Angling Trust Team England Fly Fishing

The final lot of the Loch-style Qualifiers are now live on the booking site:

Carsington Water – 23rd June 2019 (tickets close 16th June 23:59)
Stocks 2 – 30th June 2019 (tickets close 23rd June 23:59)
Rutland Water – 7th July 2019 (tickets close 1st July 23:59)

Enter via the Angling Trust’s dedicated entry site at:

https://www.anglingtrustevents.net/game

AT TEFF Loch-style heats – WARNING

Would all entrants please be aware that they can only enter one heat at a time up to a maximum of 3 entries. This means you can only enter a second heat after fishing the first and not qualifying, or a third heat after not qualifying at heats 1 or 2.

Risk Assessment for all venues:

ATTEFF – Risk Assessment – all venues 2019

Dates and Venues doc via Google Drive:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zSP0QmFLel22n4LKjFn6cOoz38zo2-X06ZEH57tFi-w/edit?usp=sharing

Guidance Notes / Rules / FAQs:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AvACE0NYd8olyz9kvY03EWVHRo18UjX7AbMQBzejMPE/edit?usp=sharing

Match Calendar:

https://teamup.com/ksnfwcahs2gmkhosry

Please note that all dates are now confirmed.

Stocks – 21st April – Results: 1. Ben Race 2. Neil Hodgson 3. Andy Campbell 4. Mark Howard 5. Ian Gaskell 6. Derek Moore 7. Peter Crowe (through to National Final) 8. John Brown 9. Stan Moore 10. Matt Nuttall 11. Paul Runec 12. Ben Fox 13. Robert Shaw 14. Stephen Smalley (invited to Repechage) 28 competed 291 fish 10.39 average

Blagdon – 21st April – Results: 1. Gary Morris 2. Dave Reynolds 3. Mark Miles 4. Tony Baldwin 5. Mark Haycock 6. David Bromley 7. Niki Long 8. Nicholas Tompkins 9. Terry Phillips 10. John Pearn 11. Martin Barrett 12. Paul Sweatman (through to National Final) 13. Andrew Haskins 14. Gary Haskins 15. Mark Withyman 16. Paul Roach 17. Julian Curry 18. Malcom Hunt 19. Paddy Mounter 20. Mark Stevens 21. Yousef Dar 22. David Minall 23. Julian Weddle 24. Vince Howley (invited to Repechage)

Grafham – 3rd May – Results: 1. Mark Thomas 2. Kim Green 3. Pablo Mullings 4. Tony Curtis 5. Lloyd Thompson 6. Tim Joyce 7. Frank Sumnall 8. Peter Elliott 9. Edward Foster 10. Mark Rose 11. Anthony Meadows 12. Richard Slater 13. Sean Hanlon (through to National Final) 14. Eric Caisley 15. David Eames 16. Gary How 17. Thomas Davis 18. Paul Tweddle 19. Leigh Pond 20. Richard Denney 21. Ryan Feber 22. Sam Bailey 23. John Hardy 24. Graham Willis 25. John Hancock 26. Andrew Taylor (invited to Repechage)

Eyebrook – 19th May – Results: 1. Ed Smith 2. Steven Cullen 3. Martin Introna (through to National Final) 4. Charlie Abrahams 5. Jonathan Wood 6. Alexander Urquhart (invited to Repechage)

Chew – 19th May – Results: 1. John Horsey 2. Tim Wellman 3. Malcom Hunt 4. Paul Roach 5. Andrew Haskins 6. Gary Haskins 7. Rob Allen (through to National Final) 8. Graham Currie 9. Mark Withyman 10. Martin Burgess 11. Matt Kingdon 12. Alan Williams 13. Mark Stevens 14. John Gumbleton (invited to Repechage)

Blithfield – 24th May – Results: 1. Craig Barr 2. Jay Curry 3. Andy G Taylor 4. David Currie 5. Alexander Johnstone 6. David Johns 7. Robert Wheeldon 8. Paul Angell 9. John Piper (through to National Final) 10. Gary Wright 11. Tony Smith 12. Simon Caddy 13. Tim Gilchrist 14. Sam Bailey 15. Ian Colclough 16. Bill Rankin 17. Nicholas Tompkins 18. John Hood (invited to Repechage)

