Pic: Joe Oakes with his 11lb 6oz barbel.

Evesham Championship Qualifier Evesham Town & Ferry Waters 50 fished

1 Tony Taylor 19-4-0 (peg 10)
2 Trevor Chalk (Sensas WB Clarke) 15-8-0 (peg 35)
3 Joe Oakes (Middy) 14-6-0 (peg 31)
4 Ian Shepherd (Daiwa Gordon League) 12-9-0 (peg 30)
5 Simon Smith 6-14-0 (peg 8)

Qualifiers: Tony Taylor Dean Cosnett

With a touch of extra water on the river, the big fish fed in earnest on this Wednesday qualifier. Tony Taylor was best from peg 10.

Fishing at seven metres, Tony simply opted to loosefeed casters. He managed two big roach, one weighing 1lb 8oz, and one 1lb – before the barbel moved in!

He had one of 9lb, which took him an hour to land, and another of 6lb which he landed in 45 minutes, to finish with a 19-4-0 total.

Second from fancied peg 35 at the Avon’s confluence with the River Isbourne was Evesham regular, Trevor Chalk. Trevor caught small fish short on whip tactics, before picking up his waggler rod and catching six chub to 2lb to finish with 15-8-0.

Evesham’s two most in-form anglers, Ian Shepherd and Joe Oakes drew next to each other on pegs 30 and 31. It was looking like the verdict was set to go Ian’s way, as a procession of good roach on hemp came his way, while Joe struggled for bites.

The Leicester youngster had an ace up his sleeve though –casting out a pellet for the last hour of the session in the hope of a barbel. With ten minutes to go, his rod hooped over and he landed an 11-6-0 fish to finish with 14-6-0.