The EPP is the Elite Performance Programme, which is a competitive fly fishing programme established in 2018 in order to develop elite anglers and provide a framework for selections teams to represent England in World, European and now 5 Nation Championships.
Who runs the EPP?
For the 2022 programme the official is Scott Nellins, however assistance is requested to peg river sections.
The programme is supported by staff at the Angling Trust (AT) and Team England Fly Fishers (TEFF).
What is the timeframe for EPP?
The Elite Performance Programme will run between June 2022 and September 2022, running over 7 days (2 x 2 days and 1 x 3 day).
What is the format of the EPP?
The programme will have 16 places available and is based on 4 events
The venues and dates for these qualifiers are now available – please click the link ‘Match Calendar’ on the right side of this screen.
The AT TEFF Executive has worked hard to minimise entry costs to anglers and will be reducing entry fees to just £27.50. We are also working hard to negotiate favourable prices with all the fisheries.
If you have any questions relating to these qualifiers please contact me by email. Ian ian.colclough@gmail.com AT TEFF
April 2022
Friday 15th April – AT TEFF Loch-style Qualifier, Grafham
Results: 1st Mark Macleod 2nd Mark Rose 3rd Tony Curtis 4th David Currie 5th Kevin Glenn 6th Paul Wild 7th Robert Middleton 8th John Pearn 9th Frank Sumnall 10th Jake Wenman 11th Pablo Mullings 12th Simon Clarke
Sunday 24th April – AT TEFF Loch-style Qualifier, Blagdon
Results: 1st Dale Burgess 2nd John Horsey 3rd Paul Golding 4th Dave Reynolds 5th Andy Stones 6th Mark Miles 7th John Piper 8th Ron Howard 9th Tony Baldwin 10th Gary Morris
May 2022
Sunday 8th May – AT TEFF Loch-style Qualifier, Carsington
Results: 1st Richard Hood 2nd Sean Porter 3rd John Brown 4th John Henshall 5th Daniel Tranter 6th Andrew Axon 7th Tony Smith 8th Bruce Blackshaw 9th Graeme Bell 10th Neil Thomas 11th Simon Caddy 12th Nick Donald
Sunday 15th May – AT TEFF Loch-style Qualifier, Bewl
Results: 1st Philip Thompson 2nd Richard Denney 3rd Jake Martin 4th Baz Reece
Sunday 15th May – AT TEFF Loch-style Qualifier, Draycote
Results: 1st Nick Donald 2nd Andy Campbell 3rd Warren Langridge 4th Lee Cartmail 5th Graham Willis 6th Anthony Roy Fox 7th Rob Allan 8th Sam Smith 9th Sean Hanlon 10th Lee Patten 11th Peter Elliott 12th Paul Cramp 13th Mark Parsley 14th Graham Currie
Sunday 22nd May – AT TEFF Loch-style Qualifier, Rutland – entries open 18th April
June 2022
Friday 3rd June – AT TEFF Loch-style Qualifier, Blithfield – entries open 9th May Sunday 19th June – AT TEFF Loch-style Qualifier, Chew – entries open 16th May
July 2022
Saturday 9th July – AT TEFF Official Loch-style Repechage Practice, Draycote (book directly with fishery) Sunday 10th July – AT TEFF Loch-style Repechage, Draycote – invitations will be sent out around22nd June
September 2022
Thursday 8th – Friday 9th September – AT TEFF Official Loch-style National Practice, Draycote (book directly with fishery. Note that you must fish with another qualifier on 9th) Saturday 10th – Sunday 11th September – AT TEFF Loch-style National, Draycote (by qualification) – invitations will be sent out on 1st August
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.”
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
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.
Bernie Maher
Prize-giver Tom Hunt
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.
Phil Shaw-Browne
Dan Scott Paul playing the largest fish
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
Overall Results: 1. Paul Fairhurst 2. Carl Nixon 3. Brian Lillie 4. Nick Craigs 5. Pete Scholes
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).
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The Angling Trust reports: We are delighted to announce the appointment of Steve Fitzpatrick as the new Head of Competitions at the Angling Trust.
Steve (48) joins the Senior Management Team following a 25-year career with Bauer Media’s angling portfolio where he was lately Editor-in-Chief, having stepped down earlier this year as Angling Times’ longest-serving member of staff and Editor.
Angling Trust CEO Jamie Cook described Steve as the “right person to take our competitions offering across sea, game and coarse to the next level.”
During his time at Bauer, Steve edited Match Angling Plus magazine and led the teams on Improve Your Coarse Fishing, Sea Angler, Trout & Salmon, and Trout Fisherman print titles along with their websites, video production, and social media channels.
A passionate match angler, sea fisherman and carper, Steve brings a wealth of experience from all sides of the angling industry, with experience of running a tackle shop while studying at the University of Liverpool where he completed a Master of Science Degree in Environmental Biology.
As Head of Competitions, Steve will lead the strategy and development of competition angling across all disciplines, ensuring gold-standard events are delivered both now and in the future. He will also play a leading role in driving the success of the England teams on the World and European stages.
