2022-2023 Rivers Qualifiers

Qualification for the 2022-23 National Final will be from four qualifying matches run nationally on the Rivers Itchen, Dee, Ure & Wear, starting in October 2022 and running into Spring 2023.

Thirty-two places will be available at the National Final, which will be fished on the 2nd-3rd Sept 2023, on the Upper Tees, Northumberland.

Ticket links will be available from the links below and updated as the season continues. For any queries regarding the AT TEFF Rivers National please contact the coordinator Peter Scholes – 07523 121 494.

Matches will be fished to full international rules and the AT TEFF River Qualifier scoring system, to a Measure, Catch and Release basis. Only in season fish, 20cms 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.

Entries open: See individual qualifiers

Entries close: See individual qualifiers

Entry Fee: £30 + fishing fee (please check individual Qualifiers to see if fee is payable on the day or in advance)

October 2022

Sunday 16th October – South East FF Federation – Lower Itchen fishery (Official Practice: Saturday 15th October) – Limited to 26 competitors – Organiser: Tony Fox

Results: 1. Jim Dillon 2. Cameron Craigs 3. Mike Heritage 4. Baz Reece 5. Julian Erbsloeh 6. Harry Chance 7. Trevor Hayman 8. Alex Adams

November 2022

Sunday 20th November – River Dee, Llangollen – HQ: The Hand Hotel, Bridge Street, Llangollen, LL20 8PL

Results: 1. Phil Dixon 2. Gary Hedges 3. Pete Buckey 4. Simon Caddy 5. Simon Clarke 6. Carl Nixon 7. Mike Dixon 8. Kevin Moran

April 2023

Sunday 16th April – River Ure, Wensley, Wensleydale, North Yorkshire – 9.00am-5.30pm – HQ: Three Horseshoes, Wensley, Leyburn, N Yorkshire DL8 4HJ. am fishing Wensley Beat; pm fishing Bolton Hall Beat

Results: 1. Chris Richardson 2. Peter Crowe 3. Gavin Walsh 4. Stan Moore 5. Keith McAdam 6. Bria Lillie 7. Mike Chris Micallef 8. Paul Fairhurst

Paul Page reports: Once again, the Qualifier was centred around Lords Bridge on the Bolton Hall Estate in Wensleydale, which gives magnificent views of Wensleydale, the River Ure, and both Bolton Castle and Bolton Hall. Despite the poor weather mid-week, which saw the river rise drastically, the weekend was fine and sunny with at last some decent warm spring weekend weather.
Tuesday’s rainfall over the Howgills put a welcome metre of water on the river level on Wednesday, which by Sunday had fined down to a nice pace and level for the Qualifier.
The 16 qualifier entrants met up at the Three Horseshoes inn at Wensley to pair up with their controllers. 8 fished the morning session and the other 8 fished the afternoon session.

The morning session’s 09:00 start on the Wensley Beat downstream from Lords Bridge was greeted with a warm misty start, which once burned off by the sun, set the weather fair with regular hatches of grannom sedges. Peter Crowe won the morning session with 5 trout between 26cms and 36cms, Gavin Walsh coming a close second with 4 trout, Brian Lillie third with 3 trout, and Paul Fairhurst fourth with 2 trout, the largest of which was a magnificent 45cms, the largest fish of the day. The 8 anglers who fished the morning session caught a total of 19 trout between them.
After swapping over from controlling to fishing, and changing partners, 8 anglers competed in the afternoon session upstream of Lords Bridge on the Bolton Hall Beat.

The afternoon session’s 14:00 start on the Bolton Hall Beat upstream from Lords Bridge was slightly breezier with the temperature dropping as the session progressed. The regular hatches of grannom in the morning disappeared. However, Chris Richardson, who ventured up to the top of the beat, found accommodating trout and won the afternoon session with 7 trout ranging between 20cms and 33cms. Stan Moore came second with 3 trout, the largest of 42.2cms being the biggest in the afternoon session. Keith McAdam came third with 3 trout and Chris Micallef fourth with 2 trout. The 8 anglers who fished the afternoon session caught a total of 17 trout between them.
Paul Page, the event organiser, said that the early April Ure Qualifier was always a challenge as the grayling are out of season. Once the mist lifted in the morning there were abundant sedge hatches on the Wensley beat, however as the day progressed the cool breeze in the afternoon changed things. However, both Peter in the morning and Chris in the afternoon proved 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 if you were lucky enough on Sunday you might have seen the first of the now resident ospreys to return to the estate. Our thanks go to the Bolton Castle Estate for giving us access to the estate’s fishery and to Tom Orde-Powlett for their continuing support.

May 2023

Sunday 21st May – River Wear – HQ: Jubilee Bridge Car Park, DL15 0DJ – Fishing Times: Morning group 9.00 am – 1.00 pm/Afternoon group 2.30 pm – 6.30 pm – Briefing: 8.00 am

Results: 1. Andrew Sowerby 2. Karl Watson 3. Anthony McKenna 4=Pete Scholes 4=Tom Hunt 6. Daniel Williams 7. Nick Craigs