Bewl – 9th June – Results: 1. John Hancock 2. Philip Thompson 3. Ian Watts 4. Joel Beeney (through to National Final) 5. Baz Reece 6. Michael Heritage 7. Paul Canning 8. Simon Bosher (invited to Repechage)

Carsington – 23rd June – Results: 1. Dom Sheratte 2. Sam Bailey 3. Iain Barr 4. Andy Axon 5. Phil Shaw-Browne 6. Martin Burgess 7. Martin Griffiths 8. Leigh Pond (through to National Final) 9. Paul Runec 10. Andrew Esplin 11. Richard Hood 12. Chris Guthrie 13. Gareth Tilley 14. John Humphrey 15. Nick Donald 16. Tim Gilchrist (invited to Repechage) Full Results: IMG_20190624_121233 Match Report: Carsington Qualifier Report

Stocks – 30th June – Results: 1. Ryan Feber 2. Ben Dobson 3. Shaun Gaskell 4. Simon Gaines (through to National Final) 5. Warren Langridge 6. Bruce Blackshaw 7. Stephen Griffith 8. Neil Heath (invited to Repechage) 18 competed 114 fish 6.33 average Full Results: 64304013_905056739848454_9040567688887271424_n Match Report: Stocks Qualifier Report

Rutland – 7th July – Results: 1. John Humphry 2. Ashley Davies 3. Eamonn Mounter 4. Andy Cottam 5. Ben Watson 6. Michael Heritage 7. Thomas Finney 8. Charlie Abrahams 9. Yousef Dar 10. Graham Willis (through to National Final) 11. Norman Rushton 12. Dave Porter 13. David Newing 14. Lee Patten 15. Mark Macleod 16. Paul Calvert 17. Daniel Tranter 18. Tez Livin 19. Bart Farmer 20. Eric Caisley  (invited to Repechage) 42 competed 175 fish 4.2 average Full Results: TEFF Loch Style 2019 – Rutland Heat Results Match Report: Rutland Qualifier Report

Draycote (repechage) – 21st July

National Final: Chew Valley – 28th-29th September

Any queries contact Ian Colclough on 07751603031

Country: IRELAND

Venue: River Agivey

Dates: 3rd to 6th July (incl.)

Match date: Friday 5th July

Accommodation: The Bushtown Hotel, Coleraine

The Rivers International team flew and drove to Northern Ireland on Sunday to fish the River Agivey, in the IFFA Rivers Home International against Scotland, Wales & Ireland from 3rd – 6th July.

With a mix of overall international experience and fresh faces to the Rivers Team, the lads have put in hours of homework and time on the water – two team weekends which included an advance 3-day trip to Ireland to ensure the best possible start and outcome to their trip.

The host nation will be hard to beat on home water, but the team have given everything so far to ensure they can get the best possible result! Best of luck guys!

The Rivers team: Carl Nixon (Manager & Reserve), Del Spry (Captain), Simon Clarke, Cameron Craigs, Paul Fairhurst, Mark Lynch.

Results:

1. Ireland – 87 fish – 3882 fish pts – 34 placing pts
2. Scotland – 49 fish – 2119 fish pts – 50 placing pts
3. England – 41 fish – 1795 fish pts – 54 placing pts
4. Wales – 32 fish – 1403 fish pts – 63 placing pts

Individual Winner (winner of the ‘Moc Morgan’ Trophy): Donal Monaghan (Ireland) – 5 placing pts

Largest Fish (winner of the ‘Mike Childs’ Trophy):  Glen McCrave – 35.1cms

Congratulations to Ireland. With all five of their team in the top six, this was certainly a convincing victory by the home side.

Full Results: 2019 IFA River International Results

AT TEFF England Rivers Team 2019

AT Team England – Bronze Medallists in the 2019 River Home International

River Agivey, Ireland

A trout about to be measured on match day

Wychwood Game supplied softshell jackets

Pure Fishing, Hunt’s Original & Albury Estates supported Team England

The Angling Trust reports: The ATTEFF Rivers Team consisting of Del Spry (Captain), Cameron Craigs, Mark Lynch, Simon Clarke, Paul Fairhurst and Carl Nixon (Manager/Reserve) headed out to the River Agivey in Ireland to compete in the recent Home International, 1^st-5^th July. England had several new caps in its team of six and beating the home team, and the experienced Welsh and Scottish teams, was always going to be a difficult task. Three of the team went out for a three-day trip in June to practice on the river and this proved valuable as the team prepared on the official practice days before the match.

