Angling Trust Team England Fly Fishing

Country: WALES
Venue: Llyn Trawsfynydd
Dates: 26th to 30th September (incl.)
Match date: Thursday 29th September
Accommodation: Celtic Royal Hotel, Caernavon

RESULTS

1st Scotland 112 fish 4477.1cms 6764pts
2nd Wales 92 fish 3731.5cms 5601pts
3rd England 77 fish 3085.3cms 4652pts
4th Ireland 74 fish 3029.3cms 4534pts

Best Basket: Ronnie Gilbert (Scotland) 16 fish 634.3cms 961pts

Largest Trout: Robert Flaherty (Ireland) 50.0cms

Full Results here>>

Congratulations to Scotland on a convincing victory.

AT Team England FF was represented by: Craig Barr (captain), Sam Bailey, David Currie, Bart Farmer, Ryan Faber, Si Gaines, Neil Hodgson, John Horsey, Pablo Mullings, Terry Phillips, John Pearn, Mark Rose, Tony Smith, Daniel Tranter & Ian Colclough (manager).

Ian Colclough (Team Manager) reports: Ten members of AT Team England Fly Fishing gathered at the lake on Monday 26th for the unofficial practice day. Despite unfavourable conditions, a rod average of 6.5 was attained.

Day 2 saw the whole team practicing. It was similar conditions, but the rod average fell to 4.6. This was to be expected as there was a lot of pressure on the main fish-holding areas, and we had decided not to fish them so intently.

The final practice day saw a change in weather with light breezes and sun / cloud. The fish appeared to remain in the same areas and our average catch increased. The feeling of the team was that we knew areas to try on match day, five or six with plenty of fish, and that we had about 10 patterns that were working for us. It was felt that the fish were no deeper than 3 feet so most were using Slow Sink or Di3 lines. Many fish were hard on the bank and a fly cast to within a foot or two had a good chance of taking a fish. The problem was that we had no idea what the other teams were averaging, but the team and I felt that a catch of around 80 fish on the day would put us in with a change of gold.

Match day arrived. and the breeze had freshened and swung to the North East. It was generally sunny and cool. Many boats went to one main area – an area that we had identified as being the one with the highest concentration of fish. As the day wore on boats began to move from this area and seek out other places. Many anglers had their most fish in the first three hours. As the match ended it was apparent that, as a team, we had not improved on our average. Both the Scots and Welsh had some large bags in their team weights. As England weighed in first it was nail-biting to see if the Irish had beaten us. Thankfully, our 77 fish beat their 74 so we attained a third place bronze.

Congratulations to first cap Terry Phillips for weighing in the best England basket with 13 fish for 784 points. Well done to Scotland for a resounding win. Thanks to the fishery and Welsh organisers.

I’d like to thank the whole team for what was a tremendous four days. The team spirit was second to none, all were fully committed and determined, but on the day we came up a little short. Thank you, especially to Craig Barr team captain, who took much of the pressure off me. Also to Paul Angell who came along on Day 1 to help.

Ian Colclough – Team Manager

The 41st FIPS-Mouche World Fly Fishing Championship was held in Asturias, Spain, from 25th September to 1st October 2022.

AT Team England FF was represented by: Howard Croston, Lewis Hendrie, Andy Taylor, Mark Withyman & Gilliaum Vermeulen

COMPETING TEAMS

Australia – Belgium – Canada – Czech Republic – England – Finland – France – Hungary – Ireland – Italy – Japan – Lithuania – Mongolia – Netherlands – New Zealand – Portugal – Rumania – Scotland – Slovakia – South Africa – Spain – USA – Wales

PROGRAMME

Sunday 25th September
10:00-12:00 Registration at the hotel
15:00 Captains Meeting & Draw
18:00 Opening Ceremony

Monday 26th – Friday 30th September
10:00-14:00 Session in rivers
10:00-10:30 First subsession in lake
11:45-12:15 Second subsession in lake
12:30-13:00 Third subsession in lake
13:15-13:45 Fourth subsession in lake
14:00-14:30 Fifth subsession in lake
14:45-15:15 Sixth subsession in lake

Saturday 1st October
10:00-14:00 Closing Congress
18:00 Medal Ceremony & Closing
21:00 Closing Banquet

SECTORS

Sector 1 CAUDAL RIVER

Sector 2 PILOÑA RIVER

Sector 3 TRUBIA RIVER

Sector 4 NARCEA RIVER

Sector 5 ARENERO LAKE

RESULTS

Session 1

AT Team England ended their first session in 11th place out of 22 teams. Howard Croston came 8th on the Piloña River, Andy Taylor 9th on the Narcea River, Lewis Hendrie 10th on the Caudal River, Gilliaum Vermeulen 12th on the Trubia River, and Mark Withyman 16th on Lake Arenero, in a session which saw 1st-placed Julien Daguillanes (France) catch 58 fish. With two 1st places and two 2nds, Spain dominated the river sections, and were leading the team placings with just 10 placing points, ahead of France 2nd with 22 placing points, USA 3rd with 29 placing points and Canada 4th with 37 placing points. Wales were 14th, Scotland 15th and Ireland 18th.

