Larford Lakes Silver Fish Festival | 25th – 28th February 2019
Monday 25th – Tuesday 28th February 2019
As always, the Larford Silver Fish Festival is a festival enjoyed by many anglers from all over the country.
Last year the competition was destroyed by the beast from the east but this year, temperatures as high as 18C with little or no breeze and bright sunshine meant bream and roach were plentiful.
Over 2000lbs of silvers were landed making the average per day per angler near 20lbs per rod.
If there had been a breeze, weights would have probably doubled.
Normally, the tip feeder would have been the plan of attack for the resident bream shoals but clearly, the long pole with dead reds over ground bait became the best method in general.
Day 1
A Section – Steve Saunders drew peg 11 on day one landing 24-03-00 of roach and skimmers to secure the section win. Most of his fish came to the long pole.
B Section – John Brogden put in a brilliant display landing 42-03-00 of bream and roach mainly on the open ender. John also caught on the pole to secure the section win from peg 18.
C Section – Charlie Valendar fished a brilliant first day landing 30-03-00 of bream and roach to both the tip and long pole from peg 62.
D Section – Andy Power drew peg 74 landing a near all roach catch of 21-03-00 to win the section.
Day 2
A Section – The section was won by Ian Morrison with a weight of 33-11-00 mainly roach on the long pole. Ian caught at 14.5m with casters from peg 3.
B Section – Grant Albutt pulled some ground back after a disappointing first day.
Grant drew peg 23 landing bream and roach on the tip and pole to weigh 18-06-00.
C Section – was won by Paul Bucknall with 33-01-00 of quality bream from peg 50. Paul caught on the feeder with dead reds hookbaits.
D Section – Andrew (Spud) Murphy secured his first section win with 32-15-00 of bream and roach caught on both the tip and long pole from peg 76.
Day 3
A Section – Won by Geoff Valance with 20-03-00 from peg 5. Geoff caught roach and bream mainly on the long pole.
B Section – Again the fishing skills of Andy Power won him yet another section. Andy drew peg 24 and had to fish the long pole for roach weighing in 24-04-00.
C Section – Dave McManus again put in a powerful display landing 46-09-00 mainly on the tip from peg 78. Dave landed a very impressive bag of bream.
D Section – Another section win from Grant Albutt from peg 50.
This peg was getting stronger every day and Grant netted 43-12-00 of quality bream to the long pole and feeder to secure the section.
Day 4
Section A – Winner of the section was welsh rod Mark Jones with an impressive 35-14-00 from peg 8.
Mark caught on both the tip and long pole.
Section B – Charlie Vallendar continued his fine run of form drawing peg 14 and landing 24-11-00 of roach and bream to the long pole.
Section C – Andy Power put in a brilliant performance from peg 50 landing 67-01-00 of quality bream to the long pole and worms, enough to secure the festival win
Section D – Finishing the festive in style, Grant Albut secured another section win from peg 78 landing 37-12-00 of bream to the long pole and tip.
So overall, a very enjoyable festival with bream and roach plentiful.
1st Overall winner was Andy Power (Preston) with a 5 point total collecting £1000 plus section prizes.
2nd overall was Dave Mc Manus with a total points score of 7 points, collecting £800 plus section wins.
3rd overall was Charlie Vallendar with a points score of 8. Charlie collected £600, plus section wins.
4th overall was Grant Albutt with a total points score of 9 points, collecting £450, plus section wins.
5th overall was Ian Morrison with a 10 point total, collecting £250 and section wins.