Another month on and another new festival and our very first pair festival we have had here at White Acres. Preston Innovations have once again joined forces with us to sponsor this event and we are hoping it is going to be a great week. With a few pairs having to drop out at the last minute we didn’t have as many entrants as we have hoped for but never mind we still have 13 eager pairs ready to crack on with the festival. The festival is being fished over 4 days on the two Twin Oaks lakes and two of the lakes at Trewaters. The festival is running on points with seven points for a section win, six for second and so on but with no dropped result. In recent weeks Twin Oaks has been fishing really well and has been dominating the match results and the fishing at Trewaters has been good too with regular matches on the site really bringing the lakes on. So that is it, the stage is set for week and anglers are ready for the off, only four matches stands between the anglers and winning the White Acres Preston Innovations Pair Festival 2009. It is a real mix of anglers in the festival so it should be an interesting week, read on for how the festival panned out over the four days.
Day One Trewaters
The middle lake over at Trewaters was the setting for A section’s first match; the thirteen anglers were split down into 2 sections fishing for a maximum 14 points. Day ones winner with 61lb 1oz was James Hawkins; James was on peg 29 and caught on the pole shallow with pellet. Second on peg 20 was Ian Ridgeway with 44lb 5oz. Austin Williams was third on the lake with 37lb 12oz, Austin caught on his top two down the edge from peg 36.
Section Winners
James Hawkins 7 points 62lb 1oz
Ian Ridgeway 7 points 44lb 5oz
B section started on the bottom lake and the match winner was Harry Billing on peg 42, Harry caught on paste & pellet down the edge and at 6 & 11 meters for a weight of 40lb 6oz. Second with 36lb 3oz was Adam Wakelin, Adam was on peg 51 and on paste at 6 meters and down the edge. Mike Shuttleworth weighed in with 27lb 7oz, Mike caught on the pole at 9 meters with pellet over pellet from peg 54.
Section Winners
Harry Billing 7 points 40lb 6oz
Adam Wakelin 7 points 36lb 3oz
Overall Pairs Result
1st James Hawkins & Adam Wakelin 14 points 98lb 4oz
2nd Harry Billing & Stewart Lister 12 points 76lb 6oz
3rd Tania Shuttleworth & Mike Shuttleworth 11 points 55lb 7oz
4th Mick Dagnall & Claire Dagnall 10 points 55lb 1oz
5th Ian Ridgeway & Andy Patterson 10 points 54lb 15oz
6th Mick Kearns & Austin Williams 9 points 52lb 8oz
That was day one and as the only pair with 2 section wins James & Adam take an early lead in the festival. Some pairs have had a better start than others but with three matches remaining there is still everything to play for.
Day Two Twin Oaks
The anglers stay on site today and head over to Twin Oaks, there have been weights coming from all areas and both sides of the lakes recently so there is a fair chance for all.
A section spent their match on the low numbered lake where James Hawkins won the match with 130lb 13oz; James was on peg 15 and caught on the method feeder with pellet. Second on peg 11 was Mick Dagnall, Mick caught on the pellet method alternating between pellet and boilie on the hook for a weight of 118lb 14oz. Nathan Fox was third on the lake, Nathan was on peg 6 and weighed in with 40lb 7ox.
Section Winners
James Hawkins 7 points 130lb 13oz
Nathan Fox 7 points 40lb 7oz
The high numbered lake was the match destination for B section today and the weights were spread across the lake. The match win went to Adam Wakelin on peg 31 with 109lb 1oz, Adam caught on the method with pellet. Harry Billing was second with 84lb 4oz, Harry caught on the method feeder with pellet from peg 21. Third with 61lb 12oz was Austin Williams, Austin was on peg 25 and caught on the pellet waggler.
Section Winners
Adam Wakelin 7 points 109lb 1oz
Harry Billing 7 points 84lb 4oz
Overall Pairs Result
1st James Hawkins & Adam Wakelin 28 points 338lb 2oz
2nd Harry Billing & Stewart Lister 25 points 198lb 9oz
3rd Mick Dagnall & Claire Dagnall 21 points 193lb 1oz
4th Tania Shuttleworth & Mike Shuttleworth 20 points 113lb 13oz
5th Ian Ridgeway & Andy Patterson 19 points 130lb 5oz
6th Nathan Fox & Del Faletto 18 points 93lb 3oz
With another perfect 2 section wins James & Adam have concreted their place as early leaders of the festival but the back up points are close so they need to stay ahead of the game. The pairs that are following them are on really tight points and are close in weight. The anglers are all back over to Trewaters on Thursday so we will have to see what happens then.
Day Three Trewaters
It was back off park for day three with the anglers fishing the opposite lakes on Trewaters to those that they fished on day one.