Session 2

The second session saw AT Team England slip one place to 12th, with Howard Croston coming 7th on the Trubia River, Gilliaum Vermeulen 13th on the Narcea River, and Lewis Hendrie 14th on the Piloña River, while Mark Withyman was unable to avoid a blank on the Caudal River. On Lake Arenero, which saw reduced scores after the high totals in the first session, Andy Taylor came 16th. With several more good placings, Spain remained top of the team championship with 27 placing points, still some way ahead of France in 2nd with 43 placing points, and the USA 3rd with 59 placing points. Finland overtook Belgium to move into 4th place, as Canada dropped to 7th. Ireland moved up to 15th, with Scotland 16th and Wales 17th. Individually, David Arcay (Spain) was leading with two 1st places, with Julien Daguillanes (France) 2nd and Ruben Santos (Spain) in 3rd.

Session 3

Session 3 saw AT Team England retain their 12th place, with Lewis Hendrie coming 4th on the Trubia River, Howard Croston 12th on the Narcea River, Mark Withyman 13th on the Piloña River, and Andy Taylor also 13th on the Caudal River. On Lake Arenero, which continued to show diminishing returns, Gilliaum Vermeulen came 17th. Two 1st places and a 3rd saw France narrow the gap between their 2nd place with 62 placing points and Spain in 1st place with 50 points, while Finland remained 3rd with 97 points, three ahead of the Czech Republic at 4th. Ireland moved up to 14th, with Scotland 15th and Wales 17th. Julien Daguillanes (France) and David Arcay (Spain) still contested the two top Individual places with 4 points each, one ahead of Ruben Santos (Spain) who remained in 3rd. Sean Dempsey (Ireland) was in 9th place.

Session 4

AT Team England remained at 12th place after the 4th session, with Andy Tayor scoring a 5th place on the Piloña River, Lewis Hendrie 10th on the Narcea River, Gilliaum Vermeulen 14th on the Caudal River and Mark Withyman 15th on the Trubia River. In the Lake Arenero session Howard Croston came 16th. Both the Spanish and French teams continued to put in good performances, which saw them remain in 1st and 2nd places respectively, with 65 placing points to 80. Finland stayed in 3rd place with 128 points, with the Czech Republic 4th with 139 points. Ireland remained in 14th place, with Wales 16th and Scotland 17th. Individually, another 1st place for Julien Daguillanes (France) saw him top the listings with 5 points, with Ruben Santos (Spain) 2nd with 7 points, and David Arcay (Spain) 3rd on 8 points.

Session 5

AT Team England finished the 2022 World Championships in 13th place, with Howard Croston getting a 6th place on the Caudal River, Gilliaum Vermeulen 9th on the Piloña River, Andy Taylor 16th on the Trubia River, and Mark Withyman 17th on the Narcea River, while in the session on Lake Arenero Lewis Hendrie came 15th. With both the Spanish and French teams continuing to set the pace the end result was close, with Spain the 2022 Team World Champions with 95 points, and France 2nd with 104 points. The Czech Republic moved up into 3rd place with 154 points, ahead of Belgium 4th with 178 points. Wales finished in 15th place, with Ireland 16th and Scotland 17th. Individually, Julien Daguillanes (France) added another session win to finish the 2022 Individual World Champion with four 1st places and one 2nd for 6 placing points (to add to the title he won at the 2016 World Championships in Vail, Colorado). David Arcay (Spain) was 2nd with 11 points and Ruben Santos (Spain) 3rd with 12 points. Sean Dempsey (Ireland) finished 12th, with the top AT Team England performer being Howard Croston in 43rd place.

You can find more information on the Championship website here>> on their Facebook page here>> and on Instagram here>>

October 2022

Sunday 16th October – South East FF Federation – Lower Itchen fishery (Official Practice: Saturday 15th October) – Limited to 26 competitors – Organiser: Tony Fox

LATEST NEWS: You can now book tickets for this event on the Angling Trust website here>>

The 2022 Five Nations Fly Fishing Championship took place on the 18th – 23rd September, at Macroom Ireland, on Lough Lene, Gougane Barra Lake and the River Blackwater.

