12/11/22

This week has seen the eagerly awaited 3-day festival take place. 60 anglers lined the Belmont and Tennis Courts sections hoping to lift the coverted title. The recent heavy rains in Wales meant that the river had risen to almost 3m by the start of the first day, but with less rain forecast hopes were high that the level would drop sufficiently to provide some good catches.

Despite the high levels there were some surprisingly good weights caught on Day 1 with bleak featuring highly in the top weights. Top weight went to Wye Master and bleak catching machine Hadrian Whittle who took 42lb 4oz to the scales from a peg close to the rowing club. There were many 20-30lb backup weights which showed that despite the high water level, it was still possible to enjoy some great fishing.

By the start of Day 2 the river had dropped to around 2.2m which meant that some pegs fished considerably better than on Day 1. The winner on the second day was festival organiser Dave Roberts who put together a mixed bag of dace, roach and perch to weigh in 64lb 3oz from a peg towards the end of the Tennis Courts. Again, there were plenty of good backup weights with 30lb + required to win most 5 peg sections.

The final day started with the river running at just under 1.8m and a day of bumper catches was expected. The river did not disappoint with Day 3 winner Scott Geens taking a75lb 0oz mixed bag of silvers to the scales from the same peg that won Day 2.

As this festival is run using a points system, it is important to try and pick up as many section wins as possible over the 3 days and at the end of Day 2 it was all to play for with 4 anglers in with a chance of taking the title.

Eventual winner for the fourth time turned out to be Hadrian Whittle who managed 2 section wins and a 2nd place to lead the board with a total of 4 points. He also had the top aggregate weight. Runner up was Rory Jones who totalled 5 points ahead of Nigel Evans with 6 points. There were some fantastic weights caught over the 3 days and on the final day the average weight per angler was 29lb.

A big thank you must go to Dave Roberts and his team for organising a successful and well run festival. Daily results can be found on our Facebook page.