Despite a full ‘super moon’ overnight, torrential rain throughout the morning and a 4 degree drop in river temperatures locally the Warwickshire Avon around Stratford upon Avon threw up some good weights all along its length for this latest Angling Trust RiverFest qualifier on Sunday 16th October 2016.

Martin Ward put in a stunning performance on form peg 11 with the best match weight recorded this year on the recently re-developed Seven Meadows section of river. He fed 8 pints of maggots to catch 24 chub on the waggler across to the far bank for a very impressive 49lb.

Second in the match was local Avon star and all round nice bloke Alan Stephens who drew peg 59 at Manor Farm with another great chub net of 25lb 2oz on the waggler. James Robbins had 16lb 3oz of hemp roach on peg 4 above 7 meadows wier, but the final qualifying place for the mega final went to another local angler Mike Bedding who won zone B at Stannalls with 11lbs 2oz of chublets and roach.

There were some poor areas in the faster water which didn’t produce as expected but there were lots of 7lb plus weights and many double figures. A big thanks to Tony Butler from Baileys of Warwick for doing all the hard work, Andy Bruce, Stuart Fleming, Ross, Tony, Chris, Martyn, Steve and everyone who helped make this event happen.

The next RiverFest qualifier heads to the River Severn at Shrewsbury on Sunday 23rd October.