Teams from Ireland, Scotland, England, France, Belgium & Norway competed.

AT Team England Fly Fishing was represented by Lee Cartmail (Manager & Captain), Del Spry, Chris Micallef and Joel Beeney.

The Angling Trust reports: The 2022 Five Nations Fly Fishing Championship took place this week from the 18th – 23rd September. Hosted in Macroom Ireland, with fishing on Loughs Lene, Gougane, Barra Lake and River Blackwater. England’s team included: Lee Cartmail (Manager & Captain), Del Spry, Chris Micallef and Joel Beeney.
With little time to practice and acclimatise to venues, our guys had to share all their knowledge and angling skills to find themselves amongst the medals. Competing against teams from; Ireland, Scotland, France, Belgium & Norway.
Paul Page, Chair of the AT TEFF Executive, called us from Canada with this quote:
“An exemplary demonstration of teamwork by England’s 5 Nations Fly Fishing team has brought home the Team Silver from the recent 5NFF Championship in Balavourny Ireland.
With only 1 day’s practice and the 4 competition sessions available to build a strategy, pooling information was vital.
Congratulations to the team especially as there were 3 Irish teams fishing the Championship on home ground this year”.

1. Mark Miles 7 Total Position Points
   [2022 Loch-style National Champion]
2. John Hood 17 Total Position Points
3. Jake Wenman 21 Total Position Points

Best Fish award: Tony Curtis 4-5-0 rainbow

Other qualifiers: Leigh Pond 25pts – Lloyd Pallett 27pts – Richard Denney 27pts – Ben Race 28pts – Tony Baldwin 28pts – Dave Reynolds 30pts – John Horsey 30pts – Bart Farmer 33pts – Dale Burgess 34pts – Daniel Tranter 35pts – Tony Curtis 37pts – Alex Johnstone 38pts – Graeme Bell 41pts – David Currie 43pts – Mark Mcleod 44pts – Ryan Feber 44pts – Robert Middleton 47pts – Tony Fox 49pts – David Johns 50pts – Mark Rose 53pts – Martin Burgess 53pts – Andy Cottam 54pts – Kevin Glenn 57pts – Rob Allan 58pts – Philip Thompson 59pts

Mark Miles became the Loch-style National Champion for the second time, having first achieved this at Bewl in 2015. He also landed the best fish of the competition, a 4-6-0 rainbow, so the Best Fish award went to Tony Curtis for his 4-5-0 rainbow.
The 28 top anglers will form the two England Teams for next year, and will fish at either Draycote Water in the Spring or the Lake of Menteith, Scotland in the Autumn.

Match Report: This year’s National Final was held on the weekend of 10th and 11th of September at Draycote Water.

The fishing was challenging with a two-day rod average of just four fish. Conditions on both days were good with light winds and sunshine/cloud cover, but the surface water temperature remained high after the hot summer and the trout remained reluctant to feed for long periods. Many anglers reported ‘taps’ and ‘light pulls’, or fish hooked and lost within a few seconds.

Methods varied but most fish fell to flies fished in the top 2 or 3 feet, many taking small lures or nymphs fished slowly. Dry flies also accounted for some trout.

Top rod and National Champion for the second time was South West angler Mark Miles. He will gain his eighth cap next year – a magnificent achievement.

Mark’s success came by fishing a 12ft fast tip with a size 12 Cut Throat Cat Booby with 3mm eyes on the point fly then, on the two middle droppers, a red holographic Diawl Bach and a Claret Hopper. An Orange Foam Daddy was on the top dropper. Retrieve was a fast figure of eight. In practice he found a lot of fish between M and N buoys. Mark started there on Day 1 and steadily caught all day, but Day 2 was ‘like fishing a different lake’, the fish stopped feeding and it was a grind! Mark managed four fish but was lucky to land three decent-sized fish which helped him maintain his first place finish.

TEFF would like to thank Fishery Management Ltd for their support and administration of this event. Also a huge thank you to all the volunteers who give up their time freely to run this event throughout the country. Without their time and dedication there simple would not be a Team England.

Please give your support to this event next season.

Ian Colclough
AT TEFF Loch Style Heats and National Coordinator

With Carl Nixon qualifying for the team for the 2023 Rivers Home International on the River Ebbw in Wales, Peter Scholes has been appointed as the 2023 Rivers Team Manager in his place.
Peter will continue in his role as Rivers National and Qualifiers Co-ordinator.

