Barford Lakes Fishing Festivals

Today's un-settled weather and a very cold night last night put a dampener on the weights caught and anglers had to work hard to get fish.

Results from today are shown below and we will get the overall standings up tomorrow as we enter the final day of the festival.

Failing camera batteries and other technical hitches have hit the detailed write ups, but the report for day two was completed and all results and the final leaderboard are shown below:

Final Day Results:

Overall Result – their best four out of 5 results.

Final Standings

The first day of the festival fished extremely well. It seems the weather has settled down and produced perfect conditions for bagging a fair few fish. So much so that 45% of the anglers had bags over 100lb, 76% caught over 60% and 90% of anglers had over 50lb – so not too bad at all really!!

Lake Report - Willow

The lake record on Willow Lake was broken by Andy Findlay who fished shallow on peg 10. Starting off fishing about 18" deep, Andy fished punched meat on a size 16 PR24 hook and fed 4mm pellet, 10 at a time as often as he could throughout the day.

Using a small dibber with a number 8 and number 10 shot spread down the line, Andy found he had to deepen up as the match progressed and ended at a depth of about 2’. These tactics enabled him to catch fairly steadily throughout the day and at the weigh in his total smashed the lake record with a massive haul of 200lb 4ozs.

Barford Tackle sponsored Jim Barrowman (shown left) also had a good day and although he gained 2 penalty points he could only pick up a section win with his catch of 143lb 7ozs!! Jim fished peg 18 at about 2’ deep fishing black and red spud on the hook whilst constantly feeding 4/5 pellets at a time.

Keith Pearson on peg 24 *above right), against all odds, came second on the lake with 163lb 12ozs fishing shallow with punched meat and feeding 5/6 pellets continuously. He started at 2’ deep but had to deepen to 3’ to catch up with the bites.

He didn’t have the most ideal conditions on his peg – sun in his eyes, wind straight in his face and a nice patch of weed to avoid when landing his fish!

Dave Reeve (above left) fished well on peg 28 but 139lb 1oz was only good enough for third in section!! The tactics again were fishing spud at about 18" – 2’ deep whilst regularly feeding pellet.

Marty Hall (above middle) caught out and up and also down the edge. Fishing spud and feeding caster whilst up in the water and caster and corn when in the margin. A very respectable 99lb for fourth in section.

Lake report - Colton

Of the 17 anglers at Colton 10 of them had over 100lb.

Bob Gill (above left) was fishing peg 2 and was up in the water for all of the match and caught 156lb. He fished either spud or maggot (3 red and 2 white) on the hook and fed mostly caster with a bit of pellet. At a depth of about 2 – 3’ he had fish throughout the match – apart from when the ducks had moved in!

Glen Mason (above right) on peg 34 was fishing about 4’ deep with maggot hook bait and feeding caster… which the ducks loved!!! He had three little friends that stayed waiting near his float for free offerings for most of the match. Although it didn’t seem to affect his weight too much, after a slow start he caught most of his fish in the last 3 hours and won his section with 151lb 15ozs.

Steve Chilvers (above left)  on peg 32 fished corn and caster on the deck at 7/8 metres and also in the margin. He had a steady flow of fish for 146lb.

Graham Dack had 119lb 10oz from the margin in peg 40 and came fourth in section!!!!

Ray Kent (above middle - showing off his swing tip fishing skills) fished down the edge on peg 28 with catmeat, feeding pellet and catmeat and had a very respectable 122lb and picked up 3 penalty points.

Ron Mangham (above right) drew margin peg 20 and fished corn and caster feeding a pot of both with every fish caught. He had 107lb but since their were 6 weights over 100lb in his 9 peg section he had to make do with 6 penalty points (the least points wins).

Alan Ling (below left) fished shallow on peg 16 with caster whilst feeding caster and had 137lb for 4th in section.

The top catch across all lakes on day one was achieved by Gary Britton (above right). Gary took a mammoth catch of 222lb from the margins of peg 12 and leads the fishing festival at the end of the first day. His tactics were to use corn hookbait whilst feeding a mixture of corn, hemp and caster.

