As a curtain raiser to over three hundred events that will take place nationally over the next seven days under the banner of National Fishing Week, the second Tyne Championships coarse fishing match took place on Sunday. The well run event was a100 peg sell-out that, like last year, produced a bumper winning weight despite the adverse conditions of low flow and bright sunshine.
Divided into ten sections from Chollerford in the North Tyne down to Wylam the match attracts anglers from all over the region who are given an opportunity to coarse fish on water usually preserved for salmon and therefore unavailable to coarse anglers.
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The conditions meant that to draw on streamy water was essential to win and D.A.C. angler Graeme Jones certainly made the most of his peg sited north west of Corbridge near the Cor burn. He connected with quality dace backed by a superb 3 lb 11 oz chub to win the £ 500 first prize with over 32 lbs. Richmond's Peter Bennet, fishing near Bywell, was second with 12 lb 7 oz whilst only an ounce separated local matchmen Pete Brewis, (11 lb 11 oz from Ovingham Bridge) from Nigel Ripley (11 lb 10 oz from Bywell road) in third and fourth respectively, with Peter Wadge fifth with 10 lb 12 oz from the North Tyne at Chollerford. |
| Johnathon Bolton was the best junior on the day topping the Junior section at Prudhoe with 1 lb whilst the SAFC side which mustered a terrific 51 lb 15 oz won the Top Team award ahead of a side from Swale Anglers in second. |
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Section winners were Paul McEwan fishing Chollerford area with 5 lb 6 oz, Ray Wilkinson 2 lb 12 oz from Hexham's Tyne Green, Colin Williams with 5 lb 13 oz from Corbridge North bank, whilst Dave Hall won the Corbridge south section with 7 lbs.Steve Knowles topped the Bywell Bridge pegs with 5 lb 5 oz, Roy Stubbs the Bywell Road area with 7 lb 8 oz and Tim Richardson the Ovingham section with 3 lb 15 ozs. Mark Chapman was top rod at Prudhoe with 10 lb 4 oz and John Hay won the Wylam section with 2 lb 2 oz, a catch that included the biggest dace of the day at 11 ozs. |
| Officials from the Tyne Rivers Trust were on hand at the presentation at Hexham Auction Mart and received a cheque for £ 500 from the TAA. A sincere vote of thanks was given to local clubs and landowners for allowing access, and Jill McCormack and Phil Rippon of the E.A. as well as TAA Tyne rep Steve Hoggins gained appreciation for their combined hard work in putting the match on. |
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The E.A. use the information by recording every catch, and whilst initial results indicate that the dace and chub populations are improving, gudgeon too are increasing on the Tyne. Roach were conspicuous by their absence, and the one eel caught above Corbridge was the first ever to feature in this survey, with none at all being recorded the previous year. All trout and game fish were carefully returned to the water unharmed. |