10th Bank Home International, Laios Angling Centre, Co Laios, Ireland, 23rd October

Gold for AT Team England FF !!

1. England  112 placing pts  40 fish  58cms longest fish  41100 fish pts
2. Wales  149 placing pts  34 fish  51.3cms longest fish  33900 fish pts
3. Ireland  155 placing pts  33 fish  54.1cms longest fish  33760 fish pts
4. Scotland  185 placing pts  22 fish 57.0cms longest fish  22280 fish pts

Individual Results

1. Andy Taylor, England  12 fish  4 place pts
2. David Neilson, England  9 fish  9 place pts
3. Matthew Pate, Wales  7 fish  14 place pts 

Longest Fish: Andy Taylor & Philip Shaw-Browne – 58cms

The 2019 International Bank Fly Fishing Championship took place on Wednesday 23rd October at the Laois Angling Centre, County Laois, Ireland.

The four home nations fielded teams of six anglers, with a travelling reserve and manager to make up the squad of eight. Those representing England had come through the previous year’s qualifiers, semi-finals and final to make the team.
The AT-TEFF team, consisting of Gareth Tilley (Captain) Phil Shaw-Browne, David Neilson, Andy Taylor, Andrew Taylor, Graham Willis, Mark Harrison (Reserve) and manager Paul Page travelled out to Ireland on Saturday and managed to squeeze a few hours practice on the lakes prior to darkness. This short session proved to be a good starting point to the following three days of practice.

Tying and Guinness in the run-up to the event

Top Individual Andy Taylor takes a fish from the main lake in practice

Captain Gareth Tilley nets a fish in practice

David Neilson runner up on match day

The match was fished to full catch and release with barbless hooks to be used throughout. It was to be fished over two, three-hour sessions, AM/PM, with anglers fishing for forty minutes on a peg before moving five pegs, to ensure that they covered the two lakes to be used. Place points were to be used over each session with the overall winner decided by the team which had the lowest points score. The fish were measured by a controller and returned to the water with the length recorded on the angler’s scorecard.

During the practice sessions the teamed developed and refined their flies and techniques. It became clear that distance casting was going to be a major factor as the angling pressure moved the fish out into the middle of both lakes. This impacted on the choice of lines they used with 40+ floaters and slow glass lines being their preferred fly lines. The fish were keen to feed on the surface and just under and again this impacted on their fly choice and tactics. The team over the three days narrowed their tactics down to the slow glass lines and Zonkers, the bung with Shammies and Blobs fished at 3ft and dries with Shipman’s and small F-Flies catching those fish willing to feed late on in the day.

On match day the teams were piped in for a 10am start. As expected, the first two sessions were going to be critical and getting off to a good start was essential. Plenty of fish were taken in the first two moves with only a handful of fish caught in the final two. At the end of morning session England were slightly ahead of the other home nations by just seven place points. A superb lunch was provided by the staff at the Laois Angling Centre before the second session. The afternoon session also got off to a good start with rods bending across both lakes. However, the action soon slowed down, and it was the red hats of England who were now catching consistently as the match drew to its conclusion. The second session score cards were handed in and the results were announced.

In first place with 112 place points were England, Wales were runners-up with 149 place points with Ireland third with 155 place points. Scotland were fourth with 185 place points. England also had three anglers in the top five with Andy Taylor crowned International Bank Champion with 12 fish, with David Neilson runner-up with nine fish and Andrew Taylor fifth with eight fish. Andy Taylor and Phil Shaw-Browne shared the longest fish with both anglers catching a fish of 58cm.
In total 129 fish were caught for a rod average of just over five.

The AT-TEFF bank team would like to thank the Trout Federation of Ireland (TAFI) for organising and running this years international, John and Enda Phelan of the Laois Angling Centre for hosting the competition – the venue and hospitality were first class, the controllers who gave up their day to control the match, the staff and management of the Abbeyleix Hotel which was the base for all the teams, Lee Cartmail and those anglers who supported bonus ball raffles to raise funds for the team and Greys Fly Fishing for the shirts.

Paul Page, England Bank Manager said: “The team started well in practice and kept up the performance in all eight peg rotations, winning by a healthy 37 placing points. This was a tremendous performance and the first ever clean sweep of all trophies.”

Gareth Tilley, England Bank Captain said: “We had a great time representing England, we had a great set of lads in the team and we enjoyed our time as a team in Ireland. The fishing and hospitality at the Laois Angling Centre was first class. I would like to thank Ireland the hosts of the competition who made us feel very welcome. The week was complete when we won gold and took full honours with Andy Taylor as top rod and Andy and Phil Shaw-Browne with the longest fish.”

AT TEFF 2019 Bank International Team

Angling Trust Team England Fly Fishing today wishes success to its Team for the forthcoming 10th Bank International which will be held at the Laios Angling Centre, Coolrain, Co. Laios, Ireland next week.

Team Captain, Gareth Tilley has represented England at the Bank International for the last 2 years and having come 1st and 2nd individually, his track record makes him an excellent choice to captain the team.

The Championship match day will be held on the 23rd October when teams of 6 anglers from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland will compete for the Bank International’s Founders Trophy. This will be the third time that Ireland has hosted the Bank International and the first time at the Laios fishery.

The squad will be led by Manager Paul Page, along with Captain Gareth Tilley; Andy Taylor; Andrew Taylor; Graham Willis; Phil Shaw – Browne; David Neilson and Reserve Mark Harrison.