Acomb angler Thomas Hodson had an 18th birthday to remember.

He fished the Nomads match on Bethany's Lake at the Langwith Lakes complex near Heslington and drew golden peg number 20.

The teenager was still fresh from his success in the Acomb Tackle event at Oaktree Leisure on Bank Holiday Monday when he beat his dad, Steve, into second place.

A win from the lucky swim in the Nomads match would have added another £200 to his winning purse.

This time Steve pulled neighbouring peg 21 from the draw bag and went on to give his offspring a thorough pasting, ending his hopes of the

biggest pay-day of his fledgling career.

Fishing pole and pellet tight to the island, Steve caught small carp steadily throughout the contest to finish on 81lb 12oz ahead of Darren Bell on 76lb, fishery owner Norman Dixon, who had 50lb 10oz, and birthday boy Thomas had to settle for fourth place with 43lb 6oz.

A surprise party after the match went some way towards sweetening Thomas' bitter pill of defeat.

However, the eventful anniversary did not end at the final whistle, as in a fashion befitting the winning cox of the Boat Race he received a ceremonial ducking in the water.

Paul Gallagher used his intimate knowledge of his own venue to top the Tuesday evening open at the Willows with 49lb 8oz.

Drawn on Ridgepool peg 14 he offered pellets at mid-depth to bag a quick-fire 20lb of ide, chub and tench before a switch to cat meat brought several hefty carp to 7lb.

Steve Raper took second place from peg 19 where he tempted several good carp to 6lb on pole and meat from between the islands. His 41lb net would have been boosted to match-winning proportions by any of the half-dozen large carp that managed to evade the net.

The Saturday open on the same venue was switched to Goldrush lake where Dave Armitage triumphed from peg 53. Armitage also opted for a two line attack.

Starting on chopped worm at 12 metres, he tempted nearly 30lb of ide before the bites dried up. A switch to a carefully baited inside line with pellet found some sizeable carp waiting and he rapidly doubled his money to 61lb 80z.

Best of the others was Stan Jeffries, who had a level 56lb from peg 43 where he used pellet fished towards the aerator for carp to 5lb.

Updated: 10:25 Wednesday, September 07, 2005