Day OnE
Another first and new festival at White Acres; Tuesday 5th April saw the start of the 3 day Coors Lager Veterans Festival, open to those 55 and over. 27 competitors aged between 55 and 71 took to the banks of Jennys and Trelawney to fish for the White Acres Veterans title. Coors Lager generously donated £1000 and topped up with entry money means that we will be paying overall top 5 in cash and prizes to 15th place with the lucky winner taking away £400 cash.

The festival is being fished over 3 days and split into 3 sectionsof nine anglers. They will be fishing Jennys and 2 sections on Trelawney, After the success of the Coca Cola Triana Junior Festival on these lakes we have high hopes for our well seasoned anglers.

Once everybody finally gathered for the draw (we repeated the instructions several times on location and time, but it be over excitement or old age we still had a few stragglers roaming the park!), the weather conditions although fairly settled still had a chill in the air (we recommended electric blankets should not be used at the waters edge!) but a promising day of completion was a head.

A Section

Robert Haigh Peg 16 Jennys 63lb 9oz 9 Points
Andy Partridge Peg 20 Jennys 44lb 14oz 8 Points

B Section

Bob Stevens Peg 9 Trelawney 47lb 3oz 9 Points
Raymond Williams Peg 10 Trelawney 44lb 6 oz 8 Points

C Section

Maurice Addison Peg 25 Trelawney 84lb 1oz 9 Points
Roy Booth Peg 23 Trelawney 61lb 9oz 8 Points

C section winner Maurice Addison heads the field after day ones weigh in, Morris caught an impressive bag of carp weighing 84lb 1oz. Maurice fished the bomb against the far bank, loose fed 8 mm pellets fishing hair rigged meat on the hook to win his section and pick up a maximum 9 points.
Robert Haigh ends day one in second place catching great bag of tench from peg 16 on Jennys, Robert weigh 63lb 9oz fishing corn and hook pellet over pellet on an 8 meter pole to pick himself up 9 points.
Third over all is Bob Stevens who weighed in 47lb 4oz from peg 9 on Trelawney.

Margaret Astley (A section), our only lady veteran in the festival, held her own with a respectable 26lb 15oz from peg 18 on Jennys putting her in the overall top 10 in fact 8th place, 10 places above her husband Brian Astley (B section) who weighed in 9lb 4oz from peg 16 on Trelawney but we promised Brian not to say anything.
Local angler Roy Booth just missed out on a place in the top 3 but is nipping at the leaders heels weighing in with 61lb 9oz and only dropping one point, Roy caught all carp from peg 23 on Trelawney using the splashing waggler with banded pellet.

Overall results day one

The forecast for the day wasn’t brilliant but overcast skies and patchy showers didn’t dampen anyone’s sprits, day two saw some impressive weights especially Jennys as between the 9 anglers in the section they managed to net over 231LB of fish averaging 25lb per angler.

Raymond Williams took his second section win for the festival, weighing in 23lb 2oz from peg 29 on Trelawney, Raymond used pole and margin tactics to pick up his 8 points.
Michael Hutt put in an impressive days fishing to take the B section win, weighing in with 47lb 4oz from peg 8 on Trelawney, Michael used groundbait feeders with maggots to take his first section win of the week. Also on his first section win for the week was Malcolm Proctor, Malcolm took a maximum 9 points from his C section win, weighing in 49lb 8oz he fished pole and corn for a mixed net of fish from peg 18 on Jennys.

A Section

1st Michael Hutt Peg 8 Trelawney 9 Points 47lb 4oz
2nd Andy Partridge Peg 14 Trelawney 8 Points 34lb 12oz

B Section

1st Raymond Williams Peg 29 Trelawney 9 Points 23lb 2oz
2nd Robin Flowers Peg 27 Trelawney 8 Points 21lb 9oz

C Section

1st Malcolm Proctor Peg 18 Jennys 9 Points 49lb 8oz
2nd John Cook Peg 19 Jennys 8 Points 45lb 7oz

 

Day Three – The Final
The weather reached an all time low for the week (we could tell by the sound of creaky joints as the draw) but again the enthusiasm shone through, this has once again proved to be another successful new festival for White Acres.

The following prizes & money will go to the following placed winners at Thursday night’s presentation, along with all the daily payouts.

Daily sections

A Section

1st Andy Partridge Peg 30 Trelawney 43lb 4oz
2nd Michael Gibbs Peg 25 Trelawney 33lb 4oz

B Section

1st Raymond Williams Peg 22 Jennys 37lb 9oz
2nd John Price Peg 14 Jennys 36lb 11oz

C Section

1st Maurice Addison Peg 9 Trelawney 66lb 6oz
2nd John Cook Peg 16 Trelawney 49lb

Another great days fishing for all especially Raymond Williams our White Acres Coors Veteran 2005, Raymond fishinshed on 27 points only dropping one point over the three day festival, Raymond put in an excellent last day performance on peg 27 Jennys using short pole and soft hook pellet to give him a days weigh of 37lb 9oz to give him a total weight of 94lb 1oz, not bad for one of the eldest competitors.
Second place overall goes to local angler Andy Partridge, Andy who has taken two section seconds and a section win on this final day put in a solid effort on peg 30 on Trelawney weighing in with 43lb 4oz he fished short pole, only bagging one carp the rest being skimmers and with second place money prize and section money means his wife is taking home over £400!
With the biggest overall weight of the competition at 174lb 1oz Maurice Addison has a well-deserved place in the top 3, Maurice fished ground bait feeder and maggots from peg 9 on Trelawney to have a final days weight of 66lb 5oz.
A special prize of a Coors fleece waterproof went to Margaret Astley who as the only female in the festival, braved the elements along side the men and despite not beating her husband came in a respectable 18th place, we hope to see more lady veterans in the festival, and hopefully she’ll beat her husband next year!

And finally a massive thank you to our festival sponsor Coors, without whom this event wouldn’t have happened, we have secured sponsorship from them for 2006 and would like to see you all back again next year hopefully with a few more competitors (so don’t forget when you’re next at the post office queuing for your pension don’t forget to tell you mates!)

OVERALL RESULTS