Lines in at the Festival Pond

Anglers gathered on the lantern-lit island of the Festival Pond under a full moon, beside the old mill and the stone bridge

Nine anglers. One hour. 723 fish.

The Festival Catch went off under a full moon on Tuesday night. The pond lay dark and flat beneath the old mill. Pumpkins hung from the willows. Lanterns lit the stone bridge, and a bonfire burned on the little island where the crowd packed in among the standing stones and hay bales. When the start was called, every line went out at once.

Krinnyi the Instrument landed Old Platebelly at 2000 to 1. Valen Darksteel took the heaviest fish of the night. Seamus Sackville-Dessenen landed the most. Jonas Keel stood on all three podiums, which was an achievement on its own.

Old Platebelly - What are the odds?

There is one Old Platebelly in that pond. The odds of landing it? 2000 to 1.

Krinnyi the Instrument had it out inside the first few minutes. She did not even use a rod. Instead, she stood at the water’s edge with nothing but a trident and her song. Halfway through the song the surface broke. The trident went in, and the crowd went quiet. Breaths were held. Lines went slack while people crowded the bank to see it. And soon enough it became clear that whilst most of the field was still in the process of hooking on first bait, the biggest catch of the night had already been decided.

Congratulations, Krinnyi!

Thorn Stickleback - Settled by the clock

Three anglers pulled a 0.77 lb stickleback. Nobody pulled bigger, so the board went to whoever got there first.

Krinnyi the Instrument set the mark in the opening minutes and never gave it up. Jonas Keel matched it thirteen minutes later. Kell Tyr'Ghym matched it again with about twenty minutes to go. By then the bank was thick with sticklebacks, 472 of them over the hour, and three weighed exactly the same.

One thing is for certain: the Sapphire Moon will be serving fish stew for weeks.

Silver Grayling - Two lead changes

The grayling board changed hands twice before it settled.

Sularion Tyl'nassir opened with a 3.25 lb fish early and sat on it for twenty minutes. Then Jonas Keel came through at 3.32. Ten minutes after that Dusk answered with 3.45 lb, an eighth of a pound clear of the field.

211 grayling came out of the pond, yet Dusk only needed one to settle the score. Incredible.

Mirror Carp - The heavyweights

Only 39 carp came up all night. Every one of them drew a crowd to the water's edge.

Versyn struck first with an 18.34 lb fish a dozen minutes in. For over half an hour it looked like she had that number safe. Then Valen Darksteel hauled in 21.07 lb of mirror carp with about ten minutes left, and the island got loud. This turned out to be the heaviest fish of the night.

Jonas Keel had one more answer. In the final minutes he landed a 19.95 lb carp. “Look at the size o’ that fish,” he called across the bank. Then, louder: “Nerida’s Trident!” Somewhere behind him, O’kwari roared. And we do agree, what a show and what a catch that was!

With Jonas’ catch, Versyn was bumped down to bronze, which settled the final score of this match. Well done anglers! You had us on the edge of our seats.

The man on every podium

Jonas Keel finished second in stickleback, second in grayling and second in carp, which is something no other angler managed during this competition.

He lost the stickleback on the clock. He lost the grayling by thirteen hundredths of a pound. He lost the carp by just over a pound. But you know what? We’ll applaud him anyway, because that kind of effort and result is also something to take home.

Then Seamus Sackville-Dessenen, he took a different road. He landed 118 fish, the most of anyone and roughly one in every six that left the pond. We don’t know what came over that flamboyant bard, but we’ll be having what he’s having and then some.