Silsden’s Steve Newns is eyeing a £10,000 jackpot after qualifying for a big national final.

The 52-year-old (pictured) made it through a regional round of the inaugural Angling Trust Riverfest at Mirfield and is now targeting the first prize in the showpiece at Hereford on November 2-3.

With four-figure cash sums also on offer for the next four places, the stakes will be high when qualifiers from the other 19 rounds do battle in the two-day final on the River Wye.

Newns said: “This is massive for amateur fishing and especially river fishing. We’ve never had anything like this before and it was a great idea to set it up in the first place.

“It’s a huge amount of money for us to win and something that I’ve never seen before in river fishing.

“It really is like professional money and it’s given river fishing the boost that’s needed.

“It was only thought out in March, so there’s been a great snowball effect for it to come out so quickly now.”

Newns’ qualifying round was meant to be held at the River Calder in Mirfield but bad weather meant it was moved on to the canal.

He made it through courtesy of winning his zone with a 4lb 3oz net – finishing just one ounce clear of the runner-up. The key to his success was a 2lb perch caught in the margins using worm bait.

The Ripon Piscatorial Association member said: “Qualifying was a weird day for everyone involved really. We all turned up and the weather was atrocious and the river was flooded.

“Everyone thought that it was cancelled but we were told that it was going to be moved to the canal and luckily I qualified.”

Newns, who is sponsored by Keighley-based KL Tackle, now fancies his chances of success in the final.

He said: “It’s going to be really competitive but I’d like to think that I’ve got a reasonable chance of winning like the majority.

“I’ve got great experience in river fishing and I’ve fished there about 15 to 20 times, so I’d like to think I’ve got a decent shot of winning some decent money.”