Today saw the final rounds of qualifiers for the Renwick Rose Bowl. 

20 anglers were at Branston Golf Course and a further 10 at Catton, both stretchs of the River Trent within the Burton Mutual License.

with a space becoming available at the last minute co event organiser Gary Rodgers even fished it. Now this guy although very easy on the eye resembles a walking planet, as grumpy as he is fat, he has been well known to bring many a full grown matchman to tears with his my way or the highway attitude, disliked by thousands it is said he thrives on the grumbles and moans carried by the wind at matches from the anglers moaning about their pegs.

However the big question on everyone’s lips was how on earth he was expecting a platform to hold his weight in the river. After a call around the local area a local scaffolding firm kindly came out and put up some industrial strength poles to hold the massive weight and all was ok with the world.

Back to the matches themselves, Branston first- Whilst the weather was dry it was somewhat bright, this was a concern for some of the anglers as its far from ideal when fishing for silvers on the river.

Many opted for the waggler and stick float approach, with a few Anglers casting a feeder to the far bank. There were also a few Anglers that decided to fish the long pole over Groundbait as this can be a very effective way to catch a good net of silvers on this stretch.

Co event organiser Neil Lawrence walked the banks of both Catton and Branston doing live feeds and making sure everyone was ok, whilst everyone appreciated his kind intentions, not one person had any idea what he was saying as he had unfortunately forgot to bring a translator. With only the odd word being able to be picked up with the occasional Babb thrown in here and there, it was just a case of smiling and nodding at the poor bloke in the hope he would just move onto the next poor angler and aim his indecipherable ramblings at them.

At the weigh in Dave Petch has dropped 13lb 14oz on the scales for the overall match win but more importantly the section win gaining him a spot in the final on the 12 September.

Other section winners at Branston and joining Dave in the final were:

Burtons golden son Steve Tivey with 8lb 6oz

Cadence back superstar and generally all round nice bloke James Robbins with 10lb 2 oz

Finally a horrible man that should have been disqualified (only because he beat me for the section by 5oz lol) Robert Quinn with 9lb 15oz.

At the Catton match, the approach was more of a stick and waggler day with many hoping that the bigger fish such as the chub, would make an appearance there.

Unfortunately this was not the case with only the smaller fish wanted to feed. The owner of Catton also graced the banks, a really nice chap and also a keen anger himself. It really is a credit to his family that have resided in Catton Hall for many many years just how beautiful this stretch is. We also managed to negotiate the permanent placement of 20 pegs there for the future, so watch this space.

The Match at Catton was won by Ian Saiger with 7lb 8oz, also winning him a palce in the final.

The last spot of the overall competition went to Paul Chapman aka Pablo escabar Luap with 6lb 6oz.

To finish the day off we all went to the pub to regale each other on loves lost and the fish that get away.

Bmaa says: Neil and myself have been utterly blown away by the support this competition has generated in its first year. The Rosebowl has not seen the light od day for well over 20 years so to have such a great show of interest in its first year back is very touching.

The final is promising day, with some of the countries top river anglers having qualified we truly can not wait for the 12th of September.

We would also like to thank Steve Tivey for the use of the cricket club for allowing us to use the club for the draws and results, also for providing us with delicious beer.