It was a bit touch-and-go as to whether the Wye Championships went ahead this year, with seven feet of floodwater greeting the strong 145-man field who fished the big river.

But it turned out nicely for the Midlanders fishing the 51st running of this prestigious match event, with Warwickshire’s Rick Rogers winning the day and the £500 winner’s prize from Shakespeare rod Brian Rigby. Barford AA member Rick drew the Eign section where he only caught five fish on pellet feeder tactics. But they were all quality barbel and he was able to bring 30-4-0 to the scales. That was just too good for Brian, who drew the section above Rick on the Bartonsham section and used similar tactics for six fish for 29-12-0. In a really tight frame Nigel Ball from DH Angling finished third with 29-8-0 from Belmont.