight ‘King of the Hill' going into the last day.

Easter 2005, Day 3 - Results

Section Winners

Easter Sunday - Day 3 Review

Stan Robak drew yesterdays winning Peg 26, and as I had blanked the final peg in the bag was left for my amusement. Incredibly, the peg that was left was hotspot peg 24 – I'd never drawn 24 in the last 3 years, bingo. Unfortunately, That's where the luck finished. The sun had gone in, and a cold easterly blew across the lake that pushed the Carp onto Pegs 14, 15, 16 and 17. I could only look from the other side of the lake as Pete Coxhead took fish after fish on his way to a section win. The 131lb converted into 10 points boosted Pete to 27 points that proved enough to win the festival. Stan Robak was pulling his hair out on 26 as us anglers on the Car Park bank struggled for bites. Bob Johnson took 72lb 2oz from Peg 12 for a section win and deserved 3 rd Place in the festival. Dave Wightman had won B section with 67lb 4oz from Peg 7 to finish in the Top half with 20 points. Slapheads angler Ginger had taken 2 nd in a section with a near 70lb bag from 13. His festival total weight topped 284lb 8oz, boosted by his 200lb plus yesterday, and joined Bob Johnson on 24 points who had taken a 274lb 10oz over the 3 days, but finished 3 rd overall on weight behind Ginger.

Meanwhile on peg 24, I had taken 78lb 4oz – first out of the coin! To make things worse, I had lost 3 fish by hitting the fence whilst shipping back and foul hooked 2 that I just couldn't stop. To ease my pain, peg 21 had resumed normal service with a low 20lb - a weight worse than my day one total. The icing on the cake was Gary Thorpe who had taken just 16lb from peg 6! (To be fair, peg 6 was a cruel draw as was Peg 8 and Peg 32 – the Cold easterly pushed between the two lake halves and had moved any sensible Carp towards the Motorway bank pegs in the bigger lake) Overnight contenders, Matt McDermott and Dan Jones had drawn Pegs 32 and 40 and both struggled for double figures, although Dan did take the top combined Easter weight of 285lb 4oz. The most consistent pegs of the festival turned out to be Pegs 2,4,7, 13, 17,18,24 and 26.

Overall, this was the most open Festival yet. I was delighted for Pete. With the August festival already sold out – I'd better get my name down for next Easter. Hopefully Rolf will build a bigger lake to accommodate the best festival on the fishing calendar.

A special thanks to Van Den Eynde and Kamasan for donating prizes and supporting the festival in it's 3 rd year. Once again, Kevin Arathoon was faultless in producing he results. Chris Davis manned the Hut and organised the draw without any grumbling from the waiting anglers – which has to be a first for Match Anglers. On behalf of the matchmen, A quick thanks for Rolf for his continued hard work in producing a cutting edge Match Fishery.