EVESHAM FESTIVAL REPORT
BY TOM SCHOLEY
Alan Scotthorne has lifted the Wychavon trophy for the second time in his illustrious career, after a remarkable final on a coloured River Avon. With water moving into the river overnight, the resident bream and skimmer shoals fed throughout the match length, meaning nearly 14lb was needed to make the main list prizes!
Drawn on peg 45, Alan based his match around bloodworm and joker throwing in fifteen balls of Sensas River and Terre De River on an 11 metre pole line. It wasn’t long before the first of six bream fell to his bloodworm hookbait, and with plenty of smaller roach, skimmers, and hybrids coming to the net in between, Alan wasted no time in putting together a winning haul.
“I am delighted to have got my hands back on the Wychavon trophy, especially as I have been having a bit of a bad run over the last few months. I have been fishing the Warwickshire Avon here at Evesham since the early 80’s, and have always found it a really challenging but rewarding venue. The bream that dominate certain matches now never used to figure when I first started coming- it used to be a dace and chub river!” he told us.
In second place was another river legend, Wayne Swinscoe. After drawing peg two, Wayne also pinned his faith in bloodworm and joker, balling in ten good sized balls on a 13 metre pole line. He enjoyed a good first hour, taking a couple of 3lb bream early on in the match, before catching hybrids and roach regularly for the rest of the session for a 19-6-0 total.
Former Shakespeare Champion Rob South did not have any bream as part of his third placed 17-2-0 net, though he did catch THREE barbel! Rob set up just one rod to fish feeder and pellet a third of the way across the river. His gamble paid off, and his three whiskers plus a 3lb chub took him to a 17-2-0 total.
For full results, check out the October issue of Match Fishing magazine!
1 Alan Scotthorne (Drennan/ Sensas) 23-7-0 (peg 46)
2 Wayne Swinscoe (Maver Bait-tech) 9-6-0 (peg 2)
3 Rob South 17-3-0 (peg 31)
4 Dennis Lipscombe 14-8-0 (peg 66)
5 Rob Middleton (Shakespeare) 13-5-0 (peg 48)
