1. ENGLAND 139 fish 8,796pts
2. SCOTLAND 94 fish 5,966pts
3. IRELAND 63 fish 3,990 pts
4. WALES 54 fish 3,446 pts

Best Basket: Richard Hooper (Wales) 15 fish

Largest Fish: Darren Maguire (Ireland) 68cms

AT TEFF was represented by: Leigh Pond (capt), Rob Allan, Tony Baldwin, Bart Farmer, Ryan Feber, Kevin Glenn, John Hood, John Horsey, Rob Middleton, Mark Miles, Lloyd Pallet, Dave Reynolds, Mark Rose, Jake Wenman & Paul Angell (manager).

Congratulations on a convincing result.

Ian Colclough reports: AT TEFF Spring Loch-Style Team News

IFFA Spring International 2023

ENGLAND’S GOLD – At this year’s Spring Loch-style Home International, Draycote Water.

The officially ratified results are:

Top 4 Teams:
1st England – 139 fish, 8796 points
2nd Scotland – 94 fish, 5966 points
3rd Ireland – 63 fish, 3990 points
4th Wales – 54 fish, 3446 points

Top 4 Individuals:
1st Richard Hooper – Wales, 15 fish, 948 points
2nd Kevin Glenn – England, 14 fish, 887 points
3rd Jake Wenman – England, 14 fish, 866 points
4th Mark Rose – England, 13 fish, 830 points

Congratulations to this year’s team on such a solid performance and splendid result. As promised, we have published more about the match and how our successful anglers went about tackling the venue on the day, their choice of flies and methods of presentation.

Including a summary from Team Manager Paul Angell on their brilliant performance to find out how they went about honing their approach on the main day of competition.

https://anglingtrust.net/2023/05/24/iffa-spring-loch-style-international/

Well done to all involved.

Manager Paul Angell reports:

England take Gold in the Spring Loch- Style International

Draycote Water near Rugby hosted the IFFA Spring Loch-Style International between England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales between Tuesday 16th and Friday 19th May. The Irish team arrived at the Team Hotel, the Draycote Hotel and Golf Club late on the previous Sunday , with the Welsh, Scots and English arriving on Monday and Tuesday. Monday saw the Irish, Welsh and most of the English team out practicing in cool, breezy conditions. Fish were taken from a range of areas, but Toft, Biggin, the Tower and the Inlet all held concentrations of fish. Tuesday had all 4 teams out on the water with a variety of methods and flies being tried. On Wednesday the winds lightened and the temperature rose and by Thursday the wind had dropped to almost nothing, with bright sunlight.
Over these practice days the English team had refined their options to 3 key methods, all of which had resulted in good catches of fish.

1. Buzzers and egg flies fished static, either by freelining or under the bung, with the bung taking the bulk of the fish at depths from 6 to 12 feet.
2. Tip lines with a FAB on the point, 2 heavy buzzers on the middle droppers and a Nemo on the top dropper. This was again fished static, allowing the flies to drift down through the depths, just keeping up with the line as the boat drifted downwind.
3. Dries cast to moving fish, or fished “blind”

Match day dawned with light breezes and a mixture of cloud and sunny spells. From the start, the fleet split with a number of boats heading for the far end of Toft, some to Biggin, the Tower and others to Rainbow Corner and the Inlet.
After a couple of hours, boats could be seen moving from area to area with a lot ending up in Biggin Bay. Fish were caught steadily, but it was noticeable that a high percentage of bent rods were in the hands of the red-capped English team.
As well as fishing the shoreline, boats could be seen venturing out across the middle of the reservoir where many of the better fish had been taken in practice.

As the match drew to its close I knew from conversations out on the water that we had some of the England team with good bags of fish but it’s always a nervous time. As the boats pulled up onto the jetty, I collated the fish numbers each English angler had taken and it became obvious that we had done well with half the team recording scores in double figures and none with less than 6.
The match had been fished to total Catch and Release with each fish counting 20 points plus 1 point for each cm length.
The scorecards from each team member were collected and the results entered into a spreadsheet.

Results:
1st England – 139 fish for 8,796 points
2nd Scotland – 94 fish for 5,966 points
3rd Ireland – 63 fish for 3,990 points
4th Wales – 54 fish for 3,446 points

The Brown Bowl for best bag was taken by Richard Hooper of Wales with 15 fish, all caught on dries from around A and B buoys,
England took 6 of the top 10 placings and special mention must go to both Kevin Glenn and Jake Wenman who came 2nd and 3rd respectively, both catching 14 fish in their first International. Full results can be seen on the IFFA website- iffa.net.

From a manager’s perspective, this was an outstanding performance with every member of the team contributing in both the development of the final match strategy through practice, and in their performance in the match itself. Led by Leigh Pond, the group had a mixture of experience and youth, and had quickly developed into a very efficient and effective team, sharing information and supporting each other during practice and developing communication strategies that proved invaluable on match day. The difference in scores between the winning team and the rest of the field is a testament to the commitment and skill shown by this team to which I am very proud to be associated.

The team would like to thank Layher Scaffolding, Nemac Construction and Garrick Eckard for their financial contribution to team funds, and also Fulling Mill, Guide Fly Fishing, Snowbee UK and Craghoppers for their continued support.

Paul Angell, Loch-Style Manager