Lake report - Match Lake

On the match Lake we had 11 weights break the 100lb mark. Peter Hunt weighed 61lb 12ozs and his first fish was a 3 and a half pound eel – which tried but failed to avoid the weigh in!!

Nathan Watson (above right) was next door on peg 3 and fished shallow to start on spud whilst feeding pellet where he had about 12 of his fish. He had about 15 fish from the margin on corn.

The lake winner came from peg 6. Dave Harper (above left) finished with 160lb 10ozs after fishing shallow with gammon steak hookbait whilst feeding about 20 pellets every 30 seconds. He had fish steady from the start.

Alan Tuck was on peg 13 and fished shallow all the match (above left). He fed his margin and could see tails sticking out of the water but continued catching steady whilst fishing shallow – if it aint broke don’t fix it! He had a spud hook bait and fed pellet. Fishing about 4’ deep initially he found he had to shallow up half way through the match to 18” deep. He had a slow 4th hour but still managed 151lb 12ozs.

Cossetessey Crown AC angler Darren Mallet (above right) has returned to match fishing after a five year break with flying colours! Taking fish on spud fished about 2 – 2&half foot deep, he had fish steadily throughout the match whilst feeding pellet. Although he lost 9 fish he ended with and impressive 154lb 8ozs. It’s like riding a bike I suppose!

Barford tackle sponsored Glen Burden (above left) won his section with 158lb 9ozs from peg 22. Fishing shallow with spud and feeding pellet he didn’t have a fish in the first hour but made up for it for the other four hours!!!

Kevan Martin (above right) was on peg 29 and fished his right margin with luncheon meat hook bait whilst feeding meat and corn. Catching fairly steady with a slow 1st and 4th hour he had 124lb 14ozs.

The lakes being fished on Day 2 are the Match Lake, Willow and Railway Lakes.

DAY TWO

With conditions not quite as good as on day one (mind you we'd be going some to beat the first day!), it was a bit colder and the wind got stronger (and more of a pain) as the day went on.

Lake Report - Railway Lake

Freddie Bennett (Leicester) (pictured left) fished on peg 44 and had a nice mixed bag of Chub, Roach, Rudd, Tench and Carp. Fred was fishing up-in-water about 2' deep with small pieces of worm whilst feeding caster and had 37lb 4ozs.

Andy Findlay (Korum/PI Leicester) was round the corner fishing on peg 50 and had a bit more calmer water for fishing mid water.

There were rumours buzzing round after the first day that he was fishing balls of bread up-in-water and I know a few anglers that rushed to the supermarket that night to purchase a loaf. But after speaking with him it appeared that he was fishing punched meat – but a very light coloured one.

He found to get them going on Railway he needed to put a good pouch full of pellet in every now and again rather than little and often like at Barford. Andy fished about 2' deep and uses an interesting home made dibber float (above right) with a No 8 and No 10 shot spread down his 0.13mm Powerline. In windy conditions Andy finds using a No 8 (if it's really windy) or No 10 as a back shot helps to keep his float steady. He puts a shot about a third of the way up the line above the float as pictured. (picture) Andy came second in section with 106lb 9ozs.

Round the corner on peg 52 was Jim Barrowman (Barford Tackle), pictured above left. It seemed that the cross wind all the other anglers on the lake had to contend with was not a problem for the last three anglers in the section – and I think the fish had followed the wind down the lake and into the bowl at the bottom... Waiting for Andy, Jim and Richard Toomer to catch them! It was calmer but the water still had a slight ripple. Jim had fish throughout the match fishing spud and feeding pellet about 18" – 2' deep he won the lake with 165lb 5ozs

Of the trio that had the bulk of the fishing in this section the most interesting was Richard Toomer (Bently Angling) (pictured above right) on peg 54. He was fishing his newly devised six method! I won't go into details but I'd never seen it done like that before and it seemed to work!! He tried the margins with no success and kept on with fishing shallow with spud and feeding pellet and had 3rd in section with 67lb 15ozs.

In A section on Railway the main problem was the cross wind which prevented anglers keeping their feed tight when fishing up.

The section 1st place went to Dave Reeve (Fox Match Triangle) who fished spud and fed pellet. Most anglers on Day 2 found that the bites were quite patchy – Dave was no exception. He weighed 104lb 12ozs and came third on the lake.

