IAN SHEPHERD yet again asserted his dominance on proceedings by winning Sunday’s Evesham Festival Wychavon Championship qualifier with a 10-2-0 net.
Drawn on fancied peg six on the Crown Meadow, Shepherd yet again made his favoured hemp approach pay dividends as he weighed in prime Avon roach and included three fish over 1lb in his haul.
Feeding little and often and fishing a light rig on the long pole was the key to his success.
Also on Crown Meadow was runner-up on the day, Mark Newman, who put some quality perch and eels in his net on maggot feeder tactics, before a late switch to bomb and pellet saw him land a 6lb barbel and sneak second spot.
Evesham regular Leigh Gardener took third spot from peg 66 on the Ferry Meadow. He caught quality eels and perch on flatfloat and maggot tactics.
Results: (Evesham Town & Ferry Waters – 60 fished): 1st Ian Shepherd (Daiwa Gordon League) 10-2-0 (peg 6); 2nd Mark Newman 9-14-0 (peg 15); 3rd Leigh Gardener (Shakespeare Superteam) 7-0-0 (peg 66); 4th Andy Johnstone (Tri-Cast Weston Pools Team Wales) 6-4-0 (peg 86); 5th Howard Kaye 6-2-0 (peg 41).
Qualifiers: Dan Jones, Howard Kaye, Leigh Gardener.
ON SATURDAY Shepherd also proved unstoppable as he secured victory in the Evesham Championship qualifier.
Drawn on peg 42 just below the culvert, he caught some perch to start with on a short pole line fed with worms, before moving on to his hemp line, where he enjoyed a good run of fish on seed.
Steve Ashmore finished second on the day from peg 56. Like Shepherd, Ashmore caught mainly roach on hemp on the long pole.
Another regular in the frame, Joe Oakes, took third spot from peg 36. Again, he caught the majority of his fish on hemp. Oakes included a lot of chublets in his catch alongside a smaller stamp of roach though to finish with 5-8-0.
Results: (Evesham Town & Ferry Waters – 65 fished): 1st Ian Shepherd (Daiwa Gordon League) 10-13-0 (peg 42); 2nd Steve Ashmore (Sensas WB Clarke) 6-10-0 (peg 56); 3rd Joe Oakes (Middy) 5-8-0 (peg 36); 4th Kevin Ellaby (Sensas Cardiff Nomads) 5-0-0 (peg 85); 5th Pete Morris (Sensas WB Clarke) 4-10-0 (peg 86).
Qualifiers: Steve Pallett, Joe Oakes, Kevin Ellaby.
IN ONE of the best matches in recent years, last Wednesday’s Wychavon Championship qualifier saw a remarkable 15lb required to make the top three.
Top on the day was Shakespeare Superteam ace Tony Marshall. Drawn on peg 19, he put 6lb of perch in the net on a short pole, before going long on the hemp and catching quality roach for a 15-15-0 total.
Very different tactics were used to account for Mark Newman’s 15-14-0 net from unfancied peg 33. Newman decided to base his approach solely around fishing the maggot feeder, managing several small perch and eels, then topping his net up nicely with an 11-12-0 barbell.
Shephard finished in third place from peg seven. Again, he fished his trusty hemp approach, catching lots of dumpy fish and the occasional bigger roach for his weight.
Another remarkable net of fish was caught by Steve Pallett on peg 80. He caught 10-9-0 – made up entirely of small perch on whip tactics – a brilliant net of fish.
Results: (Evesham Town & Ferry Waters – 48 fished): 1st Tony Marshall (Shakespeare Superteam) 15-15-0 (peg 19); 2nd Mark Newman 15-4-0 (peg 33); 3rd Ian Shepherd (Daiwa Gordon League) 15-1-0 (peg 7); 4th Lee Edwards (Garbolino/ ABC) 11-1-0 (peg 15); 5th Steve Pallett 10-9-0 (peg 80).
Qualifiers: Tony Marshall, Rob Wootton.