Hempseed does the business for river ace. Avon master Steve Ashmore did the business from an unfancied peg in this 80-peg Evesham Championship qualifier, winning the day with an 8-2-0 net. Drawn on Peg 76 in the field below the Ferry meadow, Steve caught a good net of small roach fishing hempseed between 13 metres and 14. 5 metres out on the pole.
Drennan Barnsley Blacks win Championship title in the Angling Trust Winter League finalWith the Gloucester Canal coloured up from overnight water movements to the Bristol reservoirs, the 120 competitors of this year’s Angling Trust Winter League Final on July 6th were expecting a few bites, especially after last week’s good practice match. Unfortunately for most it was a struggle and a long wait between bites as most of the fish switched off in the bright and sometimes breezy conditions.
Only with a couple of hours to go did the bream on Hempstead Bend start to feed and four anglers here started to catch on the pole, one angler even subduing a 7lb carp on his light bream gear. With little major action reported elsewhere the winner was expected from these pegs.
Of the 13,000 anglers checked for a valid licence, 965 were fishing illegally. Environment Agency enforcement teams continue clamping down on rod-licence cheats, notching up more than 13,000 licence checks across England in May.
Of the 13,000 anglers checked for a valid licence, 965 were fishing illegally and could face a court appearance and a substantial fine. A recent penalty was more than £800 when an annual licence costs just £27.
Dicks in for Gardener -Drennan Team England shake-up. The Angling Trust is pleased to announce the England call-up of Callum Dicks, who will be joining the Drennan Team England squad for the FIPSed Nations World Championship in Croatia on 13th and 14th September, 2014. Joining Callum are Will Raison, Alan Scotthorne, Sean Ashby, Des Shipp and Steve Hemingray, plus (joint managers) Mark Downes and Mark Addy. Mark Downes said of the selection: “Callum has done brilliantly this week in the European Championship in Belgium.
Crystal Dibber creates huge demand for Drennan
The Crystal Dibber has captured the imagination of anglers the length and breadth of the country with tens of thousands already sold since Drennan unveiled them just a couple of months ago.
A spokesman for Drennan commented: “We knew these floats would be popular, but no-one could have quite predicted the unprecedented level of demand. Shops have been placing reorders for 100 or more trade packs of each of the three sizes currently available. That’s 3,000 Dibbers!
“We’ve put a considerable amount of time into developing our unique machinery, capable of blow-moulding these tiny clear-plastic bodies, so it’s great to see so many anglers appreciating it!”
Shops are hailing the float as a huge success.
Big-money festival gets the go-ahead at The Oaks Popular North Yorkshire venue The Oaks has announced they are running their popular three-day August festival – with the winner guaranteed £1,000!
Held between August 23rd and 25th, the festival will feature five of the venue's prolific match lakes – Maple, Cedar, Beech, Sycamore and Ash.
Venue owner Tom Kay was delighted to announce the festival: “The venue is fishing unbelievably well at the moment with the three newer lakes – Beech, Ash and Sycamore –producing weights up to 300lb. Combined with the technical fishing of Maple and Cedar, we have a great three-dayer on our hands. Nick Howarth solicitors have once again sponsored the match, allowing us to guarantee a £1,000 first prize with a great main list of prizes also.
Headline sponsor ‘unlikely’ but big prizes still on offer.
Organisers of the Evesham Festival have released details of the 2014 prize fund – and there’s still bags of cash up for grabs despite the loss of one of the event’s long-standing sponsors. Event director Roger Mortimer, announced the revised prize structure after a search for a headline sponsor for this year’s festival looked unlikely to produce new backers in time for the final weekend. “We’d love to have kept the prize fund at the same level as last year and one of the reasons we’ve been slow in announcing the payout was a hope that a new sponsor could be found,” explained Roger.
Drennan Team England take European gold in dramatic fashion! Faced with an ultra-hard Hensies-Pommeroeul Canal, England were staring down the barrel with just 30 minutes remaining of Day Two.
Both Will Raison and Sean Ashby latched into a bream in the last half an hour, which catapulted them both up to third in section. This meant the team took the gold by a ‘comfortable’ margin of just one point ahead of a determined Russian team.
The fishing required ‘balls of steel’ as just one bream meant excellent points on a canal where the odd bream could only be backed up with tiny perch and bullheads.
Shakespeare man makes Wychavon Final. A flush of rainwater brought extra colour and pace to the Warwickshire Avon for the latest of the Wychavon Championship qualifiers. Making the most of his end-peg draw, local expert Leigh Gardener banked a succession of good skimmers and hybrids on long-pole tactics. Leigh fished maggots over groundbait for an impressive total weight of 15-8-0.
Maver Bait-Tech man takes victory at Evesham.
Overnight rain meant an attractive tinge of colour stayed in the Warwickshire Avon for the second of the weekend qualifiers. Winner on the day was Maver Bait-Tech ace, Richie Reynolds. Richie drew Peg 43 just above the White House Bend, and took two good bream on groundbait feeder tactics in the early part of the day.
