HOW STEVE WON IT
A BRILLIANT three-day performance saw Steve Lowther win the festival with just four penalty points. Here’s how he did it, in his own words:
DAY ONE – PEG 25 APPLEFORD REACH
“I set up two groundbait feeder rods, an 11m pole and a 4m to-hand rig. The ‘to hand’ and long pole lines were fed with Sensas Match Blend and Gros Gardens with plenty of casters and pinkies at the all in. Out went the feeder filled with Sensas Brown Crumb, Black Bremes and fishmeal with two very large dendra sections on the hook.
“A few roach obliged first, then on 55 minutes the tip lunged and the first of 18 bream in the next two hours was netted. It died completely for the last two hours, but my 76-6-0 catch gave me a section win.”
DAYTWO – PEG1,ABINGDON
“A good pole peg, and I decided to short line at 7m and 11m, cupping in Sensas Match Blend and Gros Gardons on both lines before starting on a short feeder line with a fine set-up for skimmers.
“Not much happened on the feeder in the first 45 minutes, so I picked up one of my short line rigs and dropped in for a roach first bung. Then came 90 minutes of carnage as pike after pike grabbed or struck at everything I hooked! Eventually, I knew I had to stop fishing the pole lines and try to make the feeder work.
“A single live red maggot on a size 20 B560 to a 0.10mm hooklength accounted for most of the 18 small skimmers that it produced. Martin Kirk did brilliantly to with the zone with 15lb of skimmers on the pole and my 13-12-0 was good enough for second.”
DAY THREE – PEG 24, CULHAM
“I set up to fish at 7m and 11m for roach with 0.5g, 1g short-lining rigs. I also set up a standard groundbait feeder just in case bream showed.
“The usual silver fish mix was cupped in on both lines – three balls short, six long containing plenty of caster, hemp and a few dead pinkies. For the first two hours I caught by rotating lines before things got very difficult.
“However, a fluoro pinkie on the hook brought more small roach and I ended up with 13-10-0, enough for the section.”
“On 55 minutes the tip lunged and the first of 18 bream in the next two hours was netted. Then the swim died...”