Wednesday 20th November 2024.

This match is fished over two days with one member of the pair fishing Zone A and the other member fishing Zone B, with both members swapping zones on the second day. Zone A was pegged  above the old railway bridge and Zone B featured the pegs below the bridge.Thirty five pairs arrived at the Rugby Club for the draw with each pair having decided which zone they would fish before the draws were made. The river was still very low and clear with the level around 0.33m at Hereford Bridge. The day started dry but on the cool side with a few sunny periods with an expected maximum temperature of 9C.This match is decided on aggregate weight of the pair over the 2 days so good draws are needed by both anglers each day. With peg 96 featuring strongly over recent matches everyone was hoping to draw it, but there is the added pressure to make sure that you get the best out of it.

Top individual weight on Day 1 went to Stu Raynor who drew fancied peg 96 and weighed in 86lb 4oz of waggler caught chublets. Runner up was Matt Derry half of last year’s overall winning pair who pulled out permanebt peg 59 on the left bank to catch 76lb 12oz. Both of these anglers were in Zone B so needed their partner In Zone A to record a good weight. The winning pair on Day1 were Matt Derry and Danny Ashington who managed a combined weight of 109lb 4oz, with Danny catching 32llb 8oz from peg 77 on the railings. Runners up were Stu Raynor and Steve Metcalfe  with Steve catching 21lb 12oz from peg 47 on the left bank to take their total to 108lb. Would Matt and Dan retain the title they won last year? It was all about the Day 2 draw. Day 1 results below :

DAY 2 Following an overnight drop in temperature to around freezing, it looked like todays match would become a bit of a struggle for some particularly with such a low and clear river and the fish not wanting to move far and sit more tightly packed in particular pegs. At the draw, Russell Henry who was lying fifth with partner Clive Fletcherd at the end of Day 1, drew peg 96, the peg that everyone wanted. The pressure was now on to see if he could get the best out of the peg and for Clive to get a good weight from peg 73 on the railings. As it turned out Russell took full advantage of the peg he had drawn and weighed in a match winning 145lb 8oz of waggler caught chub, well ahead of Jason Bean  who weighed in 61lb  from peg 94 in Zone B. Matt Derry followed on from his Zone B runners up spot on Day 1 by winning Zone A on Day 2 with 40lb 12oz from peg 49.

With Russell catching such a large weight  on Day 2 it was clear that his partners weight was irrelevant on the second day and the pair ended up winning the event with a combined total weight of 245lb 12oz. This was well clear of last year’s winners Dan Ashington and Matt Derry  who finished runners up with a two day total of 175lb 1oz. Third place went to Stu Raynor and Steve Metcalfe who finished with 145lb 4oz. All in all another great match with some fantastic catches, but the river is in dire need of some rain. Hopefully the predicted forecast will bring some before the next match on December 1st when the next round of the Winter League takes place. Full results below.