Monday January 19th 2025.
Yesterday the penultimate round of the 2025/2026 Van Den Eynde Winter League took place on the match length at Belmont and Tennis Courts sections.The river had had a much needed flush through since the last round, rising to around 3.5m early in the week due to snow melt and rain in Wales, and then steadily dropping throughout the week to a level of around 1m at Old Wye Bridge. There was not too much colour in the water and with slightly milder temperatures of around 7C over the last few days it was expected that the river would fish well with chub being the main quarry, but roach, perch, dace and barbel were also likely to feature. However it was not the best weather to be fishing in as there was persistant rain throughout a grey and misty day. With the fish being tightly shoaled up a couple of weeks ago it was expected that they would be a bit more spread out due to the increased water level and more colour in the river.
As it turned out there were only 7 dry nets amongst the 72 anglers taking part with the majority of those coming from the bottom end of “A” section and the top of “B” section. Individual winner on the day was Tim Noke (Alans tackle) who drew noted peg 96 and proceeded to catch chub throuhout the match to record a( weight of 172lb 0oz. Runner up was Kevin Dicks (Cadence Bait Tech) who caught 163lb 2oz of fish on the feeder from peg 94. Third individual was Joe Holloway (DH Angling) who caught 142lb 12oz from adjacent peg 93, while Hadrian Whittle (Woodys) took 4th place with 130lb 7oz from peg 95. There were 2 further 100lb+ weights caught from the left bank adjacent to the rowing club.
On the team front, Woodys came out top on the day with 56 points followed by Cotswolds on 49 points with Alans Tackle taking third place with 45 points. With Woodys now having won each of the 5 rounds fished so far, they have now accumulated an unassailable total of 60 points to retain the league title for the third year in succession with a round to spare. Wizards maintain their recent rise in 2nd place with 45 points with Cotswolds moving up the table to third place with 40 points. It is all still to play for in the final round on 1st February with several teams in contention to take the runners up spot.
Once again the weights showed what a great Winter river the Wye is on the Belmont section with 7 catches yesterday of over 100lb. While the big shoals of chub are still hanging around the rowing club area, there was also some good bags of roach, dace and perch caught and even the majoity of anglers pegged in “A ” section managed to find some fish. What is concerning though is the increasing number of cormorants on this section, no doubt attracted by the chance of a easy meal. There are regularly between 20 and 30 birds on the river and all anglers should attempt to scare the birds off by any legal means. It will only be a matter of time before more birds arrive and decimate the fish stocks. Full match results below :
:
