Angling: Lindley Wood Festival has potential to be best in the district

Mirfield’s first-ever two-day festival, held on the Washburn Valley’s Lindley Wood Reservoir, provided great fishing, a tight final result and all in aid of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance Charity.

Day One gave the victory and platform to Leeds star Steve Raper to show his class at building good weights of small fish quickly. Using a custom-built or, as I remember it, a regularly broken and repaired 6m whip to hand, with a bulked bottom end-only rig and feeding small balls of hemp-based groundbait every third cast, he soon had small roach queuing up for his double-maggot hookbait.

His 31-10 all-roach catch gave him a five-pound lead over Knaresborough’s Darryl Taylor going onto the harder West Bank section for the second day.

With small skimmer bream and the odd slab proving to be the fish most willing to feed, anglers’ tactics had to change and feeder-fishing chopped worm at 40 yards showed the importance of not missing a bite or catching a slightly bigger fish as Steve Edson came from behind to win the final day with a superb 38-10, taking the festival by just four ounces.

All fish caught were in pristine condition and, if the festival becomes an annual event, it could easily be the best two competition days in Yorkshire.

Aireborough’s Nick Smith completed a remarkable triple at the weekend, taking top spot in all of the three matches he entered and breaking a long-standing record along the way. He also became a double-river champion just for good measure.

Smith’s run started with two surprise 4lb chub on a difficult River Ouse at Linton to lift the massive Leeds & District Annual Trophy with just 8-08, and then things got even better. His next outing saw him lift the Swale Preservation Lower River Championship with four barbel from his peg at Asenby for an improving 19-12. He also took the Alan Howe Trophy (which was donated by the Yorkshire Evening Post’s columnist before his untimely death in 1995).

Saving the best until last, Smith’s performance and catch left everyone else competing for second as he stormed to another victory by taking this year’s Wharfe Championships held on the tidal reaches at Ulleskelf.

Drawn in the bay hole at the top of Grimston Park’s rapids, Smith set the pace and a new venue record with 21 barbel for a brilliant 91-04 beating the previous all-time best set over 30 years ago by the late Terry Bettany, who had 86lb of stick and caster-caught bream.

All of the winner’s barbel fell to link-ledgered triple caster or maggot hookbaits fished over heavy hemp and caster loose feed.

Results

Ferrybridge Power AC (Viking Hawk Thur): 1, W Mountain 140-00; 2, D Mountain 92-00; 3, C Perfect 88-00.

Marshlands AC (Viking Hawk): 1, M Moore 169-00; 2, D Lumley 142-00; 3, S Elcock 118-00.

Viking Saturday Open (Deer): 1, J Brain 86-11; 2, T Hunter 78-15; 3, D Oldham 62-08.

Rodley Barge (Viking Hawk): 1, S Dodsworth 109-07; 2, M Bell 100-10; 3, D Smith 80-08.