DOUBLE FIGURES GALORE IN FLOAT CHAMPS OPENER
Coloured river sees half the field return more than 10lb in first Severn clash
THE eagerly-awaited River Severn FloatOnly Championship got under way last week with an impressive match on the Bewdley section.
It was won by Shakespeare star Brian Rigby with 33-3-0 on a day when almost half the 50-strong field returned double figures.
The brainchild of Angling Times columnist Dave Harrell and the Kidderminster DAA club, this sell-out six-match series saw the great and good of Midlands river fishing arrive at a Severn that was carrying a little extra water and colour.
The conditions encouraged the barbel to feed and Brian, on peg 37, made no mistakes, nobbling five fish on a big Avon float with meat, maggot and caster fished down the inside to go with around 150 bleak taken on 4m whip and maggot.
Barbel also figured in runnerup Tony Moreton’s 23-12-0 net at peg 14, where he used stick float with maggot and caster. Dave himself was third on 21-12-0, and he was delighted with how this opening round went.
“That bit of extra water certainly helped and, although the river was carrying a tea-like colour, it fished well. When you consider that the roach and dace have yet to turn up in any numbers, to have so many double-figure weights is brilliant,” Dave said. “We created the event to fill a midweek gap in the calendar. There’s not a lot going on for river anglers during the week and the response to this competition shows how many people out there want to get out and fish running water.”
The next round takes place tomorrow (Wednesday, August 16) and, across the series, anglers can drop their worst result – so if you had a stinker in the opener, all is not yet lost!
“When you consider that the roach and dace have yet to turn up in any numbers, to have so many double-figure weights is brilliant”