Twenty seven (27) anglers attended the 2015 Larford Silver Fish festival held on the Specimen lake. Fished over a four day period, freezing cold winds and torrential downpours made for difficult fishing for most with short pole or feeder being the only viable options. With fish shoaling tightly and moving from day to day, it proved a real challenge for most to get into any sort of rhythm with results varying massively from day to day. However, that said, some great silver fish weights were recorded over the course of the festival.
Many opted to target the large head of skimmer bream and ignore the roach with any carp that were caught, as in previous years, counting for just 1lb regardless of size. As the festival neared its conclusion, the event turned into an out and out feeder match with anglers offering dead maggots or pinkies over groundbait fed via small cage feeders in an effort to compete with near gale force winds experienced on the chalet bank in particular.
Overall winner of the 2015 Larford Silver Fish Festival was Jamie Harrison. Jamie fished a superb festival finishing with a perfect four point score overall taking four section wins out of four.
The opening day of the event saw Jamie draw peg 26 in 'B' section on the burr bank. A difficult section saw just two weights into double figures recorded with Jamie sharing the section win with MAP's Matt Pillay, each offering 10lbs 6oz to the scales.
Jamie drew peg 14, again on the Speci burr bank, on day 2 - this time in 'A' section. Fishing a small cage feeder with single dead red maggot on the hook, Jamie ended proceedings with 18lbs 9oz, which confirmed a comfortable section win more than doubling the weight of his nearest challenger on the day, Adrian Quoroll.
By the midway point of the competition, Jamie was in the lead with a perfect two point score, closely chased by Maver's own Matt Blackmore and Mark Jones (Tredegar Angling Centre). Matt Blackmore enjoyed an excellent first days fishing winning 'D' section on the chalet bank from peg 66 with 20lbs 6oz. This was then followed by a second in section on the Tuesday with a 6lb 2oz effort from peg 16 in 'A' section to give him three points. Tredegar's Mark Jones also found himself on three points at the midway stage. Like Matt, Mark recorded a section win on the opening day from peg 58 in 'C' section on the chalet bank followed by a second in section finish from 'B' section on the Speci burr on day two.
Day three confirmed another section win for Jamie, who finished the day with 17lbs 7oz from peg 72 in 'D' section and, once again, established himself as a comfortable winner. Both Matt Blackmore and Mark Jones lost a little ground following a fourth in section finish from them both. It was at this point that Maver's Dave Smiddy and Richard Vaughn managed to creep into contention, each finishing second in their respective sections to earn a cumulative score of six points.
Going into the final day, Jamie was a clear leader with Dave Smiddy and Richard Vaughn behind on six points and Matt Blackmore, Mark Jones, Mark Warne (Maver) and Andrew Murphy all on seven points. Jamie was odds on favourite to win the festival overall with few betting against whether he could manage a fourth section win out of four. Jamie drew peg 58 in 'C' section on the chalet bank - the very peg rival Matt Blackmore had drawn the day before and struggled from.
Undeterred with a less than favourable draw, Jamie needed a fourth place finish or better to top the festival. Fishing a small open end feeder with groundbait and dead reds on the hook, Jamie found skimmer bream and odd roach to finish the day with a modest 10lbs 2oz and a fourth straight section win. Maver's Dave Smiddy also won his section to finish three points behind in second place overall, beating Richard Vaugh by a single point, who claimed third place on weight just ahead of Maver's Chris Bradney.
| Position | Name | Total Weight | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Jamie Harrison (Bait-Tech / Guru) | 56-08-00 | 4 |
| 2nd | Dave Smiddy (Maver Newman Scott) | 65-02-00 | 7 |
| 3rd | Richard Vaughn | 67-07-00 | 8 |
| 4th | Chris Bradney (Maver) | 51-11-00 | 8 |
| 5th | Mark Jones (Tredegar AC) | 59-14-00 | 9 |
A huge congratulations to Jamie, who fished a fantastic festival. In fact, his perfect four point score has never been achieved by anyone else since the competition first began! Speaking to Jamie after being confirmed 2015 Champion, he commented "It's been a difficult week with weather conditions and all, but I kept things simple throughout. I had no intention of fishing the pole at any stage during proceedings and felt confident that fishing the feeder at around 30m would produce the results. In fact, my shorter 15m line did not produce at all throughout the week".
Jamie went on to say "I think the key to my success was fishing with a lighter feeder than most, which meant my presentation was much better than those who were using heavier feeders given the nature of the soft, silty bottom. It was a difficult trade-off between using a feeder with the weight needed to reach the fish, but also trying to ensure presentation was not adversely affected by using to heavier-a-feeder. I also feel that by using braided line I had much more control and was able to pick up on the tiniest of bites. I also fed very little getting through just half a pint of maggots all week. All these factors combined gave me a slight edge I feel".
Jamie has been actively seeking a place in the England feeder team and, by his own admission, has fished nothing other than the feeder for around eighteen months. Given his performance on this year's Larford Silver Fish Festival, he is more than on his way to breaking into the team!
A big thank you to all the anglers that took part.
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