Riverfest 2018 How big final was won
Matrix ace secures £13,000 title as event makes the switch to the River Severn
ANGLING TRUST RIVERFEST FINAL 2018 (SAT & SUN)
River Severn, Shrewsbury (72 pegs)
ANEW venue for the RiverFest final produced a nail-biting result in the fading light.
Matrix ace Lee Wright was crowned champion on the River Severn by just over 2lb from James Robbins to take the £13,000 top prize with a two-day weight of 38-3-8.
That relegated Cadence rod James into second, worth £6,000, as his two days added up to 37-5-0. Fellow Cadence angler Lee Harries held on to take third spot with 36-0-0.
In an exciting climax to the first final on the Severn, as the hooter was sounded on Sunday, no one had a clue who had won.
Day one was a triumph for Lee Harries, with 28-10-0 of chub on the waggler from peg 11 on the County Ground – a catch that put him 4lb ahead of Adam Richards. And after drawing peg 66 on the Quarry on day two, Lee looked a good bet for an overall win.
However, new champ Lee Wright, who took 20-1-8 for third on Saturday, was just a few swims away on peg 63, and a potential threat. The same could be said of James after taking 18-6-0 on day one and then drawing 48 on the Quarry, a form area from 24 hours earlier.
All three men ended Sunday unsure and James was the first to weigh, taking 18-15-0 of mainly roach. That left Lee Wright requiring over 17lb to go in front.
The Nottingham man didn’t think he’d made that weight, but Shrewsbury’s roach and dace run big and he tipped 18-2-0 into the sling to get his nose in front.
It then boiled down to Lee Harries, who was sitting 10lb in arrears. At that point he felt he was out of the running and his 7-6-0 of dace proved that to be the case as Lee Wright was confirmed as the new champion.
“I’m so chuffed – this is my first big-event win and I can’t believe it, as this is the first year I’ve given RiverFest a go,” champion Lee said.
“Once I began practising on the river I knew it was right up my street as there were a lot of pole fish to catch using light lines and small hooks. If the final had been on the Wye with big Bolos and so on, then I’d have been out of my depth!”
Day one served up peg 49 for Lee, just upstream of the footbridge on the Quarry and seen by the locals as a good area for both roach and dace and the chance of a few big fish.
That prompted him to include a big-fish perch worm line in his attack alongside long pole and waggler for the silver fish.
“I fished at 14m but fed the waggler just past this so that I could pick off any fish that might have backed off or moved down the peg – in effect, I could fish two methods on the same line,” he revealed.
“At the start I balled in six balls of Van Den Eynde G5, Black Turbo and Dynamite Baits Frenzied Black Hemp plus soil, then cupped in four more of the same – but these were rich in hemp and dead pinkie feed.
“It was then a case of running the rig – which featured 1g and 0.5g floats with strung shotting to an 0.07mm hooklink and a size 22 hook – with single maggot or double pinkie over this and I caught around 60 big dace on it,” Lee explained. “It was important to lower the rig on to the groundbait, though, as the fish seemed to be feeding right on top of it.
“I also kept hemp going in via the catapult right on top of the float. The dace came to the noise and most bites came within a few yards of beginning the trot.”