Thank you to Anglian Water staff Angela Tarry, Pauline Gibb, Stuart and Andy, Chris Bobby for doing the results and Kirsty Marshall for her work behind the scenes!
A big thank you to the 44 anglers who took part today. Grafham was in fine form despite the bright and breezy conditions

AT Match Report: Forty four anglers fished the Angling Trust Loch-style Autumn Series match at Grafham Water on Sunday 20th September. This was the only match to be held from the original 12 matches planned and therefore this contest became a one-off final.
Blue skies and a north easterly wind greeted the competitors, which were far from ideal fly fishing conditions. Many anglers had been out and practiced in the run-up to the match and this was evident at the 10am start when there was a two-way split with the boats. Half the fleet headed to the North East side of the reservoir, from G Buoy to the Willows, and the other half focussed on the North West side, from Sanctuary Bay into Savages Creek.
The format of the match changed from three fish retained and catch and release 12 fish, to a timed catch-and-release match where the times of the first three fish caught by each angler were recorded on a score card with a maximum catch of 20 fish. The score card, along with the briefing documents, were emailed out to all competitors prior to the match. A live FB boat draw, no weigh-in, and the results announced again on FB live ensured anglers, organisers and staff were kept safe in the current Covid1-19 situation.

The early cloud cover meant the fish were keen to feed and many anglers caught in the first hour. Robert Middleton was the first angler to catch, as a nice Grafham rainbow was caught and released at 10.08am. Tim Joyce fished size 12 red dries to take his first three fish by 10.18 fishing in Sanctuary Bay and Savages. By 12.15 Tim was on seven fish and his boat partner Ian Gaskell was on three. Tom Adamson and Charlie Abrahams were both into fish at P Buoy at 12.45, with Tom on seven and Charlie four at this point. Tom was fishing a Slow Glass line with a Black Booby on the point, Cormorants on the droppers, and a small Blob on the top dropper. Ben Worley and his boat partner Alex Urquhart were also catching well, targeting resident fish in the weedbeds at Sanctuary. The pair fished tip lines catching trout up to 4lb in weight. Ben fished a Black Bejusus Booby, Black Hopper, Black Muskins and an Orange Foam Daddy.

However, it was the long drifts from G Buoy/Marlow Stones/Willows down to the South end of the reservoir where the winner John Hardy caught his 18 trout. John and his partner Graham Currie caught close in at first, but as they drifted further out they found pods of fish and focussed on these pods. John fished a Slow Glass line with two small FABs and two Hare’s Ear Nymphs.
A full match report will be posted on the Angling Trust website on Thursday with details of John’s winning tactics!

Results
1st John Hardy 18 fish
2nd Tom Adamson 15 fish
3rd Sean Hanlon 12 fish (1st fish 10.24am)
4th Ben Worley 12 fish (1st fish 10.40am)

44 anglers caught 269 fish for a rod average of 6.1

First fish caught by Robert Middleton at 10.08 winning a day’s fishing for two at one of Anglian Water Fisheries.