Monday November 24th 2025.
This last weekend saw the annual River Wye Pairs match take place on the match length at Belmont and Tennis Courts sections.Thirty three teams of 2 arrived at Hereford Rugby Cluib for the draw to find a perfect looking river which had lost a lot of the colour and was running at around 0.83m, but with recent frosts in the preceeding days it was likely that the fish would be more shoaled up than spread throughout the match length.The temperature was around 4C with light rain and a cold brisk wind. This match is decided by weight, with the combined weight of the pair over the 2 days deciding the winner. One angler of the pair fishes Zone A ( above green bridge) on day 1 while the other angler fishes Zone B (below green bridge). The anglers swap zones on the second day with each angler drawing a peg in the appropriate zone on both days. With the clearer river chub, roach perch and dace were expected to feature strongly along with the vast shoals of bleak.
Day 1 As expected the fish were more tightly shoaled and those anglers who drew the low numbered pegs at the top of the match length struggled for bites whilst those below peg 46 enjoyed better sport althogh those anglers pegged on the Tennis Courts section also struggled. After weeks of not producing big weights, the pegs in the 90s finally came up trumps, with famous peg 96 coming out top, producing a weight of 118lb of chub for Kev Ellaby to win Zone B and the match individually on day 1. Former World Champion Clive Branson took second spot on the day with 98lb 8oz of chub from adjacent peg 95. Zone A was won by match organiser Dave Roberts who weighed in 65lb 10oz from peg 51, with Geoff Brierley taking 2nd in the zone with 43lb 8oz from peg 76 on the railings. At the end of Day 1 Dave Roberts and Bod Giles headed the leader board with a combined weight of 135lb 12oz., with Chris Smith and Kev Ellaby in 2nd place thanks to Kev’s winning weight of 118lb. Third were Clive Branson and Ken Hornsea with a combined weight of 108lb 11oz.All in all some great weights on the first day if you were pegged below the green bridge, but with the river starting to rise as the match finished, how was Day 2.going to fare?
Day 2 With yesterday’s rain making its way downstream the river peaked at 1.14m at the start of Day 2, and the stronger cold wind was going to make it difficult to present a bait correctly.. For those pairs who were near the top of the leader board a good draw in the opposite zone was essential with both anglers needing to draw pegs holding fish.to give them a chance of winning the contest. With many anglers struggling in Zone A on Day1 they hoped not to draw on the Tennis Courts section in Zone B. Individual winner on Day 2 was Andrew Cranston who weighed in 93lb 4oz of chub from peg 94 in Zone B. Second place went to Mark Jones who weighed in 76lb 12oz from peg 96. Ben Emsley too top place in Zone A with 21lb 7oz from peg 53,with Stu Raynor taking second place in the zone with 17lb 7oz from adjacent peg 52. Again anglers struggled to catch on the lower numbered pegs in Zone A with some packing up before the final whistle. In the end, Day 1 leaders Dave Roberts and Bob Giles both caught well in their respective zones, with Dave’s catch of 52lb 2oz coupled with Bob’s weight of 8lb 8oz from peg 10 enough to secure them the winners spot with a 2 day total weight of 196lb 6oz. Second place went to Welsh pair Mark Jones and ‘Spud’ Murphy who weighed in a total of 182lb 12oz, with Geoff Brierley and Phil Amos taking third place with a combined weight of 149lb 2oz. Well done to all the prizewinners.
Another great match with some great catches , although the rising river and strong cold wind made it a difficult match, particularly if you were not on fish. The fish now seem to have shoaled up into the section below the green bridge,as they do every year, so anglers fishing the next Winter League match on Sunday 2nd December will be hoping that they do not face a long walk to “A” section for very little reward.
