25 July 2004

'Local Ace' Gary McKay reaped the £505 reward for all the great effort he puts into fishing Magiscroft by storming the 2004 Access Open with a venue record equalling 29lb 11 1/2 oz catch of carp.  Another great turnout of 64 arrived to lovely weather after rain and cold the day before.  That made for a great day and from the excitement at the draw to the excellent presentation buffet, everyone had a memorable time.

Flying the flags	View of Main Loch	Rab Crossan	Steve Norman	Gary McKay

Gary was always in with a chance after drawing peg 8 on the Island Pond and he kept his cool while landing a string of carp to 4lb on Magiscroft Jelly Pellet bait fished tight to the Island.  Steve Norman from Connahs Quay made the long journey North with three other Welsh Internationals and was glad he did since he ran Gary close with another all carp net of 22lb 8oz from peg 5.  Chris Paton came close to retaining his title with another good performance with a lot of small carp for 18lb 1oz on peg 15, but he is rueing some lost fish.

1st Gary McKay	2nd Steve Norman	3rd Chris Paton	4th Mike Hall	5th Mike Burton	6th Alex Napier

The ACCESS Open is going from strength to strength thanks to sponsors ACCESS Loans and Mortgages, with  bigger superb trophies, tremendous cash prizes and now even bigger catches.  Lawrence Ihle of ACCESS is delighted to support the angling community and we were honoured to have him present the prizes and of course the 'BIG cheque'.  Thanks to everyone else who helped make the day so successful and enjoyable, especially Frieda and Morag for the super catering.  Congratulations to Gary, also to the other winners, 
and roll on next year!

Gary with Lawrence	Steve with Lawrence	Chris with Lawrence	The 'BIG Cheque'

Result -
1^st Gary McKay - 29lb 11 ½ oz (13.480kg)
2^nd Steve Norman - 22lb 8oz (9.740kg)
3^rd Chris Paton - 18lb 1oz (8.190kg)
4^th Mike Hall - 12lb 12oz (5.780kg)
5^th Mike Burton - 12lb 11oz (5.750kg)
6^th Alex Napier - 11lb 11oz (5.310kg)