The Angling Trust reports: Following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the Government and Royal Family have issued guidance to the public, businesses, and other organisations during this period of National Mourning, which will continue until the end of the day of the State Funeral.
With reference to sporting events, the guidance states that “there is no obligation to cancel or postpone events and sporting fixtures, or close entertainment venues during the National Mourning period.”
The Angling Trust will continue to run scheduled competitions, including tomorrow’s Division 2 National Championship, up to the day of the funeral. As a mark of respect to the Queen and the Royal Family, two minutes’ silence will be observed before the start of competitions.
Until we have full details of when the State Funeral will take place, we cannot confirm if our events will be affected by it.
While postponements or cancellations of club events and local matches are at the discretion of individual organisers, the Government and Royal Family guidance allows for all grass roots sports events to carry on during the period of National Mourning. Clubs and fisheries running competitions and events may wish to hold a period of silence before commencing as a mark of respect.
Jamie Cook, Angling Trust & Fish Legal CEO, said: “We will remember Her Majesty for her incredible 70 years devotion to the nation. It is fitting that we mark her passing with a period of silence at our events and competitions. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family at this time.”

Results

1. Carl Nixon 20 Fish Caught 898 Fish Points 4 Place Points
   [2022 Rivers National Champion]
2. Stan Moore 20 Fish Caught 828 Fish Points 7 Place Points
3. Gavin Walsh 13 Fish Caught 545 Fish Points 8 Place Points
4. Cameron Craigs 21 Fish Caught 885 Fish Points 10 Place Points
5. Dan Scott Paul 19 Fish Caught 774 Fish Points 10 Place Points
6. Brian Lillie 12 Fish Caught 509 Fish Points 10 Place Points
   [Reserve]

The Angling Trust reports: Thirty qualifying anglers arrived at High Force Hotel, River Tees on Saturday 3rd for two days of competition. Each angler had four timed sessions over the weekend, during which they must catch as many 18cms-plus trout and grayling as they can. Consistency is paramount and quite a task as each session lasts no more than ninety minutes.

With little rain or steady conditions running up to, and forecast of low pressure and high winds over the weekend, pre-match musing was of a difficult comp ahead, expecting low numbers of fish and finding them early would be imperative. Luckily, the weather was better than expected, with a helpful predominantly upstream wind with cloud cover on the Saturday, and a drop in wind with mixed cloud cover on the Sunday.

Fish fell to both dry fly and tight line nymphing tactics, once located. Look out for a full report on this on the AT Comps webpage shortly, and a couple of debrief reports from selected competitors.

Congratulations to the 2022 National Rivers Champion Carl Nixon, runner-up Stan Moore, and Bronze-placed Gavin Walsh. Well done Cameron Craigs, Dan Scott, and Brian Lillie for achieving their squad places too. Well done all the anglers who qualified and a final thanks to Paul Page & Peter Scholes for organising a splendid event.

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.”

Full Results:

November 2021

[Sunday 28th November – River Wear – Cancelled]

January 2022

Sunday 23rd January –  River Dee – Overall Results: 1. Simon Caddy 2. Kevin Moran 3. Simon Clarke 4. Richard Baxendale 5. Stan Moore 6. Brian Lillie

Full Results:

March 2022

Sunday 6th March – River Dee – Overall Results: 1. Chris Richardson 2. David Bradley 3. Richard Baxendale 4. Stan Moore 5. Andy Taylor 6. Pete Scholes

Full Results:

[Sunday 27th March – River Dee – Cancelled]

April 2022

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

Full Results:

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.

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.

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

Sunday 15th May – Overall Results: 1. Paul Fairhurst 2. Carl Nixon 3. Brian Lillie 4. Nick Craigs 5. Pete Scholes

Full Results:

Report: The final qualifier on the River Wear 15th May, the last chance before the AT TEFF Rivers National on Upper Tees: 3rd & 4th September 2022. Ooh, how hard the River Wear fished too, the AM session fished a little better with every angler recording a measurable trout, whilst the PM session proved to much harder with only one angler finding a fish big enough to count.
Talk in the pre-match meeting was the river looked in great condition, but a lack of water had made the trout harder to tempt. As the day panned out, finding trout over 20cms in length was quite difficult, as was getting past the ravenously feeding grayling.
Well done to the guys who qualified in such taxing conditions, super performance.
Highlight of the day was an enormous trout of 60cms landed by Brian Lillie, “Well played and landed Brian” This monster fish was pushing 5lbs and in good condition.

Final – Saturday 3rd-Sunday 4th September 2022, River Tees

2019-2020/2021-2022 River Qualifiers – Entries, Results & Allocation

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).