The European Fly Fishing Championship took place in Montenegro on 1st-7th July 2019 and was based at Plav. The Championship was held over 5 sessions fished on the Lim & Ljula Rivers, and Lake Plav.

The squad was led by Paul Page as Captain and Manager with Team Members; – Ben Bangham, Harry Fox, Simon Kidd, Bernie Maher, Terry Phillips, and Gilliaum Vermeulen as reserve. The European squad flew out to Montenegro a week before the Championship for practice and tactical development.

European Team Captain and Manager Paul Page stated: “Montenegro is a newcomer to Fips Mouche Fly Fishing Championships and this is the first time they have hosted a European Championship. This is uncharted territory for most competing nations and gives the England team a great opportunity to use their varied skill sets at a new venue and to be among the medal winners”

You will find more information at the Championship website here, and on their Facebook page here

Fly fishing on the Lim River:

Programme

Monday 1 July – Arrival of teams, Registration, Captains’ Meeting for Practice, Opening Ceremony, Banquet.

Tuesday 2 July – Official Practice Sessions

Wednesday 3 July – First Session + Second Session

Thursday 4 July – Third Session + Free Afternoon

Friday 5 July – Fourth Session + Fifth Session

Saturday 6 July – Captains Meeting, Prize Giving & Closing Ceremony

Opening Ceremony

Group Draw: 65637195_2393732654025088_3125222816811581440_n

Session 1

Terry Phillips won his session on Sector 1 Luca River – Gusinje with 20 fish, while on the Lim River – Plav Bernie Maher was 12th with 8 fish. Ben Bangham came 14th on the Lim River – Andrijevica, with Simon Kidd 15th on the Lim River – Berane. David Porter of Ireland won the boat session on Lake Plav with 3 fish, but half the field failed to catch, including Harry Fox. A point to note is that these championships were fished to a single fly rule, which would no doubt have affected the tactics applied. Spain took the lead with 22 pts, ahead of the Czech Republic with 27 pts and Poland with 32 pts. England were in 12th place (out of 20 teams). session-1-teams-after-session

Session 2

Lake Plav continued to prove difficult with Terry Phillips one of the two thirds who failed to catch. Simon Kidd came 10th on the Luca River – Gusinje, with Harry Fox 11th on the Lim River – Plava, Bernie Maher 11th on the Lim River – Andrijevica, and Ben Bangham 12th on the Lim River – Berane. The Czech Republic moved into 1st place on 49 pts, with Spain 2nd on 57 pts. Individually, Jean-Guillaume Mathieu is currently leading with two 1st places, which helped France move into 3rd place on 60 pts. England moved up into 10th place, two places behind Ireland. session-2-teams-after-session session-2-indiv-after-session

Session 3

Ireland scored another win on an increasingly tough Lake Plav, with Michael Drinan getting 3 fish. There was one other 3-fish bag, plus single fish to four others. Simon Kidd was one of the 14 others who were unable to avoid a blank. Harry Fox came 10th on the Lim River – Andrijevica, while Ben Bangham came 15th on the Luca River – Gusinje, with Terry Phillips 18th on the Lim River – Plav, and Bernie Maher 15th on the Lim River – Berane. Individually, Jean-Guillaume Mathieu (France) added a 2nd place to his two 1st places, to keep the lead with 4 pts ahead of Ander Perez (Spain) on 7 pts, and Lubos Roza (Czech Republic) on 8 pts session-3-indiv-after-session. The Czech Republic held onto their 1st place with 81 pts, while France moved into 2nd place on 89 pts, with Poland 3rd on 108 pts. A tough session for England saw them slip to 14th place session-3-teams-after-session.

