White Acres Van Den Eynde Festival 2007
Gosh it hardly seems like 6 days since I stopped writing these reports but it has in fact been 6 months and we are now into our first festival of 2007. The Van Den Eynde festival is always the first on our festival calendar and remains our only pellet free festival; the event is a sell out with 180 anglers fishing Pollawyn, Trelawney/Python, Gwinear, Bolingey & Porth. This is the first big test on the lakes as although we have had a full winter programme they have not been fished to this extent. All the regular faces are fishing the festivals as well as some new comers and there is a wide ages group with anglers as young as 12 & 15 fishing the festival. The stage is set and all preparation done the only thing left is to start fishing so lets see how day one goes.
Day One
As ever day one sees much nervous excitement and anticipation, the anglers already know their sections and in what order they will be fishing the lakes so the only thing left is the draw. This year we have amended our rules slightly and all anglers should have received and/or read these and they would have to sign to say they will abide by them, in October only two anglers were disqualified so we have high hope there will be no mistakes this time! At the morning draw Clint runs through the information and as we wish everyone a fantastic festival those at the front of the draw queue reach for the bag……
A SECTION POLLAWYN
A Section start off their week on the prolific Pollawyn match lake, with huge hauls of fish coming from this lake in the past there is much bagging expected. The weather has been mixed recently and the big catches have come from down the arms where the fish have been feeding in the sheltered warmer conditions, instead of basking in the high bank, this proved to be correct today with top match angler Des Shipp taking the lake win from peg 43, Des fished at 17.5 meters across to the island on meat for a winning weight of 132lb 3oz. Mick Lees on the point on peg 23 took advantage of the no pole limit rule and fished long across to the island on meat and weighed in with 115lb 9oz to take second on the lake. Third went to Tony Wynnick on peg 47, Tony caught straight from the off down the edge and over to the island both with meat on the pole, the bites slowed down but thanks to 4 big fish in the closing stages of the match this pushed him to third with 78lb 15oz. Carl Elland had the next best weight on the lake and narrowly missed out on being third with 78lb 10oz, Carl was on peg 34 and caught on the bomb with meat loose feeding meat and a few shallow on the pole.
SECTION WINNERS
DES SHIPP 9 POINTS 132LB 3OZ
MICK LEES 9 POINTS 115LB 9OZ
DAVE HARPIN 9 POINTS 73LB 4OZ
JOHN LARRAMAN 9 POINTS 60LB 8OZ
B SECTION TRELAWNEY/PYTHON
Both of these lakes have seen a facelift over the winter with Python benefiting from the reeds being cut right back with the anglers now having more room at either side of them. Trelawney has been stocked with a tremendous amount of fish and is nearly unrecognisable with the work that has been done on the island, our recent residents matches have proved that the lake is well on its way to being back on top form as it had provided the winning weights on all our recent matches. Taking the lake win today with 147lb 14oz was Kieron Rich on Trelawney peg 1, Kieron fished long pole to the island with meat over powdered meat. Stuart Lister on Trelawney peg 17 was second; Stuart fished at 4 & 5 meters on meat and also on the long pole to the island for a final weight of 72lbs. Current Parkdean Master Neil Machin took third with 68lb 11oz, Neil was on Trelawney peg 23 and caught half of his fish on the long pole and half on the bomb & meat. The next best weight on the lake was 67lb 14oz and this came from Harry Billing on peg 29 who fished on the pole with meat over powdered meat. Python fished steadily with a top weight of 60lb 8oz coming from the narrows & 55lb 6oz coming from the wides.
SECTION WINNERS
KIERON RICH 9 POINTS 147LB 14OZ
NEIL MACHIN 9 POINTS 68LB 11OZ
GARY SMITH 9 POINTS 60LB 8OZ
JOHN HOLT 9 POINTS 55LB 6OZ
C SECTION GWINEAR
Simon “at” is no longer at Gwinear and the reigns have been handed over to Charlie, Charlie has pledged his support to the festivals and has really tidied the lake up and also allowed us to once again introduce meat to the venue on the festivals. The fishing on Gwinear will also be a mystery to us as it has not really been fished much over the winter we just hope it does not live up to it’s festival nick name – Grimear! Grant Albutt takes the lake win today with 97lb 9oz, Grant was on peg 53 and caught on the pole at 16 meters on meat. England ace Will Raison took second from peg 28 with 90lb 1oz; Will fished the pole down the edge with corn. Third on the lake went to Chris Kerbel, Chris weighed in with 68lb caught on meat at 7 meters from peg 24. Terry Winter had the next best weight on the lakes with 64lb 10oz, Terry was on peg 31 and caught on the pole across at 16 meters and down the edge over the bar on corn and chopped worm.
