The Evesham Angling Festival

TICKETS are now on sale for this year’s Evesham Angling Festival qualifying matches, which kick off on the opening weekend of the season with a Wychavon qualifier on Saturday June 20 and a Shakespeare qualifier on Sunday June 21.

There are nine Shakespeare and nine Wychavon qualifiers and all the matches are 70-peg events at Hampton Ferry and Evesham Town Water.

Anglers can fish as many qualifiers as they like, even if they have qualified or been invited to the Festival weekend - but it is advisable to book early by contacting co-organiser Diana Raphael on 01386 442458.

The festival gets underway on Saturday August 22 with the Junior and Intermediate Championship, followed by the Ladies Championship on Sunday, August 23. The third Veterans Championship, for anglers over the age of 60, takes place on Wednesday, August 26.

The main festival weekend starts on Saturday August 29 with the £6,000 top prize Shakespeare Championship. On Sunday August 30 it’s the Wychavon Championship with a top prize of £3,000 and on Bank Holiday Monday August 31, it’s the 14 team Match Fishing Team Championship.

The junior and intermediate event on Saturday August 22 is a four-hour match for juniors under 15 and a five-hour match for anglers aged 20 or under. Entry costs £5 for juniors and £10 for intermediates.

The top two in each category will win Shakespeare tackle prizes and also qualify for the Wychavon Championship on Sunday, August 30th. To reserve a place contact Mrs Sue Beasley on 01386 881868.

Now in its fourth year, the ladies match planned for Sunday August 23 will go ahead only if there is sufficient interest. Winners could walk away with a £500 top prize and an invitation for the top lady to take part in the Shakespeare Championship.

The popular veterans’ match for anglers aged over 60 is scheduled for Wednesday August 26, and also has a £500 top prize with an invitation for the winner to take part in the Shakespeare Championship on Saturday August 31.

Match Fishing Team Championship

Fourteen of the country’s top teams go into battle on August Bank Holiday Monday in what has become one of the most keenly contested team events in the calendar.

Holds Daiwa Dorking will be looking to defend their crown but expect some strong opposition from the likes of Saints, Shakespeare and Starlets. Also invited are the England Ladies team hopefully fresh from victory in the Ladies World Championship in Italy.

Teams invited include Daiwa Dorking, Van Den Eynde, Saints, Kamasan Starlets, Shakespeare Superteam, Maver Barnsley, Drennan NW, Daiwa Trentmen, Evesham DAA, Quorn, Shakespeare Mach 3, WB Clarke, England Ladies and Daiwa Gordon League.

Swain on his way to another Fisho Final

Mossella Garbolino angler Dave Swain won the Maver Larford Fish-O-Mania qualifier with a weight of 150lbs 5ozs. It was his fifth attempt to win the £25,000 jackpot with the contest attracting 130 competitors.

Drawn on the Burr bank, Specimen Lake peg 13, with a gusting wind from his right, he decided to set his stall out to fish at six metres, feeding meat on a regular basis and using meat on the hook.

His catch consisted exclusively of carp with his biggest fish being an 18lb 2oz specimen.

In cold conditions Arena Lake was where most people fancied to win the match but with 20 pegs in use out of the 44 pegs on the lake those in the know felt that this number of anglers would even it up with Match Lake, making it difficult to predict which lake would deliver the winner.

Des Shipp, who finished fourth overall with a weight of 107lbs 6ozs alternating between method feeder and pole from Specimen Lake peg 7, bagged the biggest being an 18lb 7oz fish from the lake.

The 70 anglers that weighed in totalled a massive 4,105lbs of fish between them giving an average weight of 58.64lbs of fish per man.

Second place went to Phil Ringer who drew on Match Lake, peg 9. He caught steadily throughout the day, banking fish up to 5lb, but couldn’t match the bigger fish that had decided to show on Specimen Lake.

Third place went to Matthew Morgan who drew on Arena Lake peg 38, with a weight of 109lbs 6ozs.

In fifth place was Pemb Wrighting, with a weight of 98lbs 14ozs from Match Lake peg 12.

Fishery Form Guide Shatterford Fishery, Kidderminster: The penultimate Spring League match was held on Stuarts Lake this Sunday, with Pete Jones (Fosters) bagging the win with 44lb 4oz.

Shatterford has produced some good results over the past month, on May 1 Paul MacRae (Kingswinford) had 13 carp - all doubles - including 2 x 18lb Mirror on Erics using pops ups.

On May 2, Andy Butcher (Halesowen) had 25lb 4oz catch from Masters using trout, while on May 4 Dave Wilkinson (Oldbury) had several carp up to 16lb 2oz on Stuarts using boilies.

01299 861597 www.shatterford.com Dayhouse Farm Fishery, Romsley, Halesowen: Mike Collins from Oldbury reported he had carp of 17lbs and 19lbs from the bottom lake on pellet feeder, both are personal bests as one (17lbs) was a mirror carp and the other (19lbs) a common carp.

Lots of silver fish being caught on maggots and Dayhouse is ideal place to take novice or junior anglers.

Tench are now featuring in catches, Martin Flavell from Stourbridge had a 50lbs catch with specimens to 4lb on corn over pellets.

For further information call 01562 710663.

Wassell Grove Fishery: Match attendances are increasing at the ever-improving Wassell Grove, with The Trevor Boden Memorial won with an exceptional 72-6-0 by Terry Homer from the Specimen Lake.

There has been some very nice bream (to 7lb) and tench (to 4lb) coming out in the quieter midweek days from the Specimen Pool, corn, casters and worm hookbaits the most effective.

Contact 07967 556673 www.wassellgrovefisheries.co.uk Solhampton Fishery Stourport: The Solhampton Festival was a huge success with 32 anglers competing on each of the three days of the event.

Kidderminster based Eddie Bloxham won the event with an amazing four section wins for a perfect total of four points.

Karl Stevens from Walsall finished second overall and also took the biggest total weight of fish over the three days with a superb 396-14-0, equating to almost 100lbs of fish per day.

Redditch based Paul Caswell finished third and took the biggest catch of the festival with a colossal 146-6-0.

The fishery is having some interest from schools wanting to enter both individuals and teams in The Solhampton Junior Championship which is taking place in the school six week holiday, hold off on the phone calls as all will be announced in next months column.

For more information call 01299 828074 www.solhampton-fishery.com