Andy Purdy (Stalham AC) (pictured above left) on peg 4 also fished up on spud and feeding pellet and had 77lb 12ozs. Andy uses a dibber float with 3 x No10 shot – one down the line and 2 near the float.

Neil McKinnon (Shakespeare) (sorry no photo Neil!) had 81lb from peg 8 fishing small cubes of meat whilst feeding pellet. He fished 0.13mm powerline with a PB2 4x12 float and had a bulk shot about 6" from the hook.

Marty Hall (pictured right) found that by switching to a groundbait feeder he doubled his catch rate compared to fishing pole mid-water in the wind. He used Green Swimstim groundbait and fished a worm on the hook and had 49lb 14ozs

The catch of the day had to be from Alfie Leeder (Norwich Disabled AC) (pictured right) on end peg 16. He sat quietly contented sheltered by his brollie and had a lovely day's fishing on a rod in the margin. He fished halfway up his peg and about 3' from the bank on luncheon meat feeding corn and pellet. His bag was about 50% Tench and he finished with 88lb 3ozs and won his section.

Lake Report - Willow Lake

On Willow the fish didn't seem to want to settle down into any noted feeding pattern and bites were finicky. Alan Tuck (Fox Match triangle) had 82lb 13ozs (above left) for a section win and third on the lake. He fished up with spud and fed pellet. He found that there were more fish to be had further out but had to move closer in to be able to feed in the wind. He fished with a 4x10 float with a B911 size 16 hook and a bulk shot of 3 x No8's about 1' from the hook.

Darren Mallet (Costessey Crown AC) (Pictured above right) getting in the full swing of match fishing after a break from it fished peg 34 and weighed 71lb 6ozs for fourth in section.

Clive Spellman (Nomads AC) on peg 10 (above left) fished up and has 3 fish then moved onto the margins to get the rest of his 47lb 10ozs bag. Clive had one of "those" days and lost more than he caught. Got this begger in though!!!   Phil Walpole (Norwich Oddfellows AC) in action on peg 18 (above right), fishing corn on the bottom about 4' from the bank, feeding corn and meat for a weight of 41lb 4ozs  

The loveable Leicester rogue (and chief trouble maker) Freddie Bates (pictured) was on peg 12 and fished up-in-water with cubed and punched meat about 2' deep whilst feeding pellet. Fred found he caught the fish in spells – caught when it was windy and not so much when it was flat calm. But even so he still managed to top the lake with 137lb 6ozs!

Brian Envis (Leicester) (pictured) on peg 22 fished 3' deep and had smaller carp on luncheon meat feeding caster but found when he deepened up to 4' he had bigger fish. He had fish steady throughout the match and weighted 85lb 2ozs for 2nd in section.

The ever modest Jim Randall (pictured left) fished down the left edge of his peg with corn hookbait whilst feeding corn and pellet. When I took this photo he said he'd had a "few"! I think he's caught me out like that before – Jim came second on the lake with 104lb 8ozs.

Lake Report - Match Lake

On the Match Lake the top three weights on the lake were all pegged next to each other!

Shane Trower (Bentley Angling) on peg 10 (above left) fished shallow at about 4' deep on a size 14 animal hook with meat and feeding pellet. Shane found he had to shallow up to 2' deep half way through the match. In the first and last hour he had a spell of about 40 minutes with no fish but still managed to catch up with 101lb 3ozs of fish for third on the lake.

Next door on peg 13 was Graham Dack (Sensas Image), who'd only fished our lakes once before but ended up with over 300lb of fish in the first three days - which he was really pleased about as you can see from his photo (above right) – what a happy chappy!! Graham fished shallow with spud and feeding pellet at about 5' to start then shallowed up to 3' but found most of his fish at 2' deep. He took top honours on the lake by coming 1st with 133lb 12 ozs.

Graham had a few fish down the edge on catmeat which Glen Mason (Norwich Oddfellows AC) next door on peg 14 appreciated because when he stopped fishing up Glen's catch rate up-in-water increased. Glen ended up with 107lb 1oz and came 2nd on the lake.