As announced in March last year, the results of the Lower Itchen qualifier (November 2019) and the Wherwell, R. Test qualifier (February 2020) will both stand, with qualifying competitors fishing the Rivers National Final next year in 2022.

In addition, there will be new series of River Qualifiers, with qualifying competitors also taking part in the 2022 Rivers National next year.

For any queries regarding the AT TEFF Rivers Qualifiers please contact the coordinator Peter Scholes – 07523 121 494.

Matches will be fished to full international rules and AT TEFF River Qualifier scoring system. Measure, Catch & Release basis. Only in season fish 20cm and above will be eligible for measuring / scoring / awarding fish points.

Entrants will be split into 2 groups:

• Morning group fishing am & controlling pm.
• Afternoon group fishing pm & controlling am.

The Qualifiers kick off on the Lower Itchen in October 2021, details below:

October 2021

Sunday 10th October – South East FF Federation – Lower Itchen fishery (Official Practice: Saturday 9th October) – Organiser: Tony Fox – Overall Results: 1. Gillaum Vermeulen 2. Cameron Craigs 3. Gavin Walsh 4. Mike Heritage 5. Daniel Price 6. Trevor Hayman

Andrew Smith reports: “The decision to run this match just after the closure of the trout season paid off, as we saw the Lower Itchen fishery in fine form with excellent water clarity and pleasant weather.
Grayling were well spread throughout the river, with plenty still in shallow riffles. Only a single day’s coarse fishing had taken place, so it seems the fish had not become preoccupied with a maggot diet. All age groups of grayling were evident, with a good number of 40cm plus specimens.  
Fish were caught on a variety of methods. The rod averages for the morning and afternoon sessions were over 19 and 15 fish, which shows the quality of the fishing.”

Full Results:

November 2021

[Sunday 28th November – River Wear – Cancelled]

January 2022

Sunday 23rd January –  River Dee – Overall Results: 1. Simon Caddy 2. Kevin Moran 3. Simon Clarke 4. Richard Baxendale 5. Stan Moore 6. Brian Lillie

Full Results:

March 2022

Sunday 6th March – River Dee – Overall Results: 1. Chris Richardson 2. David Bradley 3. Richard Baxendale 4. Stan Moore 5. Andy Taylor 6. Pete Scholes

Full Results:

[Sunday 27th March – River Dee – Cancelled]

April 2022

Sunday 10th April  – River Ure, Wensley – Overall Results: 1. Peter Crowe 2. Dan Scott Paul 3. Graham Kennerley 4. Philip Shaw-Browne 5= Anthony McKenna 5= Chris Richardson

Full Results:

Organiser Paul Page reports: “It was an early start for all, meeting up (and returning at the end for results etc) at the Three Horseshoes Inn in Wensley, in the heart of Wensleydale. The Qualifier was centred around Lords Bridge on the Bolton Hall Estate, which gives magnificent views of the river and Bolton Hall, especially on Sunday when it was bathed in bright mid-day sunshine. Wednesday’s rainfall over the Howgills put a welcome metre of water on the river level on Thursday, which by Sunday had fined down to a nice pace and level for the Qualifier. Despite the flush of fresh water, the fishing was challenging. Being a trout-only competition, the abundant grayling were to play no part, and the trout were being their usual early-season elusive selves.

The morning session on the Wensley beat, downstream from Lords Bridge, was greeted with an overnight frost and bright sunshine. However, Peter Crowe managed to measure six brown trout between 29cms and 35cms to win the morning session, with Graham Kennerley coming a close second with four trout. The seven anglers who fished the morning session caught a total of twelve trout between them.

After swapping over from controlling to fishing, and changing partners, eight anglers competed in the afternoon session upstream of Lords Bridge on the Bolton Hall beat. Conditions had changed after lunch, with the weather becoming overcast and a significant drop in temperature. More competitors caught trout, but to a lower overall total of eight. Dan Scott Paul won the afternoon session with three fish, the biggest being the largest caught during the day, a superbly conditioned 40cms brown. Second place in the afternoon went to Phil Shaw-Browne, where his 39cms trout, caught on a dry, gave him the edge.

Peter Crowe said he didn’t get much chance for a proper practice, but when walking the river on Sunday he identified a couple of spots where he fancied his chances to fish if drawn in the morning. Fishing with small black flies did the trick.

Dan Scott Paul said it was very tough on the upper beat, a fight for every fish. The Duo brought him two fish, with the 40cms fish on a Pheasant Tail nymph, while his third fish took a Taddy. He thought it was a wonderful setting.

Paul Page, the event organiser, said that the early April Ure Qualifier was always a challenge as the grayling are out of season. But whilst the conditions were ideal there was little fly life to be seen. However, Peter with his six fish showed that if you had the right tactics and read the river well there were trout to be caught. Wensleydale, and the Ure, are a stunning place to fish, and our thanks go to Lord Bolton for giving us access to his estate’s fishery.”

May 2022

Sunday 15th May – Overall Results: 1. Paul Fairhurst 2. Carl Nixon 3. Brian Lillie 4. Nick Craigs 5. Pete Scholes

Full Results:

Report: The final qualifier on the River Wear 15th May, the last chance before the AT TEFF Rivers National on Upper Tees: 3rd & 4th September 2022. Ooh, how hard the River Wear fished too, the AM session fished a little better with every angler recording a measurable trout, whilst the PM session proved to much harder with only one angler finding a fish big enough to count.
Talk in the pre-match meeting was the river looked in great condition, but a lack of water had made the trout harder to tempt. As the day panned out, finding trout over 20cms in length was quite difficult, as was getting past the ravenously feeding grayling.
Well done to the guys who qualified in such taxing conditions, super performance.
Highlight of the day was an enormous trout of 60cms landed by Brian Lillie, “Well played and landed Brian” This monster fish was pushing 5lbs and in good condition.

Final – Saturday 3rd-Sunday 4th September 2022, River Tees

2019-2020/2021-2022 River Qualifiers – Entries, Results & Allocation

NB: AT TEFF matches now have an AT membership requirement. If you need to renew or sign up please visit www.anglingtrust.net/membership or call 0343 5077 006 (option 1).