This years Somerset Leveller 3 day festival became ‘Worcesterset’ again this year. As it did last year due to Covid. We were unable to travel down to Somerset because the digs where we normally stay are now closed. So three local venues were booked for this years festival as we did last year. We were able to book Ghost pool at Woodland View, Badger pool at Solhampton and the Laurel pool at Cob House for the final day.

12 anglers booked in for the festival but unfortunately for Stu he’d done his back in just before the weekend and was unable to fish the three days. So with 11 anglers fishing we had three 3 man sections and a 2 man section each day with the festival decided on points over the 3 days. 1 point for a section win, 2 points for 2nd and 3 points for 3rd in section. We had a daily winners pool but also 3 wooden spoons for the lowest weights each day. Plus the dreaded overall wooden spoon for the last placed angler over the 3 days.

Day 1, Ghost Pool, Woodland View

Woodland Views Ghost pool saw 3 anglers record tonne plus weights. This was topped by the daily winner Kevin Parry with an excellent 192lb 10oz. Second on the day was Doug Smith with 135lb 14oz giving both anglers one point section wins. Rob Butcher’s 130lb 0oz was only good enough for 2nd in section though as he was pegged in Kevin’s section. Andy Mitchell and Pete Dutton picked up the other two section wins. Wooden Spoon winner was Mick Taylor

Day 2, Badger pool, Solhampton

The 2nd days match on the Badger pool was disappointing. A few fish were caught early but then as the day progressed the pool switched off with everyone struggling to put a good run of fish together. The daily winner was Doug Smith with 72lb giving him another section win for the festival but Kevin Parry was equal to this also recording his 2nd section win, giving them both 2 points and top of the standings after two matches. The others section winners were Rob Butcher and Robin Ballard. This put them on 3 points each for the festival joined by Andy Mitchell who’s 2nd place today also gave him a total of 3 points going into the last day. So all to play for. Day two wooden Spoon winner was Pete Dutton.

Day 3, The Laurel Pool, Cob House

The last day saw festival leaders Doug and Kevin drawn in different 3 men sections and with anglers on 3 points also in their sections it could all change on this last day for the overall festival winner. Andy Mitchell won the match with a fantastic 175lb for the all important section win, giving him a total of 4 points. Doug or Kevin needed to win their sections again to beat Andy. But the draw gods had put Kevin on the wrong end of the pool where all the lower weights of the day had been recorded and Kevin’s great start to the festival withered away, finishing 3rd in his section. But it was Doug Smiths year! He recorded another tonne plus weight of 138lb to claim outright victory for the festival with a perfect score of three section wins to finish on 3 points. Well done Doug. The daily Wooden Spoon was Pete Dutton .

The final Result

This was another great festival organised as always by Mark Birbeck. We all enjoyed the fine weather, the fishing and as always the banter!! Oh and the dreaded Overall Wooden Spoon winner, well that was some chap that still caught over 160lb of fish on the final day. So he can’t be that bad an angler, even though his clicking could be better!!!