Friday being shirtsleeve weather, whilst Saturday was an “extra

To say that the two days that we spent there brought contrasting weather and fishing would be somewhat of an understatement. On Friday the wind was so light that at times the anglers were becalmed; whereas on Saturday a freezing wind whipped across the water making fishing very difficult indeed. The temperature too was hugely different between the days: Friday being shirtsleeve weather, whilst Saturday was an “extra-fleece-type-day”.On Friday the most successful method in the calm conditions was “The Bung” – a method in which a buoyant fly such as a floating fry or a “booby” is used to suspend a team of buzzers or nymphs. The overall winner was Simon King who had already qualified for the final when he fished at Hanningfield. Simon included a superb 6lb brown trout in his winning bag of 33lb 7oz. Second was Simon’s boat partner Andrew Szoradi who weighed in with 31lb 15oz. Third came ‘Corrie’ star Sean Wilson with 30lb 13oz. The next five anglers were separated by mere ounces, but it was Glyn Holmes and William Jackson who won through to the final. The generous 10 fish limit was surpassed by well over half of the field.By contrast day 2 proved much tougher and only 9 of the 60 anglers recorded a limit bag. Local England team man Iain Barr came out tops with 23lb 8oz. Steve Crowson was second – just 7 ounces behind, whilst Czech Thomas Starychfojtu was 3 ounces further back. Gordon Moore made the final place, whilst wild card winner, with best fish, was 15 year old Charles Bowers whose trout weighed 3lb 7oz, only a fraction more than Simon Kidd’s fish.Unluckiest angler was John Emerson who finished 6th with 9 fish and, by refusing to kill brown trout, missed not only a place in the final, but also the cash and fishing tackle rewards.

We are off to Bewl for the next round. There are still places at several of the heats if you wish to enter. Phone John Horsey on 01761 490367.