The Jubilee Nomads and guests fished Mark Birbeck’s, 3 day Somerset Leveller festival over a long weekend. Fishing Carey at Viaduct, Tile at The Sedges and Moor pool at Avalon fisheries. 

The festival was run over 3 sections over the 3 days which always gives everybody a chance of doing well.  8 Tonne plus weight were recorded over the 3 days and the fishing was generally very good for most. The weather forecast wasn’t that good with heavy rain and wind forecast but we managed to avoid the worst of the weather and there was no wet tackle left in the cars this year.  As always the fishing and the banter back at the digs in the evening was excellent and we all had a good couple of evening meals down at the local pub. 

Day One, Carey pool, Viaduct fishery. This match saw some big carp dominate on certain pegs but generally weights were poor for this noted big weight venue. Robin Ballard won the match with 131lb 10oz, 2nd was Phil Seedhouse with 123lb 13oz and 3rd was Pete Dutton 78lb 5oz.Section winners:- Robin Ballard, Graham Scott and James Gardner. Wooden spoon winner Stu Thomson. 

Day Two, Tile pool, The Sedges. This match saw all anglers catch some good bags of fish after a slow start. Rob Butcher won the match with 166lb 5oz, 2nd was Steve Foster with 92lb 13oz and 3rd was Pete Dutton with 73lb 2oz. Section Winners:- Rob Butcher, Phil Seedhouse and Steve Foster. Wooden Spoon winner Doug Smith.

Day Three, Moors pool, Avalon Fisheries. Going into the final day Graham Scott and Phil Seedhouse led the points table with 3 points each, closely followed by Rob Butcher on 4 points. So everything was to play for. Avalon fished really well with 5 tonne plus weights recorded. Rob Butcher claimed his 2nd win, this time with 178lb 11oz. 2nd was Robin Ballard with 131lb 0oz and 3rd was Mark Birbeck with 119lb 13oz. The other tonne plus weights came from Steve Foster 114lb 8oz and Andy Mitchell with 113lb 4oz. Also of note was Phil Seedhouse’s net of fish that weighed in at 78lb 4oz which included 54lb of Silvers. The final day section winners were Rob Butcher, Robin Ballard and Mark Birbeck. Wooden Spoon shared between James Gardner and Richard Walker.

After the match the points and weights were all worked out. This saw Rob Butcher and Phil Seedhouse tied on 5 points. Robs aggregate weight (379lb 6oz) was much higher than Phil’s (274lb 5oz) and he took the Silver Salver plate home this year, with Phil Seedhouse the runner up.  Robin Ballard and Graham Scott finished on 6 points so weight count back again came into play. Robins 327lb 6oz weight was greater than Grahams 185lb 9oz and Robin took 3rd overall place.   The dredged Overall Wooden spoon winner this year was…………………. Doug Smith finishing on 12 points. This was yet another well run and organised festival from Mark Birbeck. Despite the bad weather forecast prior to travelling down to Somerset we just about got anyway with it weather wise this year. Roll on the next time.