{"id":5580,"date":"2023-09-15T08:41:45","date_gmt":"2023-09-15T07:41:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jonarthur.co.uk\/?p=5580"},"modified":"2023-09-15T08:45:31","modified_gmt":"2023-09-15T07:45:31","slug":"thames-festival-runner-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jonarthur.co.uk\/?p=5580","title":{"rendered":"Thames Festival Runner Up!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Day 1<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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Tuesday was the first day of the Thames Festival and I always find something interesting in this river. Up to now, the best thing I\u2019ve caught has been a watering can nozzle at Abingdon, hooked fair and square at 14m. I beat that easily on Day 1 after pulling a dirty great big axe out of the river after spotting a handle sticking up four metres out! Just in case it\u2019s wanted in connection with a crime I dusted off my fingerprints and let Colin Perry take it!Oh, and I also had a great day, catching 12 bream and some bits for a zone winning 53lb. Pole and groundbait with worm and caster at 13m was the tactic. Bit of a surprise to see the bream and very hairy playing the first couple on No5 elastic, before stepping up to No6, then ended up with 8-10 Slik with a 14 N-10 hook! <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A very very enjoyable match, despite all the rain and bream slime!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Day 2<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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I felt I was really up against it after drawing a very iffy peg 5 at Upper Moors. It\u2019s mega deep and in a split section with six anglers on much more fancied pegs at Lower Moors where the river actually flows a bit – a rare sight on the middle Thames! <\/span>Well I\u2019ve just got my head down and caught a lot more than I expected and had a nice small-fish battle with Richard Chave next door. My 12lb 5oz of roach plus one rudd(!) was the best weight at Upper Moors and 2nd in the 24-man zone behind Simon Willsmore\u2019s 15lb from Lower Moors. More than happy to grab two points from that draw!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So yet again I found myself up near the top with a day to go, but I normally draw horrific on the last day, so we\u2019ll just have to see…Oh, and no weapons today… other than my sunburnt \u2018guns\u2019!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day 3<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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On the third and final day of the Thames Festival I\u2019ve won my 12-peg section at Culham with 12lb 8oz. Another lovely day\u2019s river fishing! Caught a few fish at 8m early, then a brief run at 14.5m, but went an hour catching very little. A few bream were rolling and could be seen going through everyone’s pegs up our end, but no one could stop them> After seeing three roll in front of me I also had to have a go, but I felt they were just swimming through and knew I had to be catching roach to secure a top-10 place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back on the pole and it was devoid, but suddenly the roach returned and I had a beautiful 2.5 hours catching one a bung and topping up. Pinkes and casters were best, but managed a few on maggots later on too. A 1g rig fished just overdepth seemed best today, No5 elastic through a full top two and 18 N-10 to 0.08.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After an amazing three days I\u2019ve ended up Runner Up. A very well done to Mark Kimber taking the crown with a perfect three points and also Carl Eland who was third overall and the rest of the top 10. Must also say a huge thanks to Tim Nix for all his hard work getting the festival organised so well, plus Sutton Courtenay AC, all the helpers, stewards and weighers in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My MTX5 pole has been flawless and my groundbait mix has been spot on, too, which was a bag of Sonubaits Black Roach, plus a third of a bag each of Black Lake, Deep Water, Sweet Skimmer and my special Terre d\u2019Arthur, fresh from the back garden!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would normally have a few ifs, buts and maybes, but I honestly don\u2019t think I could have done much more each day, so I\u2019m happy with how I\u2019ve fished and come away with a nice trophy, plus the best part of a grand for my efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been so nice to be back on the river. Hopefully I can go a place higher in the RiverFest Final this weekend!<\/p>\n\n\n\n