Session 4

The penultimate session saw some good performances from England, with Simon Kidd winning his session on the Lim River – Plav with 19 fish, and Ben Bangham one of only 10 people to avoid a blank on Lake Plav. This lake session also saw the current individual leader Jean-Guillaume Mathieu (France) reinforce his top spot with another win, putting him 9 pts clear with one session to go session-4-indiv-after-session. On the other sectors, Terry Phillips came 12th on the Lim River – Andrijevica, Harry Fox 15th= on the Lim River – Berane, and Bernie Maher 19th= on the Luca River – Gusinje. The top three team places saw some movement, with Slovenia up to 2nd place with 134 pts, behind the Czech Republic on 114 pts, with Poland 3rd with 138 pts. England slipped one place to 15th session-4-teams-after-session.

Session 5

Lake Plav remained challenging, with half the field blanking, Bernie Maher among them. On the river sectors, Terry Phillips came 4th on the Lim – Berane, with Ben Bangham 10th on the Lim – Plav, Simon Kidd 12th on the Lim – Andrijevica, and Harry Fox 20th on the Luca – Gusinje. Individually, Jean-Guillaume Mathieu (France) rounded off an outstanding performance with yet another 1st place, to become the 2018 European Individual Champion with just 6 placing pts, (4 1sts and a 2nd), well clear of Michal Greszta (Poland) in 2nd with 16 pts, and Maciej Korzeniowski (Poland) in 3rd with 17 pts session-5-indiv-after-session. The Czech Republic held onto their lead to become the 2018 European Champions with 143 placing pts, with Slovenia 2nd on 159 pts, Bosnia-Herzegovina 3rd on 178 pts, Poland 4th 182 pts, and France 5th 184 pts. England finished the competition in 14th place, with Scotland 15th and Ireland 8th session-5-teams-after-session.

Closing Ceremony

Invitations for the 2018/19 Rivers National, Sat 20th – Sun 21st, on the R.Dee, Llangollen, have been sent out to those who qualified:

10th-15th June – Carron Valley, Lintrathen Loch & Ledyatt Trout Fishery

Congratulations to the AT TEFF England team who got the team Silver at the recent Five Nations Championships in Scotland, and to captain Lee Bartlett who got the individual Gold.

Team Results:

1. France A – 74 fish – 58180 pts – 62 place pts
2. England – 73 fish – 57200 pts – 68 place pts
3. France B – 70 fish – 51260 pts – 71 place pts

Individual Results:

1. Lee Bartlett (England) – 31 fish – 23800 pts – 6 place pts
2. Philippe Collet (France A) – 24 fish – 19700 pts– 10 place pts
3. Erlend Nilssen (Norway) – 24 fish – 18400 pts – 10 place pts

Silver for Team England at the 2019 5 Nations

AT TEFF England was represented by: Mark Withyman (player/manager), Lee Bartlett (captain), Gilliaum Vermeulen & Sean Brooks. This year’s Silver follows their successful campaign in 2018 when they also landed the Silver medal.

AT TEFF 5 Nations Team

The Angling Trust reports:

Scotland was the host nation for the sixth, 5Nations Team Championships held from the 11^th to the 15^th June 2019. Ten teams took part with Scotland, England, Ireland, France and Norway competing for the top honours. Three venues were used for the competition; Carron Valley Fishery was the main boat venue with two fishing sessions on both days, Ledyatt Trout Fishery was used for the bank sessions and Lintrathen Trout Fishery was the third venue again for boat fishing. The competition was held over two successive days, with a morning and afternoon session on each day to test the skills of the forty anglers from the five nations that had entered.

Mark Withyman (acting manager), Lee Bartlett (captain), Sean Brooks and Gilliaum Vermeulen formed the AT TEFF team of four for 2019. The team had spent a long weekend well in advance of the competition to take time to practice on the venues. This, along with the official practice days, helped them gather information on flies and tactics before the two-day competition. They found pulling tactics on Cortland Camo and Fast Glass lines, teamed with black lures and Hoppers to be the successful methods on Carron and Lintrathen, whilst lures under the bung and small dries were the go to methods for Ledyatt.

Day One saw Mark and Gilliaum head to Carron Valley for the two boat sessions, whilst Sean fished the bank sessions at Ledyatt and Lee took to the boats at Lintrathen. At the end of the first day Team England were in the top three not far behind the top spot held by the French.

Day Two saw Lee and Sean head to Carron Valley with Mark going afloat at Lintrathen and Gilliaum fishing the bank sessions at Ledyatt. All four anglers had done exceptionally well, and things looked close.

