Last week the 2024 Celtic Masters Feeder Festival was fished over 5 days at Inniscarra…

Day one of the 2024 Celtic Masters Feeder Festival saw 49 anglers eagerly set out in pursuit of placing their name on the Celtic Masters Perpetual Shield.

After a horrendous 24 hours of rain and wind the day before (29 September) all sections suffered with reduced weights across the board. Given this the average weight of 9.150kg is pretty impressive.

Winner on the day was Robertas Zilaitis with 14.450kg from O’Neill’s Quarry (Boat Section), closely followed in second place by local venue expert Ken Ince from the end peg on O’Neill’s Quarry weighing 13.550kg. 3rd place went to Inniscarra regular, Dutch angler John Kooij with 12.570kg from the 2nd boat section at Walshestown.

Day 2 saw catches improve across all sections. Winner on the day came from The Graveyard where Neil Richards bagged 17.775kg of roach and hybrids. 2nd place on the day went to Dutch angler Gerrit De Groot fishing out of Walshestown with a weight of 16.750kg. Whilst over at The Pumphouse 3nd place today went to the ever consistent Ken Ince with a weight of 14.400kg boosting him into first place.

Section winners on the day were:

Robertas Zilaitis
Peter Koopman
Neil Mazurek
Henk Roskam
Chris Haigh
Tom Thackrway
Tony Brunt
Willem Multem
Julian Kendrick

Great craic was had at the Piggery after the match. The Heat Hut Sauna was a popular feature where it was more like a summer’s evening than the 1st of October.

Day 3 saw catches decline, as high pressure and an east wind pushed the fish up in the water column, making for a difficult day across the board. Winner on the day today came from Fountain House where Dave Micklewright made no mistakes and topped the scales with 13.175kg staying with Fountain House 2nd place today went to Dutch angler Willem Van De Helm with a weight of 12.300kg. Next it is off to O’Neill’s Quarry where the deep water has seen Dutch angler Michel Diepstraten put an impressive 11.825kg in the weigh sling to take 3rd place.

Section winners on the day were:

Neil Richards
Robertas Zilaitis
Gerrit De Groot
John Kooij
Henk Roskam
Tom Thackrway
Marc Berg
Julian Kendrick
Willem Multem
Leo Koot

Day 3’s results saw a shake up at the top with Neil Richards and Robertas Zilaitis moving into first and second places. With two days of fishing left it was extremely tight with lots of anglers still very much in the mix.

On Day 4 Fountain House stole the show with all top 3 weights coming from this section.
Winner on the day was festival leader Robertas Zilaitis with over 400 fish for 17.900kg. Nearby Tom Thackwray also clocked up over 400 fish for 17.725kg and not far behind them was Cavan angler Paul Leese with 16.325kg.

Section winners on day 4:
Richard Mowat
Marc Berg
Steve Saddler
Ken Ince
Leo Koot
Willem V D Helm
Nigel Evans
John Bijvoet
Neil Mazurek
Michel Diepstraten

Although Robert was fishing well there was still room for a few other anglers to shake up the top 3 going into the last day.

The last day of the competition saw Robert Zilaitis continue his fine run of form finishing 3rd overall on the day and with a catch that saw him win the festival outright on 69.700kg.

1st Robertas Zilaitis 69.700kg
2nd Ken Ince 65.325kg
3rd Henk Roskam 60.000kg
4thTom Thackrway 58.475kg
5th Neil Richards 55.350kg
6th Chris Haigh 54.300kg
7th John Kooij 53.940kg

To see all the weights and score sheets check out https://www.facebook.com/munsterfeeder