Dave Harrell takes us through a brilliant festival on the River Thames
I finish third in this year’s event after chaning my drawing arm!
IALWAYS look forward to the three-day River Thames Festival at Abingdon, Culham and Appleford.
It’s a great stretch of water, with roach, bream and perch being the main target fish responding mainly to pole and feeder.
This year the river was as low as I’ve ever seen it but I was delighted to draw end peg 26 at Culham on the first day.
I decided to keep things really simple and go for it on the feeder and on the pole.
This was a swim that could produce a very big weight if the bream fed, and I also had the back-up of roach if they didn’t.
I’m pleased to report that the match went to plan! The feeder worked best, although I did manage a few skimmers on the pole. My catch went 26-0-0 and this won me the section and the zone – a great start!
DAYS TWO AND THREE
Day two saw me on peg 24 at Appleford, where my pole-caught 5-1-0 of roach was only good enough for sixth in the 13-peg section, which was won with 10lb. I was now on seven points, and had slid down the leaderboard.
Day three saw me on peg 2 at Abingdon – a really shallow peg with only 4ft of water – and I had a lovely day catching 13lb of roach on pole and caster for second in the section. At this stage I was now on nine points.
This was enough to finish third overall behind Steve Harwood and Steve Townsend, who turned in two brilliant performances – a big ‘well done’ to both.
All too soon another Thames Festival had come to an end. Paul Glenfield, John Beesley and their team have created a wonderful competition that you can guarantee will sell out again next year. I’ve already booked my accommodation!