England's best ever silverfish match!
A little-known venue that produced almost 1,000lb of roach and hybrids in a match has been described by competitors as ‘as good as Ireland’.
Hurworth Burn is on the outskirts of Hartlepool in the North East and is part of the River Skerne system, and was the stage for an incredible charity match where 31 anglers averaged no less than 29lb-per-man.
The five-hour contest was won by Maver Newman Scott’s Graham Jones, who fished a groundbait feeder with worm and maggot hookbaits at 25yds to take roach and hybrids for an impressive 46lb 11oz total.
It headed up an incredible string of weights with the top six anglers all weighing in over 40lb apiece.
“I’ve fished this venue for the last few years and it’s always good, but this was truly incredible! I visit Ireland twice a year and the sport was on par, if not better,” Graham told Angling Times.
“The venue is connected to the river at both ends where it must have been dug out many years ago and is around half a mile long and around 200yds wide.
“The fish were ripping the rod off the rest and I started on a size 14 hook, but in the latter stages I changed to a size 12 as the fish were so confident and I fed my way through over a kilo of worms through the feeder.
“It’s a shame that the fishing here is restricted and only a few matches a year are allowed.”
Mosella Quaker’s Chris Gowling was at the other end of the results table but even he described his day’s sport as ‘incredible’.
“I’ve never had a roach fishing session where I’ve weighed in 15lb of fish and didn’t come anywhere,” said Chris. “You normally get a hot few pegs or a productive area in silverfish matches, but this was off the scale because everyone’s swim held so many fish. It was dream fishing.”
