Alders Farm October Festival Day One 11 10 2017

Like a lot of anglers around the country I enjoy a change, this may be a change of venue, a different style of fishing or in this case a festival over a set amount of days. This had been planned for months, I committed to it and arranged all of my life around it. Nothing was scheduled for the three competitive days. Admittedly I was busy leading up to the event and will be after, but nothing in between.
Alders Farm for me, is a venue that I do not fish a great deal of at weekends. Mainly due to the anglers attending the weekends. They are a great bunch of lads but I feel that I cannot compete with them on a regular basis. Perhaps wrongly but it is how I feel. Events like this, gives me confidence as it is spread over a period of time rather than one match.

On this festival we have some very good anglers, who have appeared in both the weekly and monthly magazines showing off the skills that us mere mortals can only dream about. Yet these same people will tell you anything you want to know. People have travelled far and wide for the event and this is on my doorstep.
My festival started with a chat with Trevor Price and collecting the excellent maggots I had ordered from him. Loading the trolley with everything I would need for three days of fishing, as we did not know which lake we would be on. A full English breakfast followed in the cafe, before we received the bad news. It seems that a lot of anglers had dropped out, some with good reason, some without any notification whatsoever. Still, there would be 14 of us, not ideal but it made two sections of 7 and we decided amongst ourselves how we would progress considering the short numbers. We decided on two sections of 7 on Ash lake. Alternate on day two using the opposite sections still on Ash Lake. Friday would see all 14 of us on Pines Lake again split into 2 sections. Section points would be awarded each day and the highest score winning, If a tie then weight would be a decider. Payout each day would be top three on the lake and default section winners, thus spreading the pot a little further.
My draw saw me on Peg 6 on Ash, a good peg and one I fished thew week earlier. I caught then on pellet at top four and late on with maggot on top three both in front and to the left. I would set my stall to do similar today. I set up a couple of DS diamonds .3g to cover the depth from top three to top 5, incase they pushed out a bit. I also set up a .3g MW steady for 11m in case the wind dropped and I needed to fish long. I had Pete Archer and Nick Endpeg Pringle on 7 and 8 with Colin Fosdyke on peg 4. Rob Randle was on 3 with the pastehead supreme Colin Spencer on peg 2. Alan Harrison made up the section on peg 1. To be honest I thought that mid way in the section would be about right. Pegs one, two and four were all good and eight would have a lot of water to play with.
I started off fishing the 5m line and within minutes I was playing a good fish around 8lb. I would have blown the whistle for all out then.Another smaller fish after around 5 minutes of lifting and dropping. I was feeding a small amount of micros with 4 or 5 fishery 4mm pellets via a toss pot. I was having a bite instantly as the float settled, if not I would start lifting and dropping. Colin was catching well on 4 and I could see Colin Spencer's landing net going backwards and forwards. Pete on 7 was getting a few bites long both up and down in the water. After a couple of hours I had a dozen fish for approximately 40lb.
I had a quick look long but nothing was forthcoming, I think a heavier float would have been better. A look on maggot short only produced a 2oz perch, so it was back on the pellet. By swapping rigs and depths around I was nicking odd fish, a couple on pellet, a couple on maggot then 20 minutes with nothing before It went full circle again. Eventually  I got a few fish to settle on the top three line to the left and I was putting a run together, however I was also getting a few foul hookers amongst them. Pete was now flying, getting a fish nearly every put in long and shallow. Nick was struggling on the end peg. Fossy and Colin Spencer were also doing well.
The anglers on the opposite dam wall were all catching but in spurts, similar to us. I could see those on 27 to 30 putting fish in their nets, so at least we were all getting a few.
At the all out I had the pleasure of saying fish on, and after taking my time slipped the net under a 3lber firmly hooked in the side.
Top Three Individuals:
1st Colin Spencer 196-01 
2nd Peter Archer 185-08
3rd Colin Fosdyke 164-14

Overall Section 1
1st Colin Spencer 196-01   7pts
2nd Peter Archer 185-08  6pts
3rd Colin Fosdyke 164-14  5pts
4th Keith Ashby 125-15  4pts Section Winner
5th Alan Harrison 86-08  3pts
6th Rob Rendle 81-14  2pts
7th Nick Pringle 78-14  1pt

Overall Section 2
1st Dave Taylor  160-11  7pts  Section Winner
2nd Matt Kearns 123-07  6pts
3rd Nick Rowe 118-12  5pts
4th Ricky Quick 113-09  4pts
5th Lee Newson 106-08  3pts
6th Paul Kearns 97 -09  2pts
7th John Haselar  85-11  1pt

So with day one out of the way it is time to reflect on the day. In hindsight I think I fished it too light on all fronts. I would have been better off fishing with a bulk rig and dotting the float right down to a dimple. I did get a few in the end but so did everyone else on the short lines, so perhaps a bit more time with a more direct approach longer would have produced more.