SEVERN FLOAT CHAMPS WIN FOR OUR MAN DAVE
Kidderminster DAA Float-Only Champs voted a success
ANGLING Times columnist and river king Dave Harrell added another prestigious running water title to his impressive CV by lifting the inaugural Kidderminster DAA Float-Only Championships after six rounds of action on the Severn.
Finishing with 239 points after his worst score was dropped, Dave was just six points clear of rising teenage star Jordan Holloway. Pocketing the the £1,000 top prize, the former England man was delighted not only by the win, but also how this new event, created by Dave himself and the Kidderminster club, has been received.
“We started the event simply to get a big midweek match running on the river and we couldn’t be happier with the response, or the spirit that each round has been fished in,” Dave said. “Everyone stuck to it, even if they were well out of the running and the fishing was hard, and everyone wants to come back in 2018 and do it all again.
“I’ve not yet got to meet with Kidderminster club to see where we can take the competition next year in terms of more pegs or different bits of the river, plus the timing of the rounds. It’s all good, though!”
Going into the final round, Dave was leading, but a bad last leg could change things radically. With this in mind, he wanted a peg where he could weigh in around 10lb.
“With the river cold and 2ft up on its normal level I thought that sort of weight would get me in the top 10, and if I made that, I couldn’t see me being beaten even with dropped scores,” Dave explained. “I drew peg 66 and was happy with that but it was a negative match, feeding very lightly and running a stick float a long way down the peg to keep picking off the odd roach and dace.
“At the scales I had 8-6-0, enough to come eighth overall!”
The match was won by Preston Innovations man Tony Moreton with 16-5-0 of roach and dace on stick float and maggot off peg 77 at Winterdyne. Overall runnerup Jordan Holloway was second with four big chub and a perch on flat float and worm from peg 14 to weigh in 14-4-0.
Result: 1 T Moreton, Preston Innovations, 16-5-0; 2 J Holloway, Catch More Media, 14-4-0; 3 A Grimes, Barford AA, 11-7-0; 4 B Preece, Bridgnorth AS, 10-6-0; 5 G Brierley, Kidderminster DAA, 9-13-0; 6 T Chalk, Cadence, 9-4-0.
Overall result: 1 D Harrell, DH Angling/Bait-Tech, 239pts; 2 J Holloway, Catch More Media, 233; 3 S Christian, Tipton, 226; 4 T Moreton, Preston Innovations, 222; 5 T Chalk, Cadence, 221; 6 S Pierpoint, Sensas Smithy’s, 218.