At the presentation evening Team England were second securing silver medals missing out to the French who took gold. England captain Lee Bartlett took the top individual honour with four outstanding performances over the two days with two firsts and two seconds in his sessions to give him six place points and an individual gold.

Mark Withyman acting manager for Team England said “This year’s 5Nations team are delighted to have gained another team silver medal and an individual gold. After many hours of hard work, including a practice weekend some weeks before the competition, we were sure our tactics were correct to secure a top finish. With correct application we won silver narrowly missing gold by six points to a very strong French A team. On another day it may have gone another way! Many thanks to the Angling Trust for sending a team and to Cortland, Wychwood and Snowbee for their support. I wish for continued success with this competition which will be held in Killarney, Ireland next year.”

Mark Withyman with a huge Ledyatt rainbow trout

Lee Bartlett waits for a take at Ledyatt Trout Fishery

Sean Brooks practicing at Ledyatt Trout Fishery

Mark Withyman with a Carron Valley brownie

Gilliaum Vermeulen nets a fish at Ledyatt

Images: Craig Chalmers, Andrew Alan and 5Nation Team Members

Draycote Water, Sat 15th & Sun 16th June

This fully catch & release team competition took place at Draycote Water, and was fished to three daily sessions:

Day 1 Saturday 15th June
Session Times
Briefing: 08.00 held at Draycote
Session 1: 09.00-12.00
Session 2: 12.30-15.30
Session 3: 16.00-19.00

Day 2 Sunday 16th June
Session Times
Session 1: 09.00-12.00
Session 2: 12.30-15.30
Session 3: 16.00-19.00

Presentation: 20.00-20.30 at Draycote Lodge

Practice sessions from Wednesday indicated that Draycote might have switched on in the cooler conditions, making for perfect fly fishing weather, with many rods getting into double figures.

Here are the results after Session 1 on Sunday. Plenty of 50cms and 60cms fish were being landed, so with two sessions remaining, it was still very tight with all to play for, and so it proved!

The final results are on the right. With 775 fish caught for a rod average of 12.1 fish over the two days, Draycote reported a great couple of days. Congratulations to 2019 AT Team Champions Fulling Mill FNF Nymphomaniacs with 70 fish for 3211 pts, ahead of Flash Attack Reservoir Dogs in 2nd with 66 fish for 3143 ipts, and Pitsford Pirates 3rd with 70 fish for 3140 pts.

2019 Angling Trust Loch-style Champions – Fulling Mill FNF Nymphomaniacs

The Angling Trust reports: The weekend of the 15^th/16^th June 2019 brought the second Angling Trust Six Man Team Championships held this year at Draycote Water. Sixteen teams were to battle it out for their share of the £6,000 prize fund with the 2018 champions Fulling Mill FNF Nymphomaniacs returning to try and retain their title. There were several new teams this year with Team Costa entering three teams and the England Ladies, after their gold medal success at Draycote in the Ladies Home International a week pervious, also putting a team in for the first time.

Briefing on Day One at the Lodge

The format of the competition was the same as in the first year, with three, three-hour fishing sessions split by a 30-minute break allowing score cards to be handed in and for teams to regroup and share tactics and flies for the following sessions. Out of each six-angler team two anglers would control in another team’s boat whilst the other four anglers would fish in pairs. The match was fished to full catch and release with fish measured and recorded by the boat controllers. The winning team would be the team that had the overall greater length of fish over the two fishing days.

Preparing for the off on Day One

Many teams practiced in the run-up to the competition weekend and found fish in Toft Shallows, Dunn’s Bay, A buoy, J Buoy and out in open water. As always anglers found a mix of methods worked during practice with Di5 lines and a FAB and Booby combo, to Buzzers under the bung, tip lines with FAB’s/Booby and nymphs and even dries.

Ben Thompson from the Angling Trust briefing competitor

Session one on match day started at 9am and there was a three-way split with the boats. Some of the field headed to A buoy/Rainbow Corner, some made their way to Toft whilst the others headed to D Buoy. It soon became clear that the fish off A Buoy had switched off and Dunn’s, the open water and Toft were the places to be. At the end of session one Elinor and Draycote Rio Masters were out in front with 16 fish.

