Drennan Oxford’s Dean Barlow won the 72 peg Wychavon Championship on the Avon at Evesham for a second time thanks to a bold tactical move at noted chub peg 35 on the Isbourne mouth.

“The Evesham bank holiday weekend festival is always one of my favourite match fishing events of the year. Since 1978 I have been going, and I have fond memories of sitting behind my dad and also watching all of the stars.
These days it’s a little different. With the water being very clear and with no bloodworm or joker to use for the first two days, it was always going to be a hard work, so a good draw was needed.”

“I started on a size 18 hook to 0.10 line but couldn’t get a bite. I know chub live there, so I decided to scale down to lighter gear and it all came good using a size 22 Kamasan B520 to 0.09 Supplex Fluorocarbon beneath a 3AAA Peacock Waggler,” said Dean.

He ended up catching four good chub and a couple of smaller ones from the waggler line which, combined with a few perch on the pole, gave him 8lb 4oz for a narrow victory over Dorking’s Lee Edwards on 7lb 14oz.