The B section lake winner today was Ian Ridgeway on peg 54 with 42lb, Ian caught on paste on the short pole. James Hawkins was second with 35lb 6oz, James caught on the method feeder from peg 51. With a weight of 28lb 13oz Claire Dagnall was third on peg 39, Claire caught on the pole and method feeder.
Section Winners
Ian Ridgeway 7 points 42lb
Wayne Ledbury 7 points 22lb 8oz
The middle lake was the match location for A section and Mike Dagnall won the match with 41lb 12oz, Mike caught on the pole and method feeder from peg 19 Second on peg 25 was Adam Wakelin, Adam had a weight of 40lb 10oz caught on the pole down the edge with pellet. Harry Billing was on peg 36 and weighed in with 36lb to take third; Harry caught on the pole long & short with paste.
Section Winners
Mike Dagnall 7 points 41lb 12oz
Adam Wakelin 7 points 40lb 10oz
Let’s see what that has done to our overall results.
Overall Pairs Result
1st James Hawkins & Adam Wakelin 41 points 414lb 2oz
2nd Harry Billing & Stewart Lister 35 points 250lb 9oz
3rd Mick Dagnall & Claire Dagnall 33 points 263lb 10oz
4th Ian Eidgeway & Andy Patterson 31 points 205lb 10oz
5th Tania Shuttleworth & Mike Shuttleworth 26 points 130lb 13oz
6th Mick Kearns & Austin Williams 25 points 157lb 1oz
So the pairing of James Hawkins & Adam Wakelin have extend their lead today and with the near impossibility of anyone catching them the next battle is for the remaining prize placings.
Day Four – The Final
It was back on site to Twin Oaks for the final match of the festival, it has been a great festival so far and it has been great fishing with good weights. James & Adam will take some budging from the top spot but anything could happen. Today’s match could be won and lost in the draw queue so lets read on to see how the final day panned out. Twin Oaks has been fished in a match on most days this week and yet the weights still keep coming, let’s hope today it was the same story.
A Section moved onto the high numbered side of Twin Oaks for their final match, the lake fished quite hard today but the vital section points were all up for grabs so it was all systems go. Mike Dagnal was the lake winner with 118lb 6oz; Mike fished a great match catching on the method feeder from peg 28. Second on the lake and also winning his section was James Hawkins, James was on peg 24 and caught on the method feeder with pellet for a weight of 47lb 6oz. Stewart Lister on peg 21 was third, Stewart weighed in with 35lb 13oz caught on the method with pellet
Section Winners
Mike Dagnall 7 points 118lb 6oz
James Hawkins 7 points 47lb 6oz
B section fished the low numbered lake and it fished really well with consistent weight across the whole of the lake. The lake winner today and on his fourth straight section win was Adam Wakelin; Adam was on peg 9 and caught on the method with pellet for a weight of 152lb 11oz. Second on the lake with 95lb 15oz was Mike Shuttleworth, Mike was on peg 17 and caught on the method & bomb with pellet. Nigel Taylor was on peg 16 and was third with 88lb 2oz.
Section Winners
Adam Wakelin 7 points 152lb 11oz
Mike Shuttleworth 7 points 95lb 15oz
That was the last day of the festival and her is how or final results look
Overall Pairs Result
1st James Hawkins & Adam Wakelin 55 points 614lb 3oz
2nd Harry Billing & Stewart Lister 47 points 371lb 1oz
3rd Mick Dagnall & Claire Dagnall 45 points 420lb 10oz
4th Ian Ridgeway & Andy Patterson 38 points 222lb 8oz
5th Tania Shuttleworth & Mike Shuttleworth 35 points 230lb 3oz
6th Paul Varley & Steve Allerton 35 points 215lb 6oz
7th Nathan Fox & Del Faletto 35 points 182lb 14oz
8th Mick Kearns & Austin Williams 31 points 218lb 15oz
9th Nigel Taylor & John Forster 26 points 197lb 2oz
10th Jim Barker & Ian Crosby 26 points 148lb 6oz
11th Tom Cole & Clive Cole 25 points 202lb 2oz
12th Pete Thomas & Wayne Ledbury 22 points 136lb 3oz
13th Nick Green & Maria Green 19 points 93lb 2oz
With 55 points out of a possible 56, James Hawkins & Adam Wakelin are out first ever pairs champions at White Acres, they have lead the festival from day one and built on their lead everyday, they have amassed a staggering weight between the two of them over the four days and are deserved winners. There was a cash payout for the top five pairs and our festival sponsors Preston Innovations provided generous prizes to the top three pairs, so thank you Preston Innovations. I hope everyone has enjoyed this festival I know it has been great for us, it was nice to see such a mix of anglers fishing together and we have had great reports back from the competitors saying how much of a nice time they had. The festival is scheduled for the 12th June next year and hopefully we will see the numbers grow making it an even better. Once again thank you and congratulations to all our anglers who took part and thanks again to Preston Innovations & Parkdean Holidays for sponsoring the event.
