With 180 in attendance including some of the very best in Britain, this was sure to be another hotly contested event.
The sun was shining and the fish fed well which led to some huge weights from all over the complex. Tony Wynnick topped the big weight stakes with a staggering 240lb but some very impressive weights came from all over the complex during the week.A nail biting finish was the story of the last day as 3 anglers had a 3 section wins so any one of these could still have won. Bait-Tech’s very own Grant Albutt and Steve Barraclough along with Tony Wynnick could all achieve maximum points should they win their sections again. (4 out of the 5 days count as the worst result is then dropped). Unfortunately for the other two it was Grant who powered to victory drawing peg 4 on Jenny’s lake. He caught F1s steadily throughout the day and topped up his weight with 20lb of roach to weigh an impressive 83lb and take the crown as Bait-Tech Festival Champion. The ever consistent Des Shipp came in 2nd with a last day lake win at Porth and in 3rd was Paul Yates who actually knocked Steve Barraclough down to 4th, Coming out best on weight count-back. A massive congratulations to them all!Speaking to Kirsty and Clint who run all the festivals and fishing at White acres it was clear that the hard work they had put in over the cooler months had paid off handsomely. The venue had fished brilliantly all week and even those who didn’t fare so well in the results table all mentioned how they had caught fish all week and really enjoyed themselves.Kirsty had this to say:‘For us, I think this has been the most successful first festival of the season ever, we are so pleased that all the hard work in preparing for the festival and getting it organised well in advance as well as all the work we have done on the lakes has really paid off and made it such a great week! Thank you so much to Bait-Tech for sponsoring the event and thanks and congratulations to all of the anglers that fished and for making it such an enjoyable week for us all.’Bait-Tech are proud to announce they have confirmed the continuation of the event and have guaranteed sponsorship of it for at least the next 3 years to come.
