The three day Thames Festival was fished by 74 anglers from around the country, at Abingdon, Culham and Appleford.
“With the river very clear and with very little flow it was always going to be feast or famine for many anglers. It was great to see most areas improving by day three, as more bait went in. As on previous years, bream were evident on day one but then it became mainly a roach match.”
Day One
Appleford was the venue to be on day one, with bream showing in numbers, especially at the end of the stretch. The Top weight for day one was Steve Lowther with 76lb 7oz of bream caught from the bottom end peg with others catching weights of 55lb, 48lb and 30lb.
The top weight at Abingdon was Richard Chave with 19lb 5oz of roach caught on the pole from just above the marina. Whilst the biggest weight from Culham was just behind with Mike Berntsen weighing in 16lb 12oz of roach the bottom end of the section.
Day Two
On day two, Appleford again produced the winning weight with Dougie Foreshaw landing 16lb 8oz of bream and roach from the end peg.
The top weight at Abingdon was Martin Kirk who had put together 15lb 7oz of skimmers and roach from opposite Wilsham road. Culham’s top weight was from Richard Chave who had 13lb 12oz of roach from a peg in the woods.
Day 3
On the third and final day, the winning weight was once again from Abingdon, where Jordon Holloway had 22lb 4oz of skimmers from a peg opposite Wilsham road.
Steve Lowther managed to find 13lb 10oz of roach from the rushes at the bottom end of Culham. Whilst John Beesley had 13lb 5oz of roach from the bottom end peg at Appleford.
Overall there was a very tight finish with 3 anglers all finishing on 4 points, so it was down to weight, and the bream caught on the first day proved crucial for Steve.
1st: Steve Lowther (Daiwa Don) – 4 points 104lb
2nd: Richard Chave (Colmic) – 4 points 41lb 8oz
3rd: Tom Hobbs (Drennan Oxford) – 3 points 34lb 6oz
4th: Martin Kirk (Sensas A4) – 5 points 77lb 10oz
5th: Paul Passmore (Devizes MG) – 8 points 38lb 8oz