For the second year running quality roach rather than bream provided the winning catches in the annual
40-peg contest fished on the tidal Thames at Kew, Chiswick, and Barnes.

The winner was Tony Rice with a float caught mixed bag from Barnes netting him a cool £400. ]

The Chiswick zone was won by last year’s champion Mark Brush with 12lbs of roach including a magnificent specimen of 2.04.

The big bream shoals failed to show at Kew resulting in much lower than usual weights although a couple of surprise sea trout were landed.

Zones
Kew A – Martin Smith 6.08
Kew B – Tom Bolton 5.00
Chiswick – C – Mark Brush 12.00
Barnes – D – Tony Rice 14.00 (pictured)

Other activities included kayaking, paddle boarding, river dipping, and Seine netting, which turned up big numbers of small bass, flounders, and coarse fish.

The match was organised by the Angling Trust and Tidefest is sponsored by Thames Water