“When the opportunity arose to work with the competitions side of the Angling Trust, I knew it would be a perfect fit,” Steve said.
“My most enjoyable role on Angling Times was as the title’s Match Editor and this saw me covering events from small club matches to National Championships and World Championships, travelling all over Europe with the England teams.
“I’m also proud to have launched and run the Clubman Supercup and Maver Pairs events and worked closely with the team in organising the Angling Times Team Championships (Winter League) for many years.
“This is an exciting new role and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to help shape the present and future gold-standard domestic events managed by a superb team at the Angling Trust and deliver competitions for every level of match angler from grassroots right up to the elite levels.
“I’ll be working hard with all the England teams and managers to ensure we not only bring home gold medals, but also host a World event on English soil within the next few years.”
Steve will take up his position in mid-April and will report directly to Jamie Cook.
Jamie said: “Competitions are a key part of what we do as the National Governing Body and in Steve I am confident we have found the right person to take our offering across sea, game and coarse to the next level.
“As a not-for-profit organisation our commitment is to invest back into promoting, protecting and developing angling at all levels. Steve’s appointment builds upon the work we have done for our customers and members in the competitions sphere over the past two years and will provide greater focus on developing the Team England brand to deliver international success at the highest level.”
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As well as accessing the AT TEFF Match Calendar via the link on the top right, you can now download the full Angling Trust Game Competitions Calendar for 2022, including all current Angling Trust, AT TEFF, EYF, ELFF – Domestic, Home Nations (Home Internationals) and FIPS-Mouche – European & World events. (see link below)
This is their current programme and will be updated as the season progresses for all disciplines.
Note: The ‘AT TEFF Rivers National’ events on the 23rd January – R.Dee, 20th February – R.Dee, 10th April – R.Ure & 15th May – R.Wear are actually AT TEFF Rivers Qualifiers. The AT TEFF Rivers National Final is scheduled for 3rd-4th September on the R.Tees.
As you might have seen, the first ever Team England Fly Fishing email newsletter is now out. Its purpose is to engage with those that enter Team England Fly Fishing events, be that loch-style, rivers or bank competitions at national or international level.
For some time anglers have been saying that they struggle to get the latest information on what TEFF is doing, so the TEFF Executive has decided that the best way to engage with its entrants is by direct email, though much of what is in this newsletter is also here on this website.
Please spread the word, and encourage others to sign up, via the ‘TEFF Newsletter – Click To Sign Up’ panel on the right.
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The Angling Trust states:‘Keep us fishing’ is the Christmas message to Government ministers from the Angling Trust following the refusal of the Health Secretary, Saijid Javid, to rule out further Covid restrictions or even a fourth lockdown as is occurring right now in parts of Europe.
Angling Trust CEO Jamie Cook has written to senior members of the Government, including Michael Gove and the Secretaries of State for Environment, the Cabinet Office and Culture, Media and Sport, to remind them of how angling continued successfully and safely through the last two lockdowns and to press for similar treatment should new restrictions be introduced.
Speaking to the BBC on Sunday morning, the Health Secretary made clear that he did not rule out new coronavirus measures before Christmas – saying there are “no guarantees” in the pandemic.
In his letter to ministers, Jamie Cook said of previous lockdowns:“We were pleased that the Government agreed to permit and encourage individual outdoor recreation to continue so that those who were initially restricted in the first lockdown could once again participate in individual, socially distanced outdoor recreational activity. This delivered huge benefits to those whose recreation is not narrowly confined to running, walking or cycling. Experience has shown that socially distanced outdoor recreation such as angling is a safe and responsible activity and that its continuation does not contribute to the spread of infection.”
He added: “Whatever decisions you have to make in the coming weeks we urge you to allow angling to continue for all the reasons set out above and in the attached report. We stand ready to guide our sport through these difficult times in a safe and responsible manner as we have done throughout.”
Back in February, as the government prepared its stepped approach to easing lockdown provisions, the Angling Trust submitted it’s ‘Fishing out of Lockdown’ paper outlining the advantages of keeping people engaged in angling and the measures that were taken to keep people safe and to ensure that our sport delivers economic and social benefits and makes a significant contribution to improving mental health outcomes.
The paper, which has been resubmitted to ministers, outlines other reasons for permitting angling to continue including:
a largely solitary sport where social distancing occurs naturally
proven benefits for mental health and physical well-being
appealing to people of all ages and backgrounds
evidence that non-contact outdoor activities will not increase infection rates
a reduction in pressure on other public open spaces
Martin Salter, Head of Policy at the Angling Trust said:“Angling has proved both popular and beneficial throughout this dreadful pandemic with more people getting closer to nature and enjoying a safe, healthy and naturally socially distanced activity within Covid secure guidelines. While other sports like golf were locked down, anglers were able to get out in the open air presenting no risk to themselves or anyone else. The Angling Trust is determined to do what we can to ensure that this remains the case through the difficult period that lies ahead.”
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Our right to fish is under serious threat. Little by little our right is being eroded. What are you going to do when you can no longer go fishing, play Tiddlywinks?
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