58 Fished
Hopes were high with the river having been fishing well in previous weeks due to touch of extra water and colour. Unfortunately this colour had gone and with a large tide expected any remaining would soon disappear. All anglers were hoping for a draw at Torksey due to the large number of skimmers and hybrids present and the possibility of latching into some of the resident barbel that so often make up the weights on this stretch. Surprisingly though the winner was to come from South Clifton peg 2 in the shape of a 20 lb 11 oz catch of big skimmers and 1 bonus 5 lb bream. The man to book his place in the prestigious final was venue regular and top rod John Urruty (Radcliffe on Trent AS). John opted to go against the grain and fish the groundbait feeder at just 20 turns where there is a deep hole. The majority of anglers tend to target the bream at long distance, but by fishing so close John effectively gave himself an end peg and this paid off as 7 skimmers to 2 lb 8 oz plus a late 5 lb bream came to his net.
As expected Torksey made up the rest of the framing weights and top rod Steve Lowther (Daiwa Dons) made no mistakes from his draw at 23, this is a noted barbel area and fish are regularly caught into double figures, but these pegs are notoriously snaggy and make it very difficult to get any barbel hooked landed. Steve decided to set his stall for the many hybrids and skimmers that can be much more easily extracted from the peg and this resulted in a 18 lb 7 oz catch that was enough to win the zone and place him second in the match. These all came to the groundbait feeder with maggot as hookbait.
Third on the day was John Summerson (Garbolino RAF) on peg 13 Torksey. John fished similar tactics to the winner and ended the day with 16 lb 12 oz of hybrids and skimmers plus a bonus
2 lb barbel. Unfortunately a number of hook pulls from hybrids cost John from making it through to the November final.
The winner of the zone at North Clifton and booking his place in the final was Regular Tidal Trent angler Steve Edson (Leeds). Steve was drawn at peg 2 which is a noted peg for big fish, but as with many of the pegs where these can be caught they are usually extremely snaggy and this is true of here. There is a sunken island in the peg and most of the time you need to cast into the deep channel past the island in order to catch. This makes it very difficult to get hooked fish past the shelf of the island. Steve did manage to get two fish out with one a 2 lb skimmer and the other a very welcome carp of nearly 10 lb, but he lost another carp in the later stages of the qualifier to give steve a final weight of 11 lb 10 oz.
Results
1st John Urruty (Radcliffe On Trent) 2 South Clifton 20 lb 11 oz
2nd Steve Lowther (Diawa Dons) 23 Torksey 18 lb 7 oz
3rd John Summerson (Garbolino RAF) 13 Torksey 16 lb 12 oz
4th Al Dyer (Garbolino Harrisons Lincs County) 19 Torksey 15 lb
Qualifier winners to the grand final 16th/17th November 2013 at the River Wye, Hereford
(South Clifton) John Urruty 20 lb 12 oz
(North Clifton) Steve Edson 11 lb 10 oz
(Torksey) Steve Lowther 18 lb 7oz