England Ladies were one of several new teams for 2019

Session two again saw a three-way spilt with the open water, Toft and Dunn’s seeing the most action. Toft in particular had switched on and the Flash Attack Reservoir Dogs made the most of this with 14 fish coming to their boats. The final session brought mixed results with some teams struggling whilst others put fish in the boats with both the Reservoir Dogs and Pitsford Pirates catching 17 fish.  At the end of day one things were close at the top with everything to play for on day two.

Tackling up for Day Two

Session one of day two saw boats head to Toft and the open water- it was here that the Draycote Rio Masters found fish willing to feed and they brought 18 fish to their boats for measuring. During the second and third session the fish had wised up and the fishing became more difficult and these last sessions were taken by Fulling Mill FNF Nymphomaniacs who had found bigger fish up by the tower. It was clear that it was going to be very close at the top by the time the boats were tied up.

With no weigh-in the results were soon announced and the Fulling Mill FNF Nymphomaniacs had done enough to retain their title catching 70 fish for a total length of 3211. An outstanding achievement. The Nympho’s tactic to target the bigger fish at the tower on day two paid off.

Paul Haskey, Team Elinor, nets an early fish in Foft Shallows

Kieron Jenkins Captain of the Fulling Mill FNF Nymphomaniacs said “We arrived at Draycote Water two days prior to the second Angling Trust Loch Style Championship in hope to search out the best areas, methods and flies. The first practice day was on fire, fish were all over the lake bulging to daphnia, sipping green midge and sporadically hitting shoals of pin fry. All of the team caught good numbers of fish using Blobs and Boobies on Di3’s to nymphs and buzzers on a floater. Practice day two saw things slightly change, the weather slightly turned with heavy downpours of rain and spells of total flat calm. Our catch rate on the sinkers dropped dramatically and the floaters/tips stood out massively.

We took a chance and sent all the team out on the same method; Airflo 6ft Slow Tip, two FAB’s and two nymphs strung up on 7lb Fulling Mill Masterclass Fluorocarbon. After the first day of competition we were around seven fish behind the leaders, Reservoir Dogs – a great place to be heading into day two with no reason to change our tactics.

Again, the weather played its part and halfway through the day the wind picked up making things slightly more difficult. I dropped from a 6ft Slow Tip to the 6ft Fast Tip, hoping to get my flies to bed-in to the wave, allowing me to fish the same depth and speed as the previous day. Fortunately, the change paid off, and we’d managed to win the second session. Back at the jetty we had an in-depth team talk and decided to go for broke, sending our two boats to the corner of the dam where we’d caught a good number of fish, all setting out on the 6ft Fast Tip. The last session saw us land 15 fish between the two boats, three more than any other team, giving us another session win.

We knew it was a close match with a handful of other teams doing well throughout, and the word on the bank was that we’d caught the same number of trout as The Pitsford Pirates, and a couple more than day one leaders the Reservoir Dogs. The wait for the results was intense with great banter between the teams. The results were read from tenth place and we were delighted to hear that Pitsford Pirates were called third and Reservoir Dogs second, putting us in first, winning the £3,000 prize and the Angling Trust Loch Style Championships for the second time running!”

Craig Barr from the Flash Attack Reservoir Dogs said “The Angling Trust six-man team event is awesome. The format, three, three- hour sessions a day in which four of your six anglers are fishing at any one time is exciting. It brings excitement, teamwork, focus and fun. You get chance to regroup as a team, and if necessary, change your plan of attack. This competition gives a buzz like no other.”

Charlie Abrahams Captain of the Pitsford Pirates said “We found this a terrific event with the innovative format placing a large emphasis on teamwork. The time off the water was as important as the time on the water. We honed a method based on fishing buzzers close to the north shore. By sharing flies and experience we managed to perform vey consistently even in the middle of the day and during the windy conditions. It was an extremely close finish with it all to play for in the final session. Congratulations to the Nympho’s and Dogs!”

Andy Taylor Angling Trust Competition Support Officer said “I’ve had the pleasure of fishing this competition over the last two years and it really is a ‘team’ event with plenty of banter between the teams. We have moved from 11 teams in the first year to 16 this year and we now plan to offer 20 team places for this competition in 2020. We have booked Draycote Water again for 2020 and have provisionally booked the weekend of June 13/14^th. A BIG thank you must go to the anglers who took part this year, to Ifor Jones, Tom Bird and the staff at Draycote Water for hosting the event and to Ben Thompson and his team at the Angling Trust for all the background work in running this great team competition.”

