Friday 14th February 2025.

This week saw the annual River Wye Spring Festival take place. This festival was started by Dave Roberts back in 2017 but due to Covid restrictions this is only the sixth time the event has taken place. The match length is split into 2 zones A and B with the 54 anglers taking part drawing either A or B sections on the first day and then fishing the other zone on the second day. Each zone is further divided into 9 six peg sections, and as the outcome is decided on a points basis, it is vital to win your six peg section and hopefuly finish on 2 points at the end of the second day. Weight caught will also play a part.

With hardly any rain in the last week the river looked in perfect condition running  at  a steady 0.73m on the first day with an air temperature of around 4C. With the water fairly clear,  the main target would be the vast chub shoals which have provided some enormous weights in recent matches. Barbel and perch could also feature in some catches.

Day 1. With the draw having been made, those anglers drawn in the 90’s were rubbing their hands as recent matches had shown this to be the epicentre of the chub shoals, with those drawing the Tennis Courts and above the old railway bridge cursing that their drawing arm had let them down. Those who walked the Asda bank, could see that plenty of fish were being caught on both sides of the river, but who would manage to catch the most?  At the weigh in it was apparent there had been some incredible weights caught. Top weight on the day went to Adrian Griffin on peg 95 who took an incredible 153 lb of chub to the scales. Runner up was Russell Henry who caught 149lb 3 oz from end peg 96, with  Ben Rendall finishing 3rd with 139lb 8oz from peg 94. Bob Giles took the top weight on the left bank to finish 4th on Day 1 with 122lb 14oz from peg 62, close to the Sea Cadets building. Those fishing the Tennis Courts section struggled as did the majority pegged above the old railway bridge. Overall some incredible weights caught with 7 anglers catching over 100lb. But it is not all about weight, as winning your six peg section was just as important.

Day 2. With similar conditions to yesterday, the nine anglers with a section win were hoping for another good draw, and when Andrew “Spud” Murphy drew peg 95 under the bridge, most people’s money  was on him winning the festival, having won his section the previous day with 90lb 4oz. But would the fish still play ball or  would they have shifted their position in the river? As it turned out Spud started catching right from the whistle, all he needed to do now was to catch a good weight similar to what was caught there the previous day. He caught chub consistantly throughout the match, but there were also others who were putting a good weight together. Had he done enough? The 6 peg section started at peg 91, with Jack Jones on peg 92 wighing in 169lb 8oz! This was followed by Andy Neal on peg 93 who weighed in 129lb. Spud weighed in a phenomenal 191lb of chub with just hot peg 96 to go. Dave Wallace was on 96 and weighed in 143lb 12 oz, meaning that Spud had another section win and one point, but had any of the Day 1 section winners managed another section win and a bigger aggregate weight?

Results: Back at the Rugby Club it was clear that it had been a phenomenal festival with 7 weights over 100 lb being caught on both days. These weights came from 9 different pegs with 900lb of fish being caught yesterday from pegs 90-96!  As expected Spud Murphy was crowned festival winner with 2 section wins and a combined weight of 281lb 4 oz across the 2 days. Runner up  was Chris Stephens with 2 section wins and a weight of 178lb 2oz. Third was Bob Giles who managed a last gasp 10lb 9 oz barbel to win his section again and take his total weight to 133lb 7oz. Fourth was last year’s winner Joe Holloway who also had 2 section wins but an inferior weight of 97lb 2oz. All in all a fantastic festival if you got the right draw but the results below Trevor Chalk show what a difference a points system makes, with Trevor Chalk finishing eighth with a total weight of 8lb 2oz, while those below him finished with much larger weights. The festival showed the enormous number of fish in that section with an  average weight of 36lb 8oz  being caught by each angler each day. Full results below: