Welcome to the White Acres Coca Cola/Drennan Junior Festival 2006. This year we are very excited as we have 34 young anglers fishing the festival that shows there is so much keen young talent interested in the sport.
The festival will be split over two days with the anglers fishing on Jennys and Trelawney; they have been split into two groups of 17 and will fish both the lakes in rotation. The weather has been fine and we expect fair and mild conditions over the weekend, which is better than last year where some of the younger anglers found it a struggle to stay on their boxes as the wind was so strong.
The ages of the juniors ranges from 7 up to 15 and we have young ladies fishing, 10 year old Anna Blythe who is fairly new to the sport and 15 year old Samantha Perkins who at 15 is probably one of our most experienced anglers and already has sponsorship from Dynamite Baits and Preston Innovations.
Day One
There was much excitement at the draw with the youngsters keen to get on with their first match. At the draw the competitors were given their complimentary Tee shirts and hats generously donated by Coca Cola and then the draw got started. Some of the anglers had already been practising and were hoping to draw the pegs they were familiar with.
A section headed off to Trelawney for the first match, The Lake was split into two smaller sections and the results were done in points. Richard Self took one section win with 43lb 10oz, Richard was on peg 2 and fished pellet up in the water picking up 9 points. 2005 champion Stephen Gledhill had the next best weight in that section on peg 6 with 21lbs. Miles Day won the other section on peg 20, Miles fished meat tight across and down the edge giving him a weight of 41lb 4oz. The next best weight in that section came from Luke Morley on peg 25 with 30lb 1oz.
B section started their campaign on Jennys, Billy Ashington took the lake and the section win with an impressive 66lb 6oz, Billy caught with worm on the pole from peg 18. Martin Trice had the next best weight in the section with 24lb 8oz; Martin caught a nice net of tench and skimmers from peg 7 on the pole. Jake Marshall picked up the other 9 point section win with 30lb 11oz; Jake fished meat on the pole from peg 4. Oliver Bowra had the next best weight in that section with 47lb 6oz, Oliver caught on the ledger with meat and corn.
So that was day one, the excited youngsters headed off for a well-deserved rest before the start of day Two.
Day Two
So the two sections swapped lakes ready for another day of fishing, the conditions were still relatively mild so the stage was set for another great day.
A section was on Jennys for the second day of the festival. The first section was won by Matthew Gibbs on peg 14, Matthew fished pellet on the feeder for a winning weight of 58lb 6oz, Miles Day had the next best weight in that section with 39lb 9oz caught on the straight lead to the island and the pole at 11 meters both with worm & casters from peg 17. Harry Marsh won the other section on Jennys; Harry fished corn and worm on the pole from peg 6 picking up 9 points by weighing in with 37lb 7oz. On peg 5 Bradley Baldwin had the next best weight in the section with 34lb 9oz.
B section spends the final day on Trelawney. Sam Perkins took the lake and a section win from peg 2, Sam fished pellet and corn on the pole and finished with 45lb 5oz, in the same section Ryan Phillips had the next best weight of 41lb 6oz caught from peg 26. Toby Bowra was the other section winner picking up 9 points (and also going for a swim!), Toby finished with a weight of 42lb 6oz caught on the feeder with meat from peg 26. Jonathon Andrews on peg 10 had the next best weight in the section with 24lb 10oz.
So that was our 2006 Coca Cola/Drennan junior festival, who has taken the victory after this 2-day event! The full results are below, at this point we would like to say a massive thanks to all the juniors that fished with us and a massive thanks to Coca Cola and Drennan International for your generous support – the juniors walked away with some fantastic prizes.
FINAL result
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