RiverFest Final shows the Trent's a silverfish Mecca!
SILVERFISH sport on the River Trent scaled new heights last week when dozens of anglers put together double-figure nets of roach, dace and perch during the RiverFest final.
The prestigious event, which was held on the Burton Joyce stretch in Nottinghamshire, had competitors and match officials comparing the venue’s impressive current form to that of the river’s match fishing heyday of the mid-1980s, when bumper weights were common.
The Trent fished really well in the RiverFest final
One of them was RiverFest’s chief organiser Dave Harrell, who reluctantly moved the final from the River Severn to the Trent for 2020 – a decision that ultimately proved fruitful.
Dave told us:
“I was a little apprehensive with the venue switch, but the results hammer home just how well the river is fishing for silvers at the moment.
“Roach and dace were caught by pretty much everyone competing, with bream, specimen perch and barbel also making an appearance.
“It reminded me of how prolific the Trent was in the 1980s when the power stations pumped warm water through the river. There then followed a spell in the doldrums when the stations were shut down in the 1990s, but it now looks as though the stocks have well and truly returned to the level of 30 or 40 years ago.
“To sustain a healthy head of fish you need good water quality, so I don’t think the Trent is in as bad a condition as some people seem to think.”
One angler who can vouch for the Trent’s current red-hot form is Nottingham lad Tom Noton, who angled his way into fourth place in the RiverFest final with an overall weight of 39lb 12oz.
He said:
“I’ve match fished the Trent for the past eight years and it’s been absolutely solid. The fish tend to shoal up in certain areas, but if you find them you’re in for a real red-letter day.
“Slightly milder winters over recent years have encouraged silverfish to thrive, which could be another reason why the sport has been so electric.”
Tom Norton’s 20lb 9oz bag of roach, dace and perch on day two
How the RiverFest 2020 title was won
Paul Cannon lifted the 2020 Angling Trust RiverFest crown - and a £14,000 payout - thanks to a two-day 55-7-0 haul on the Trent.
Fished on the river around Burton Joyce, he finished over 12lb clear of Clive Fletcher on 42-2-0, with Darren Frost’s 40-4-0 third.
The Mosella man had the title in the bag with a day to spare after bagging 44-6-0 of bream on the Saturday, but Sunday still turned into a nervy affair with only 11-1-0 to take to the scales, amid rumours about who may or may not have caught him up. It turned out that nobody had.
Paul Cannon lifted the 2020 Angling Trust RiverFest trophy
“I’m chuffed to bits to win and it’s been worth waiting for!” said Paul.
“Even with a good lead after day one I didn’t assume it was in the bag. Trent bream are big fish and I was sure they’d feed on the Sunday, as the river was rising and should have coloured up. It didn’t, though, and not many bream were caught, but when they weigh up to 8lb you don’t need many to put 50lb together.”
Conditions on the Saturday were wet and windy, with a rising river. That, added to a peg that was ideal for bream on day one, made Paul a happy man going to his swim. Five hours and eight bream later, the job seemed more or less done.
Paul with a River Trent bream
“I got peg B37, the end peg on Nelson’s Field near Dead Man’s Bay. Normally on a low river it’s rubbish but when there’s extra water and a bit of colour, the bream show up. It was always going to be a bream job on the feeder and flat float,” he said.
“At the start I made several quick casts on the feeder about a third of the way over to get some bait in and then waited. My first fish came two hours into the match. After than I had a spell of six more, all big ones on three red maggots. The final few hours were slow, though, with only one more fish.
“I didn’t think the match was in the bag. The big danger was that on Sunday, the river was due to rise even more and perhaps colour up. If that happened, there could be massive bream weights from several areas. I wanted to be in one of those for day two.
“I got peg 33 on the road stretch, close to where I won a RiverFest qualifier from last year with 40lb of bream.
“Only 3lb had been caught off the peg the day before, so there was no point in fishing for dace and roach – it’d be a sit-and-wait feeder job. Double figures was the minimum weight I needed to keep ahead of the pack, and two or three bream would do it, so my approach was more or less the same as on the day before – feeder close in and then a flat float line for perch.
“Early on I caught a big skimmer, which helped settle things down, and the flat float gave me a little run of perch, but I still needed a bream or two.
“After that, it was something of a disaster. I had a skimmer come off at the net and was broken on weed by a big bream.
“Patience was important, though, and 30 minutes from the end I was on the phone to my wife, saying it was hard and I was bored rigid. Then the tip dropped back, and I was in! That was a bream of about 6lb and a real tonic. Even so, there were rumours going around that Simon Willsmore was going to catch 30lb-plus, and he might pip me.
“I weighed 11-1-0, so that bream must have been bigger than I thought! That made me feel a lot better, and shortly afterwards I found out Simon had only weighed in 18lb. There didn’t seem to be anyone who could catch me on total weight, and looking back, I didn’t need to fish at all on Sunday as my day one weight would have won overall!”
Paul in action on the Trent
First visit to the venue and a big match win!
There are those who swear that an intimate knowledge of a venue is a must for success, but Lee Kerry showed that’s not always the case by winning the latest Angling Trust RiverFest qualifier on the River Weaver – on his first visit to the North West waterway!
Lee Kerry knows a thing or two about catching bream (Southfield image)
Having booked on at the last minute, Lee weighed in 46-15-12 of bream and skimmers to cruise to victory from Kevin Hall on 25-7-0. Lee was helped by drawing a great peg, but good pegs don’t fish themselves.
“I don’t get the time in summer to fish RiverFest but I saw a few tickets for sale and had heard that the Weaver was fishing well, so fancied a go,” Lee says.
“I drew peg 2 on what’s called the old river, a good swim. It gets pleasure fished a lot, is wide and deep and a known bream area. There was a feeder and a pile of pellets in the peg when I got there, so that told me all I needed to know!”
Picking one line to fish the feeder at 30m, Lee used one as a negative swim with small baits and finely chopped worms through the feeder, the second being more positive with corn, 2mm pellets and rougher chopped worm fed. Kicking off on the negative line, he then moved on to the positive once he felt a few fish were about.
The rig that won
“The opening hour was slow, but I could see some bream rolling so I kept the faith and once I got a bite, things got better and better,” he continues.
“By resting and rotating the swims, I had a great three hours catching around 25 fish before things fizzled out in the last hour. From people walking about, though, it seemed that no-one else was catching that well in the match, but you never know on a river with bream – it’s possible to catch 50lb in an hour!”
Big changes to 2020 RiverFest
Angling Trust officials have just announced that the prestigious two-day RiverFest final will be hosted on a different venue in 2020.
Here are five things you need to know about next year’s event…
The River Trent at Burton Joyce, Nottinghamshire will be the new home of the RiverFest final. The River Severn at Shrewsbury played host over the last two years.
Stoke Lane hugs the river bank at Burton Joyce which allows superb access to swims and behind-your-peg parking.
The final will be fished on the weekend of September 26 and 27 to suite weather conditions. The 2019 final was pushed back several weeks due to intense flooding.
Respected Trent expert Wayne Swinscoe will be working closely with RiverFest creator Dave Harrell to ensure the final’s success.
Anglers participating in the final will be able to catch a diverse mix of species, from gudgeon, bleak, dace and roach through to big bream, barbel and carp.