Richard Chave reports on this years River Thames Championship!
0n Sunday 20th September 132 anglers (22 teams of 6) lined the banks of the River Thames between Lechlade and Rushey, to fish this iconic and long standing competition, winners are engraved on the trophy going back to 1950!
This year's team winners, Garbolino Blackmore vale Gold totalled 100 points, 7 clear of the next two teams, local experts Turners Tackle, Led by recent Thames festival winner Paul Passmore, and their second team, Garbolino Blackmore vale marine, both on 93, but Turners edging ahead on weight.
The winning team of Mike Berntsen, Rich Chave, Gary Etheridge, Simon Hebditch, Kev Bennet and Rob Randall, based their plan around catching the hoards of small fish that have featured in the river this season using whips for bleak up in the water and gudgeon on the bottom. although individual 3rd placed man Kev Bennet, added 3 late waggler caught chub for 10lb to join his 8lb of small fish caught in the first 4 hours.
Individual winner with 22lb 8oz was Drennan Oxford's Matt Herbert who was also amongst the Chub at the bottom of the Radcott section, landing 4 big ones to add to his earlier small fish net.
The superb River Thames is set to hold three big matches in September 2013. The Big 3 September Thames matches are The Turner 400– teams of four fished at Radcot, Clanfield and Rushey. Held on Sunday, September 1st – £100 per team. The Swan Individual Open– fished at Radcot and Clanfield on Sunday, September 8th – £20 all in.
Harrell announces venues for big-money river competition. A brand-new competition, which will carry the biggest ever individual river competition first prize of £10,000, plus more big main list and section cash prizes in the final, gets underway in July. RiverFest 2013 is the brainchild of river expert Dave Harrell who has been working closely with the Angling Trust to put the competition in place. Twenty qualifiers of 60 anglers on various river venues around the country will see three anglers from each match qualify for a two-day weight aggregate final on the fish-rich River Wye at Hereford on the weekend of November 2nd and 3rd, 2013.
River competition receives £4,000 boost. The
Angling Trust has announced a new £4,000 sponsorship deal with Thames
Water and Severn Trent Water that will see both companies backing the
Trust's RiverFest 2013. The sponsorship will ensure that there is a prize
pool of at least £24,000 available to anglers competing at the grand
final, to be held on the River Wye on November 16th and 17th,
2013. This is already the largest payout for a river match in the UK and could
rise further to £26,000 if the remaining qualifiers sell out.
Big redfins stocked in Midlands commercial. Meriden’s Packington Somers Fishery has been stocked with over 1,000lb of big roach. The move comes after one of the trout lakes at the complex needed to be drained for repair work - meaning that its stocks of silverfish needed to be relocated.
Owner, John Birchall chose Molands and Willow pool at the complex to house the fish, and already catches have risen dramatically.
Sponsors back Fenland Pairs League. Drennan-backed star, Wayne Swinscoe has announced that he is once again running his popular Fenland Pairs series, starting after Christmas. The league is being supported by Drennan International, Bait-Tech, Dynamite Baits and Westwood Lakes. The four-match league, which takes place on the prolific River Glen and Town Welland in and around Spalding, is expected to once again provide some spectacular sport.
Top all-rounder available for bookings!
Former Drennan Knockout Cup winner and reigning Shakespeare Champion Rob Wootton can now be booked for coaching days.
Here at Match Fishing we rate Rob extremely highly and believe him to be one of the best anglers in the country. No matter what the venue or discipline, Rob can show you how to do it.
“I have been coaching for a while now and the anglers I have taken out have often re-booked for more sessions.
Close match sees UK Champ take the win. Competition was tight on the first ever sell-out Maver 'Match This' qualifier at Peterborough's Decoy Lakes, with over 15 anglers returning weights of 100lb or more!The winner on the day was the current UK Champion, Middy and Bag'Em Matchbaits rod, Marc Rodger. Marc, who is no stranger to fishing in a 'Match This' final, having qualified previously in 2011, drew Peg 23 on Beastie lake. The Grimsby rod fished a Method feeder before switching to pellet shallow later in the day to end the match with 157-03-00, putting just over 10lb between him and second-placed Martin Freeman.
Clegg drafts in Dorking skipper to World Champs Squad. England team manager Dick Clegg has announced that Preston Innovations-backed ace and Daiwa Dorking skipper Steve Sanders is to join his team for the Veterans World Championship. Bosnia and Herzergovina will play host to this year's competition on the River Krupa in Capljina during the weekend of August 10th and 11th. Reigning Veterans World Champion Joe Roberts is in the team once again and is looking to retain his crown, which he won last year in Portugal.
Match Fishing's own Tom Scholey wins Mega Match This qualifier. A lower than anticipated turnout for the latest Mega Match This qualifier, at Cornwall’s White Acres, meant that anglers were given plenty of room, divided between Twin Oaks, Trelawney and Acorn lakes, with the resident carp responding positively to the 23°C temperatures. Winner on the day, and earning his place in August’s Mega Match This Grand Final, was Match Fishing/Pole Fishing magazines’ very own Tom Scholey. Tom made the most of his Peg 15 draw on Trelawney, where he opted to fish 6mm pellets shallow on the long pole.
World Champ wins two big matches on the bounce!Sean Ashby has proved just why he is World Champion, after winning the last two rounds of the Thorne Individual League in consecutive weeks. Fishing against a field of the UK’s finest bloodworm and joker anglers, including Alan Scotthorne and Lee Kerry, Sean made no mistake in commanding the win, from two different parts of the match length. “The canal has certainly changed a lot from the last two years – but the fishing is still very good. Both of these results saw me catch a steady procession of roach, fishing joker on the hook over a bed of groundbait, leam and joker.
All-star cast sees the RiverFest final hotting up! Sunny conditions greeted the competitors who took part in the Angling Trust RiverFest qualifier on the River Trent at Newark on Saturday, July 19th.
The winner on the day and the first competitor from this qualifier to go through to the RiverFest final on November 15th/16th was Paul Kozyra from York, who weighed in 41lb of skimmers and bream up to 6lb. In second place on the day and to qualify for the final for the second time was John Urruty (Alfreton Angling) with 26lb 8oz. Final qualification place into the final was John Barningham (Lincoln Whisby) who finished ninth in the match to take the lead over England International angler, Sean Ashby by only 1oz.
Big names exit in Northern Semi Finals. This weekend saw the Northern Semi Finals of the Angling Trust Winter League take place at Dynamite Makins Fishery near Wolvey, and on the Grand Union Canal at Loughborough. In a real turn up for the books, four of the most fancied teams have failed to qualify for the final – meaning Ultimate Barnsley Blacks, Shakespeare Superteam, Matrix Dynamite Trentmen and Maver Bait Tech won’t be competing in the final on the tidal River Trent later this year. Maver Midlands took victory at Makins Fishery to earn their place in the grand final.
Captain delighted with new deal. The Channel Islands have secured a sponsorship deal with tackle company Sensas. Captain, Greig Owen explained: "This will help us with our preparation for this year's World Championship, and for future world and European championships as well as any other events in the UK or France that we may attend. Finding the right tackle for the venues we use in these championships has always been a challenge for us living in a small group of islands.