SECTION WINNERS
GRANT ALBUTT 9 POINTS 97LB 9OZ
CHRIS KERBEL 9 POINTS 68LB
MARK BROWN 9 POINTS 33LB 14OZ
CALLUM DICKS 9 POINTS 33LB 3OZ
D DESCTION PORTH
Porth is rammed full of smaller fish but also stocked with the notorious pike, so the name of the game is to land your fish before the pike get there. In recent winter leagues the fish have been showing in the 30’s and you needed between 12lb – 16lb to win the match. Today’s fishing showed that the weights are consistent to these expectations but as the weather has been warmer the fish have stared to move. Steve Sanders on peg 73 took the win with 14lb 4oz, Steve caught on the feeder with worm. On peg 75 Nick Jones was second with 12lb 13oz, Nick caught on the long pole. Third went to Mark Harris with 12lb 9oz, Mark had an impressive net of roach caught on the pole with castor from peg 88. 11lb 10oz was the next best weight on the lake and this came from Bob Jarvis on peg 71 who fished chopped worm on the pole at 13 meters.
SECTION WINNERS
STEVE SANDERS 9 POINTS 14LB 4OZ
MARK HARRIS 9 POINTS 12LB 9OZ
JOHN PANTRY 9 POINTS 9LB 6OZ
STEVE MAYO 9 POINTS 9LB 4OZ
COLIN MULHOLLAND 9 POINTS 9 LB 4OZ
E SECTION BOLINGEY
Bolingey has produced some massive weights on previous festivals and again there are high expectations from the lake being as it is one of the Uk’s top venues. The boys dread the weigh in as it the past visits to the chiropractor have been recommended!! The lake win today came from Steve Cooke on peg 9, Steve caught on meat on the long pole in the margins at 14 meters for a great starting weight to the festival of 144lb 6oz. Ben leach took second with 143lb 2oz, Ben was on peg 18 and caught on the bomb & PVA and on the short pole at 5 meters with meat. Third went to Peter Jupp on peg 14, Peter fished at 4 meters and in the margins on meat for a total weight of 138lb 12oz. The next best weight on the lake was 117lb 6oz; this came from Dave Barratt on peg 19 who caught at 5 meters on meat.
SECTION WINNERS
STEVE COOKE 9 POINTS 114LB 6OZ
SAM DAVIES 9 POINTS 114LB 8OZ
ADEY LINDSAY 9 POINTS 94LB 13OZ
DAVE TAYLOR 9 POINTS 77LB 10OZ
So that was day one of the festival, lets see how the top twenty looks
Top Twenty
1st Kieron Rich 9 points 147lb 14oz
2nd Steve Cooke 9 points 144lb 6oz
3rd Des Shipp 9 points 132lb 3oz
4th Mick Lees 9 points 115lb 9oz
5th Sam Davies 9 points 114lb 8oz
6th Grant Albutt 9 points 97lb 9oz
7th Adey Lindsay 9 points 94lb 13oz
8th Dave Taylor 9 points 77lb 10oz
9th Dave Harpin 9 points 73lb 4oz
10th Neil Machin 9 points 86lb 11oz
11th Chris Kerbel 9 points 68lb
12th Gary Smith 9 points 60lb 8oz
13th John Larraman 9 points 60lb 8oz
14th John Holt 9 points 55lb 6oz
15th Mark Brown 9 points 33lb 14oz
16th Callum Dicks 9 points 33lb 3oz
17th Steve Sanders 9 points 14lb 4oz
18th Mark Harris 9 points 12lb 9oz
19th John Pantry 9 points 9lb 6oz
20th Steve Mayo 9 points 9lb 6oz
So day one is in the bag and the race is on, is there are festival winner in the above names? We shall just have to weight and see, more festival results and reports coming soon.
Keep watching this space! Cheers, Kirsty
