The 2024 edition of the Barrow Perch Bonanza took place on a beautiful and mild November Sunday. Conditions were still and bright, which probably didn’t help the fishing, but made for a pleasant day on the riverbank for each of the twenty participating perch hunters.
The day started with short meeting early morning, all registered anglers received their measuring boards, hi-viz jackets and name cards. The starting call was given at 9am and soon after there were fish on the lines – but on the day the perch were very picky, and only the best of anglers managed to fill their cards with five over the 25cm minimum size.
In the end, thirty perch over the magic 25cm were caught – and as many again were landed below 25cm – with some hungry pike and a very unexpected bream also taking the lures!
As the days are becoming shorter and shorter, the competition finished at 3pm, and after checking all the pictures and fish release videos, the organisers could finally award the best anglers of the day.
Ladies and gentlemen, the winners were:
- First Place – Colin Rutherford 141cm (best 5 Perch)
- Second Place – Nikolai Lilov 139cm (best 5 Perch)
- Third Place – Simon Thompson 133cm (best 5 Perch)
- Longest Perch – Aurimas Dargis 37cm
Well done to winners, well deserved
