Tuesday September 29th September 2026.

The first big match of the Wye match fishing season took place on Sunday with the 75 or so anglers taking part pegged across the Breinton, Belmont, Tennis Courts,Bartonsham, Eign, and Field Farm sections of the river. With hardly any rain over the last week the river was dropping slowly and running low and clear with a height of around 0.13m at Old Wye Bridge. A cloudy overcast day was forecast with drizzly rain expected during the afternoon.There was a mood of optimism across the competitors as they left the match HQ at Hereford Rugby Club as there were some good weights caught during the Mick Pritchard Memorial Match 2 weeks earlier.. Chub and barbel were likely to make up the bulk of the catches although dace, perch and bleak were also expected to be caught.

As predicted the match fished well with chub being the dominant species. Winner Steve Maher managed 41 chub on the waggler using hemp and caster to record a top weight of 97lb 6oz from a peg at Breinton.  Andrew “Spud” Murphy finished in second place with a chub bag of 90lb 8oz from a peg in the Withy beds. Third place was taken by Ross angler Hadrian Whittle who was also pegged at Baronsham. He caught 62lb of chub and dace from the chip shop peg. The two remaining framers caught barbel with Clive Fletcher and Danny Ashington battling it out at the bottom of the Field Farm section. Clive took 4th spot with 54lb 6oz with Danny finishing 5th with 43lb 8oz. All in all a very good match with plenty of good back up weights and plenty of smaller fish showing across all sections which bodes well for the season ahead.The match raised over £700 towards the H&DAA Local Charities Fund. The next match will be the Wye Team Championship on Sunday 4th October. Section winners below: