Dawson remembers RiverFest
As RiverFest 2016 is about to start Tri-Cast Calders Ian
Dawson re-visits his run in last years completion which saw him qualify from
the River Calder and finish in seventh position in the two-day final.
RiverFest 2015, the brainchild of river legend Dave Harrell,
saw over 1400 anglers enter 24 qualifers with 72 anglers progressing to a two-day
final on Herefords River Wye competing for a prize fund pool of almost £34,000.
Ian Dawson fished the qualifier on the River Calder in and
around Mirfield and drew an excellent peg known locally as the ‘hole in the
wall’. You literally have to climb through a hole in the wall with your tackle
to get to a lovely looking peg around 3ft deep in fast flowing water.
Ian’s approach on this peg was a Tricast Trilogy XS 14ft
float rod and a small 3x4 John Allerton stick float with stung out number eight
dropper shot. He loose fed casters and fished just in front of the rod tip
slowing running the float through the his peg. As the day went on the fish
moved further down his swim and he switched to a small 2AAA waggler to fish
that little further downstream.
At the weigh in Ian had 27-10 which consisted of about 16lb
of dace with the remainder of his catch being small chub, roach and two
grayling to a pound. This was enough for Ian to win this qualifying round and
earn him a place in the final. However, after celebrating with his mates, Ian’s
wife reminded him that there was a holiday trip to Jamaica booked and paid for
and that date of the final was right in the middle of this holiday!
Rather than sell his wife and the holiday to the highest
bidder Mrs Dawson finally agreed to change the date of the holiday to allow Ian
the chance of attending the final. However that change in holiday dates left no
opportunity to practice and he would be attending the final never seeing the
River Wye and relied on local contacts he had met in years gone by whilst in
Ireland.
One the first day of the final Ian drew peg B100 below the
tennis courts and the river was out of sorts carrying an extra five-feet of
water which proved too low for the barbell to feed and after a bite less first
hour he switched to a 10BB avon float shotted with a bulk, fished over 5 balls
of ground bait laced with casters to build a net of small roach, dace and perch
to three ounces to weigh 16-4 for 13th overall on day one.
On day two he drew peg A10 which had produced a section
winning weight of two barbell for 7lb but the river had risen an extra five
feet, putting ten feet extra on the river, the river was extremely coloured and
the water looked as if it was almost boiling which suggested there was a sunken
tree of some form in the peg. There was an odd pimple whilst having an initial
look so Ian’s plan was to fish a four metre whip with a small 4x14 pencil float
and switch to the feeder if nothing happened. His plan paid off and 620 bleak
later he weighed 12-14 for fifth overall on day two.
The two double figure weights was enough to lift Ian into
eight place overall which out of 1440 anglers is a phenomenal achievement and
Ian will be trying to improve on this performance this year
Ian would like to express thanks to organiser Dave Harrell
and the angling trust for running a faultless two day final. Martin Highe and
Mirfield Angling club for the qualifier on the Calder – Martin works tireless
each week organising 30-60 peg river matches every week of the season.