Top 5 Results:

The Angling Trust is pleased to announce the appointment of Andy Taylor as its new Competition Support Officer. Andy brings a wealth of experience gained within angling and the fishery management sector having lectured in fishery management for twenty years and assisted in the management of his parent’s commercial trout fishery for thirty years. Andy was the editor of Total FlyFisher magazine and is now the editor of the quarterly  Today’s FlyFisher magazine, he is a qualified game angling instructor and currently part of the Wychwood ProTeam.

Andy is a familiar face on the Game angling competition circuit and has represented England at both Loch Style and Bank disciplines along with competing in the national river’s final. Andy is the current English National Bank Champion and will form part of the England team in the Home International in Ireland late this year, his wealth of competition experience will be a huge asset to the Angling Trust.

Andy said “I have been involved in competition fly fishing since the Benson and Hedges team competition and the Fly Dressers Guild John Watts boat matches and have enjoyed pitting my fishing skills against some of the best UK anglers. During this time, I have learnt so much, made some great friends and fished at some exceptional fisheries. I feel now is the time to give something back to an area of angling that I am passionate about. I’m looking forward to working with the many anglers, volunteers and the small team with the competitions department of the Angling Trust to develop competition fishing at all levels. It is important that we have a thriving competition scene in all disciplines, a vibrant and successful youth provision, and gold medal winning National, European and World teams.”

Senior Competitions Officer Ben Thompson said “We are delighted to have Andy join the team. His knowledge and experience of the competition scene will add significant value to the department and his appointment will enable us to develop existing and new competitions over the coming year. I am sure he will be a success in the role, and I look forward to working with him.” 

Andy will be working with the Angling Trust for eighteen and a half hours per week. He will initially focus on the game angling competitions in England, working closely with Team England Fly Fishing, England Youth, the Elite Performance Programme and England Ladies.

Andy can be contacted at:email: andy.taylor@anglingtrust.net

The Angling Trust has announced a change of leadership for Team England Fly Fishing’s squad that will compete in the 39^th FIPS Mouche World Championships which will be held in Tasmania in November.

One of England’s most recognised and successful anglers, John Horsey was appointed as manager in September 2018 was expected to lead England into the competition. Due to unforeseen personal circumstances John has resigned from the role with immediate effect. Angling Trust moved swiftly to find a replacement and are delighted to appoint another one of England’s most successful and experienced anglers in Howard Croston. Howard will combine his role as a team member with that of the manager and will be assisted by fellow team member Lee Bartlett.

Photo: Howard Croston

Croston, 42 from Manchester has extensive experience at the highest level having represented England on 21 occasions. His resume includes caps in bank, boat and river Home Internationals and in addition he has 3 European and 12 World caps to his name. He was part of the gold medal team of 2009 and bronze medal team of 2014 while his best individual performance was in Slovenia 2012 when he finished 4^th, narrowly missing out on a bronze medal.

Howard said “I have always been very proud to represent England as a competitor and am relishing the challenge of also taking on the role of fishing captain/manager for Tasmania, as with any WFFC it will be fiercely contested and down to the finest of margins. The host nation has made exceptional progress over the last few years in all aspects and will be favourites on their home waters along with the likely suspects of the top European teams and the constantly improving USA.”

“That being said England’s strengths lie in boat fishing and this year’s format should suit our skill set well. We have a motivated team of skilled anglers, all bringing something different to the table that should hopefully let us push for a medal at this event.”

Ben Thompson of the Angling Trust said “The loss of John as manager is undoubtedly a blow, his knowledge and experience of the FIPS Mouche events and in particular Tasmania would certainly have given England an advantage going into the event however, we understand circumstances change and we wish John all the very best in the future. We are delighted to have appointed someone of the calibre of Howard Croston, Howard brings a wealth of experience and we have no doubt that the team are in the best possible hands. We have high hopes that under Howard’s leadership the team can head to Tasmania and compete for medals and we wish Howard, Lee and the squad the very best of luck.”

