Wye Championship 29/10/23- Results
Wednesday 1st November 2023.
Sunday saw the eagerly awaited 61st Wye Championship take place. This prestigious match took place across all of our waters on the River Wye from Breinton to Fownhope and this year we were able to include the famous Carrots fishery as part of the match length. The 135 anglers booked, in arrived at the Rugby Club to be met with a river that had risen over 2.5 feet following overnight rain to peak at 2.08m in the hours preceeding the match. With plenty of colour in the water and the mild temperatures this was likely to be a bleak or barbel match depending on where you drew.
With the vast shoals of bleak residing on the Belmont section may anglers chose to fish for these while hoping for an occasional barbel on the feeder or lead. Barbel were likely to be the main target on the out of town stretches. With the high level of water plenty of lead would be required to hold bottom on several sections. Local angler Rory Jones who was pegged on permanent peg 89 on the Asda bank at Belmont, decided to go all out for bleak and ended up with a fantastic all bleak catch of 61lb 4oz. to become 2023 champion for the first time. He also picked up nearly £700 in prize money. The 29 year old fed a gallon of maggots during the match to finish 8lb clear of 2nd placed Brian Rigby, who was also pegged on the Asda bank and who caught 1599 of the tiny silver fish to weigh in 53lb 4oz. Third place went to Jack Jones who was pegged on the Eign section. Jack managed to catch 5 big barbel and some chub to weigh in 46lb 12oz. Overall therewere 38 weights of over 15lb with 87 anglers weighing in. Several other anglers caught fish but decided their catch did not merit weighing in.
The Association would like to thank all the peggers and stewards who helped make this match run smoothly and also to the farmers at both ends of the Carrots section for their help in providing suitable access and parking so that anglers had a shorter walk to their pegs.
Full results can be seen by clicking on the links below.
