Winter Festival Runner Up

On Monday and Tuesday I was at the fabulous Meadowlands for the On The Flyer TV Silverfish two-day festival. Day One I was on peg 10 on Warren. A nice peg yet I was still fishless after 70 minutes and not many people were catching. Thankfully the skimmers eventually switched on and it got stronger and stronger. I’ve managed 29lb to win the lake. Mostly on maggots and groundbait (Sonubaits F1, Supercrush Green), plus a few on pellets. There was also a 27lb and two 28lbs on the lake. Great fishing.

The next day things were a whole lot harder! That was not surprising after driving through heavy snow on the way to the venue and it snowing during the match! I’ve drawn peg 15 in the Deeps on Lambsdown. Usually a good area for big skimmers… but nobody told them! It’s been a really tough match and I’ve scraped around to end up with 17lb to win the section. Almost half of my catch was perch. The bulk of my fish were on maggots and casters over groundbait. Pretty sure I was fourth overall both days.

Although the skimmers shut up shop the carp were surprisingly still active and it was a bit surreal to see steam coming off the lake midway through. By the end of the match it had all melted and you’d have never known it had snowed!

With two section wins and a 46lb total weight I’ve ended up runner up. A very well done to the unstoppable Andy Bennett for winning yet another festival, Dan Webb for third and all the other framers. Coming second to Bagger Bennett is certainly nothing to be ashamed at as he seems to win every festival at this place. Maybe next time…

Just about thawed out…