The World Championships will take place in Tasmania from the 30^th November and conclude on the 8^th December 2019. The host nation have a dedicated website for the event which can be found at www.wffc2019.com

Draycote Water – Sat 15th – Sun 16th June 2019 

The competition is open to both AT member clubs/groups and non members from the UK and abroad. AT member clubs will receive priority access and a discounted entry fee. The all in entry fee includes fishing permits, boat hire and competition entry fee for 2 days. The 2 day event will take place on 15th & 16th June 2019 at Draycote Fishery with a maximum of 24 team places available offered on a first come first served basis.

Six anglers will form a team, each team will be split into two sub teams of three on both days.

A briefing will be held at Draycote on Day 1 and the presentation held at the fishery at the end of day 2.

The match will be fished to international rules and full catch, measure and release. Boats must return to the jetty in time for the end of each session where score cards will be submitted to organisers. The combined team length in cm over two days will determine the overall result and winning team.

The match will consist of three 3 hour sessions each day. During each session, one angler from each sub team of three will act as a boat steward for another team while the fishing pair will fish together in the same boat with a boat steward from another team. Every angler must act as a boat steward for one session each day, each angler will fish for 6 hours each day and act as a boat steward for 3 hours.

48 Boats for practice on Thursday 13th & Friday 14th June have been reserved at Draycote. Should you wish to book a boat please contact the fishing lodge to book your boats before Friday 7th June. Boats for practice must be paid for direct with the fishery and are not included in the competition entry fees. We may have to limit the number of boats available for practice to 2 per team. This is still to be confirmed however if the number of entries increase as we hope, then there will only be 48 boats available and this restriction would ensure each team has equal opportunity to practice.

Clubs/groups can join the Angling Trust from £60 per year join here

**Guaranteed Prize Pool**
£6,500 total

1st – £3,500
2nd – £1,500
3rd – £1,000
4th – £500

*subject to minimum of 15 teams entering, prize fund will increase with an additional cash prize in event the competition is fully sold out. This will be confirmed after the entry closing date.

Ticket Information

Saturday 15th & Sunday 16th June 2019
Minimum 15 teams of 6 anglers
Maximum 24 teams of 6 anglers

AT member clubs: £450 entry fee 10:00 on 12th November 2018
Non AT member clubs: £550 entry fee 10:00 on 14th January 2019
All in entry fee covers fishing permits, boat hire, admin costs and prize pot
Multiple teams from the same club or organisation may enter but ensure angler names are not duplicated in your other team

International rules apply and scored on full Catch, Measure & Release basis

Day 1
Session Times
Briefing: 08.00 held at Draycote
Session 1: 09.00-12.00
Session 2: 12.30-15.30
Session 3: 16.00-19.00

Day 2
Session Times
Session 1: 09.00-12.00
Session 2: 12.30-15.30
Session 3: 16.00-19.00

Presentation: 20.00-20.30 at Draycote Fishing Lodge

Entry closes at 23.59 on June 2nd 2019

Before progressing with your booking please have to hand

1. Angling Trust club membership number (if purchasing Members ticket)
2. All team member names, dates of birth, email addresses, contact numbers, post codes & Rod Licence numbers

48 Boats for practice on Thursday 13th & Friday 14th June have been reserved at Draycote. Should you wish to book a boat please contact the fishing lodge to book your boats. Please note: boats for practice must be paid for direct with the fishery and are not included in the competition entry fee.

Tickets go on sale: 12th November 2018 at 10.00am

Details available here

See the Official Film of the 2018 event!

GOLD for Loch-style Team England!!

Results:

1. England   109 fish   229 lbs 2 ozs

2. Scotland   84 fish   184lbs 13 ozs

3. Wales  78 fish   163lbs 7 ozs

4. Ireland   70 fish   148lbs 15 ozs

Best Basket: Alan Banwell (Wales)   17 fish   33 lbs 10 ozs

Heaviest Trout: Kevin McCabe (Scotland)   5 lbs 3 ozs 

AT Team England FF were represented by:  Stephen Peart (manager), Brad Gifford (captain), Sean Brooks, Andy Campbell, Andy Cottam, Tony Curtis, John Hardy, Mark Harrison, John Horsey, Kim Green, Paul Jones, Tim Joyce, Dom Sherrate, Frank Sumnall & Paul Wild.

Well done guys – an absolutely brilliant result to be proud of !

Full Results: iffa2019spring