Long Live Evesham!

With opportunities for individual and team glory in the Warwickshire Avon’s annual festival, how did Sean Ashby fare?

GROWING up in the late-1970s and early ’80s, as an already fishing-addicted kid, the Evesham Angling Festival was like a Holy Grail to me.

I eagerly devoured Match Fishing magazine’s coverage of the August Bank Holiday weekend on the Warwickshire Avon, and dreamed of one day fishing it myself.

The mag’s front cover always had a picture of an Evesham winner. Greats such as Frank Barlow, Jan Porter, Wayne Swinscoe, Bob Nudd, Steve Gardener… the list went on forever.

Eventually, in my 20s, that dream became reality. And my subsequent match career has brought me the privilege of invitation status for Evesham’s individual events for the past 15 years.

Fishing has always been difficult at Evesham. But I’ve always relished the challenge of tough matches on natural venues, combined with a great weekend of socialising with friends old and new. Bring it on!

Bloody dilemma

Evesham weekend’s running order has been shuffled around over the years, but in my opinion the current sequence is the best.

Saturday’s opener is the Wychavon Final, followed on Sunday by the Evesham Individual Championships Final, before Monday’s concluder – the Team Championships. All three are 80 pegs.

Alongside invited anglers, both individual matches also feature locals who qualified from contests on the river earlier in the season.

The use of bloodworm and joker on a river where local clubs ban the baits has long been a controversial topic, with pros and cons on both sides.

The pros? More bites on a low, clear summer river with minimal flow, boosting entertainment for the spectators.

The cons? Putting local anglers unfamiliar with the baits at extra disadvantage over the invited stars. Plus a perception of the baits being very expensive.