The Angling Trust is pleased to confirm the details for a fourth TideFest Angling Championship to take place on the tidal Thames in London on September 10th.
The 50 peg match, which is sponsored by Thames Water and Tideway – builders of the Thames Tideway Tunnel – has a record pay out this year with a first prize of £600.
It is expected to attract some of the top river anglers in the area as each match in the past three years has thrown up 30lb plus bags of bream along with some quality roach and dace. On the right day far larger weights are possible. All fish with the exception of eels can be weighed in.
The match is being held on three areas of gravel foreshore from Kew Bridge down to Barnes. Two sections will be at Strand on the Green, two at Barnes and one below Chiswick Bridge by the Ship Inn where Angling Trust’s Martin Salter caught a 2.02lb roach in a practice session last autumn.
TideFest is a celebration of the recreational importance of London’s River and will involve a range of other activities designed to get people out and enjoying what the Thames Tideway has to offer. The groups involved in organising this year’s event include the London Wildlife Trust, Thames Anglers’ Conservancy, Thames 21, The River Thames Society, ZSL and the Angling Trust.
Other activities planned include foreshore walks, river dipping, seine netting, paddleboarding, sailing, kayaking and historical walks along the Thames Path.
Angling columnist and Thames specialist Keith Arthur welcomed the news saying: “TideFest is a wonderful event on what surely must be described as a miracle river. From an angling perspective the tidal River Thames has returned from the dead – indeed the stretches to be used on the day have suffered many ‘murders’ in the past yet I would not be at all surprised if the match in 2017 needed a bag of bream pushing 100lb to win, with individual bream possible to over 10lb. Roach in excess of 2lb and dace close to 1lb could also feature.
“Even more miraculously, if there is some extra freshwater coming down, it can almost be guaranteed that sea trout will be caught…and if there isn’t, flounders will certainly be. You just never know what you will catch on this amazing piece of river.”
Angling Trust Campaigns Chief Martin Salter added: “The Angling Trust is delighted that the TideFest match has become an established and popular event delivering great fishing and fabulous prizes right in the heart of London. We are committed to continuing to attract match anglers back to river fishing whilst at the same time highlighting the importance of cleaning up our urban rivers. We are especially grateful to Thames Water and Tideway for their generous sponsorship which means that once again all the ticket money will be going to support the fantastic work of the charity Get Hooked on Fishing that does so much to help youngsters get into our sport.”
Will Barnard, Angling Development Manager at Thames Water, added: “Thames Water is once again proud to be sponsoring TideFest and this great angling competition which, as well as providing an exciting contest, will also be helpful in assessing the health of the river. Our large sewage treatment works upstream at Mogden has had a multi million pound upgrade which we believe is already delivering big improvements to the general water quality and with the Tideway Tunnel we will see an end to the damaging storm water incidents. The tidal Thames is already a good fishery but is set to get even better.”
