Congratulations to Anthony Flint for winning the 2016 Rolfs Lake Easter Festival.
Extreme weather conditions affected sport at the famous Oxfordshire venue, but the Drennan Bordon angler braved the storm to finish up with just 5 penalty points over the three-day event.
Anthony got off to a good start on Day One with a section second, weighing 36lb 7oz from Peg 10. The next day he managed another second with 32lb 5oz from Peg 18. On the all-important last day he went one better with a section-winning 33lb 12oz from Peg 7. His hard-earned 5-point score was enough to pip Mark Newbold and Malc Doyle who tied on 7 points.
Chris Telling recorded the best weight of the weekend with 104lb 6oz from Peg 17 on Day One.
Here’s Anthony’s report from a successful weekend:
“In preparation for the Rolfs Easter Festival I fished the Friday open. I drew peg 14 which I didn’t want, but a nice sunny day brought the carp up in the water. Pinging 6mm pellets I caught shallow fishing 18 inches deep with a 0.3g Crystal Dibber and hair-rigged 8mms pellets. I had an enjoyable day catching 10 carp and bream, all shallow, to come 2nd in the match with 100-6-0. A nice start to the weekend!
“Day One of The Easter Festival put me on peg 10. Yet another peg some don’t like but always does well when hard, as showed today, as the weather was windy and a bit wet at times. This saw me fish 6m and 5m down the edge where I caught on 6mm pellets to a 16 B911 Extra Strong. Floats were Drennan AS2s. I had bream and a carp at 6m then three down the edge on corn, but lost five. Some were foul-hooked, which cost me as I ended up 2nd in section with 36lb.
“Day Two saw me on Peg 18, a very good peg. I started straight in front at 16m on the deck but was biteless after 20 minutes. I then changed to 16m down my long edge and caught two carp straight away on 6mm pellets, using the same rigs as previous. I managed five more fish and lost three, which cost me the section again as I ended up with another 2nd with 32-5-0.
“Day Three I was praying for a good draw. In went the hand and, boom, I drew peg 7! I’m all smiling and laughing. That was hard bit done! I fished at 6m with 8mm pellet and toss-potting 6mms. Straight away an 8lb carp first chuck then it went quiet for 40 minutes. A change was needed so I went on my long pole line and caught two bream. Three hours had gone and I was winning the section. Back on 6m line and, bang, another carp of 12lb. By now other people were catching in my section, though, so I was now getting a bit worried. With half an hour to go I foul-hooked a fish in the tail and was very lucky to get that one in on a size 20 Drennan Carp Feeder hook and AS4 margin floats.
“At the end of the match I couldn’t wait for the weigh in. I knew it was going to be tight but I was hoping that I’d done enough to win the section. The scales arrived and I weighed 33lb with Malc next with 27lb. That foul-hooked carp helped me win the festival!
“I’m very happy to have won the festival! Thanks to John Bennett and his team for running it and also to Drennan for donating some great prizes. It was a great weekend, loads of fun and some prize money to top it off.”
Result
- 1st Anthony Flint 5 points
- 2nd Mark Newbold 7 points
- 3rd Malc Doyle 7 points
- 4th Daniel Deakin 8 points
- 5th Chris Telling 8 points