RIVERS REACH RECORD LEVELS
Banks burst across the country as RiverFest final is postponed
BRITAIN’S richest event for river match anglers has fallen foul to the worst floods to hit the country for several years.
The RiverFest final, which was due to be held on the Severn at Shrewsbury, was postponed last week as levels rose to make the river unfishable.
The Angling Trust-run competition was cancelled as the water level hit 4.03m leaving the town-centre car park fully submerged.
Organiser Dave Harrell had been monitoring the situation and was staggered to see how high the rivers in the area had risen. He said: “I can’t believe how much rain we have had.
“The Wye Champs had to be cancelled due to forecast levels of over 5m in Hereford, and the Severn has risen at a similar rate.
“Once the river drops, all the pegs will need to be looked at for safety reasons and to ensure they can be fished after such a high flood, which may have caused damage and created obstacles.
“Realistically, we need a river level of 1.2m or less for a good RiverFest final.”
The high levels have caused day-ticket anglers to change their approach too, and none more so than recent visitors to the River Wye, which reached its highest recorded level in places.
Anglers Jarrad Smith and David Easton braved these tough conditions on the Angling Dreams stretch of the river at Kerne Bridge, and were rewarded with 10 chub to a best of 5lb. All were caught from nearby flooded fields.
These weren’t the only fish to break free of the banks. On the town stretch of the Wye at Ross, barbel were seen swimming among riverside benches with their dorsals out of the water.
It wasn’t just Midlands rivers that suffered from high water either – rivers across the country were impacted to varying degrees, with record levels recorded on the Weaver and Dane in Cheshire. Some stretches of the Wye were also at an all-time high.
Here are a some of our favourite images from the floods…