We had planned to go out for a curry in Torrington with Brian Shanks, Ron Hardiman and Bela Bakos tonight, but they cried off because they wanted to stay in to watch Broke Back Mountain for the fourth time this week! Mark and I went to the New Inn again and had a delicious steak.
I was a little concerned that the weather this week might be a bit cold and damp. However, we managed to survive, although the wind had a chill about it, it hasn’t been too bad – went away dry every match.
It was obvious that yesterdays result would be the one to drop and I reckoned I would need either a section win or perhaps a section second to be in with a chance of some overall festival coin. So the draw was crucial in this respect. But Pines would suit my style of fishing. So in to the draw bag and out comes peg 14. A quick check on the previous four days results and it was clear that any hopes of any overall coin had evaporated. The peg had been last in section three days and a last but one the day before with a good Angler on it – Stu Foal’s with the highest weeks weight of 9lb. I found Stu who advised fishing for Ronnie’s and hope for the best. Having come to terms with the fact I was out of the Festival I was determined to improve on Stu’s results – fishing against myself I suppose. Arriving at the peg there was a lot of very small Ronnie’s topping, which got me looking forward to a days fishing.
I set three Ronnie rigs, a Skimmer rig, and a margin rig (it’s a corner peg come bay) and finally a Silver fish waggler in case the Ronnie backed out of the corner (this was only used whilst I ate my banana – nothing caught).
On the “Have a great day everyone – All in” Andy’s usual match starting cry. I fed a ball of GB at 9 metres at 10 clock for the Skimmers and started on the Ronnie’s at 3 metres with caster. The fish were tiny 1oz to maximum of 2oz, plus they weren’t coming as quick as I would like, so it a switch to the Skimmer line with soft 3mm expander and it was the same again – small Ronnie’s. I decide to feed some micro and caster in to the end margin at 9 metres, however, a slight skimming breeze started blow a lot of green slime in to this margin. Back on the Ronnie’s this time on the 4 metre whip. It was the same again but slight quicker this was because I was now fishing further out – and the maximum I could hand feed casters. I then noticed a blow over the GB so went back over it and started to get strange line bites. I then caught a Skimmer of 1 oz, then another and another it was taking too long to catch these blighters. I noticed that everyone was struggling with pegs 13, 12 and 11 fishless and these are the good Skimmers pegs. So I decided to get my head down for the remainder of the match with the 4 metre whip. With 20 minutes to go I noticed that the surface scum had cleared a bit so I thought I would try the margin and first put in with double caster on the hook resulted in a scale from a foul hooked Carp that was as big as my Ronnie’s to that went in the net. Ten minutes later the same happened again. I was first to weigh in my section and put 140 Ronnie’s on the scales for 12lb and I had beaten pegs 13,12 and 11 which unfortunately were not in my section, but still found this satisfying. I finished up better than anticipated with 5 section points with 30lb winning the section it from peg 28, again satisfying for me.
It was Mark Tanners turn on Josephs (or as Mark calls in Jurassic Park) and pulled peg 9 on the bridge. Mark's pole survived they day as it was only tested by two Skimmers. Not everyone was so lucky, Chris Davis came back with a "Top set necklace".
The match on the day was won by Andy Pell from peg 17 Woodpecker with 148lb 12oz. However, I must mention fellow Bristolian and very nice guy Ron Hardiman who finished second on the day from peg 24 with 131lb 10oz. Ron fished corn down to the next four empty pallets!! Well done matey pleased for you.
Dropping the worse result I finished the Festival on 11 points with 193lb (dropping the lowest points and weight).
The overall Festival final results were very tight as can be seen from the top 8 below. Overall I was very satisfied with how I fished four of the matches, but if I could re-fish the fourth match on Tanners I am sure I would had got another £60 to add to my overall winnings of £200 and would, I think had finished with 8 or 9 points overall, which would may have got me some overall Festival coin. This mistake I have put down to not knowing the venue as well as many of the regular festival goers – some have been fishing it for ten years. My favourite match was fishing the Josephs Dam Wall – paste at 13 metres in 14 foot of water - plus it was a new experience for me – lovely. I must say Joseph’s peg 27 came a close runner up – what I nice place to spend the day even if you don’t catch anything. My worries about my fitness standing up didn't materialise. I could have fished again on Saturday, Sunday, Monday ......!
I thanked Andy Seery for running it. Andy must be exhausted after each match because he fishes all the pegs for us. Those that know him will understand. What I will say is this man should not be let loose with a pen, he has the worse handwritting I have seen trying to determine the daily results for my blog was a nightmare. I now wish a took a photo of it.
So another one ticked off the fishing “Bucket List”. Unfortunately the others cannot be paid for I will have to rely on a great deal of luck to catch 100lb of Ronnie’s.
Part Result on the Day:
1. Andy Pell 148-12-0 peg 17 Woodpecker
2. Ron Hardiman 131-10-0 peg 24
Overall Festival Results:
1. Simon Keiffer 6pts – 272lb £1,000
2. Andy Poole 6pts – 231lb £750
3. Perry Stone 7pts – 379lb £500
4. Dave Stockton 7pts – 212lb £400
5. Joe Roberts 7pts – 171lb £350
6. Lee Farmer 8tpts - £300
7. Another 9pts - £200
8. Another 9pts - £150
Finally if Andy can’t accommodate you in his Chalets then, I would highly recommend the following which is where Mark and I stayed:
http://www.wansleybarton.co.uk/
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