Country: SCOTLAND
Venue: Lake of Menteith
Dates: 12th to 16th September (incl.)
Match date: Friday 15th September
Accommodation: King Robert Hotel, Bannockburn

RESULTS

1st Scotland 158 fish 336lbs 2.7ozs
2nd England 104 fish 225lbs 3.4ozs
3rd Ireland 100 fish 215lbs 1.10zs
4th Wales 72 fish 158lbs 15.4ozs

Best Basket: Ronnie Gilbert (Scotland) 20 fish 40lbs 4.5ozs

Heaviest Trout: Brian Mackenzie (Scotland) 4lbs 14.7ozs

AT TEFF was represented by: Martin Burgess (captain), Graeme Bell, Dale Burgess, Andy Cottam, David Currie, Tony Curtis, Richard Denney, Tony Fox, David Johns, Alex Johnstone, Mark Macleod, Ben Race, Philip Thompson, Daniel Tranter & Ian Colclough (manager).

Congratulations to Scotland for a convincing victory.

The Angling Trust reports: Today is match day, with teams from Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales practicing for most of the week. We are waiting on the lake shore to see which methods and tactics have worked best.
It’s not fished as well as envisaged due to unseasonal water temperatures. However, with anglers of this high standard fishing they’re sure to winkle out a trout, one of our Irish officials has predicted 10 fish to be a great catch.

The Angling Trust reports: Just under an hour to go and despite the unseasonably warm water and lack of wind, making solid drifting impractical.
The fishing may be a little better than first predicted, after talking to one of the lakes local stalwarts who believes we have an angler with sixteen trout and several chasing tight behind.
There’s a really tight match forming, we popped afloat on the guidance of the Fisheries Manager and witnessed half a dozen fish landed.
Boat 4 containing Scotland’s Derek Hassett & England’s Daniel Tranter was one of these. Then on boat 21 Ireland’s John Mulvanny & Wales’s Chris McAllister were also seen netting fish.
With such a low breeze, it’s only courteous to keep at least 50 metres from the boats. They are also well spread out, so it was quite fortuitous we got these action shots.
The boats are in at 18:00, and we aim to post the results shortly after.

The Angling Trust reports: The boats returned to the lodge at 18:00 last night with the race to decamp boat seats and tackle to the coaches and cars in readiness for the weigh-in.
For our competing anglers to return to the King Robert Hotel for the Gala Dinner and Presentation. This is where the teams and individual anglers celebrate the brotherhood of the sport and proceedings of the day.
Business began with a toast to the monarch and results of the day, teams are first up in order of position, followed by the individuals of the match and top rods of each team.
Scotland showed their intimate knowledge of the venue with a worthy performance to catch the Gold spot, and a creditable Individual performance with top bag of twenty trout.

AT TEFF Team England at Menteith. With thanks to Craghoppers for their support

TEFF Loch Style International – Lake of Menteith, Scotland, 15th September 2023

The International is fished between teams of 14 from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Each county hosts an international every other year, one in the spring and one in the autumn.

Team members began to gather for this important Autumn International on 9th September at the team hotel in Bannockburn. Practice took place over the following five days. Conditions were unseasonal with very light or no breezes making covering water difficult. Water temperatures were high following a sustained spell of hot weather. This usually deters the fish from feeding, however the trout at Menteith had not read the script with many fish taking up residency in only 2 or 3 feet of water. Fish were to be seen and caught over open water on pulling tactics but the majority, it was felt, were tucked well into the bank and reed beds. Menteith holds a good head of large fish and several of over 5lb were caught on practice.

After the last day of practice the team had identified several areas that they felt held a good head of trout with one of two areas holding some larger fish. A dozen or so ‘top’ flies were also found to be working and all team members were equipped with these ready for match day. Floating lines with small boobies and nymphs seemed to be working best.

Match day loomed with a flat calm and some brightness – not ideal fly fishing conditions. Most boats headed to either International Bay or Loch End with the rest going out towards the cages or Herons Bay.

Boats arrived back at 6pm and a very quick tot up of the teams catch indicated a total of 104 trout caught. It was apparent that the hosts, Scotland, had caught substantially more that this! The final results were announced at the fishery. Scotland did have a substantial catch – an impressive 158 trout for 336lb. It was nail biting to see if England had secured a second, silver, spot. Ireland weighed in with 100 fish for 215lb and Wales with 72 fish for 159lb. England pipped the Irish by just 10lb with their 104 fish for 225lb giving them second place and a silver medal.

Top English angler was Phil Thompson with an impressive 12 fish for 26lb 5oz – well done Phil.
Phil gets to keep the Grafham Trophy for the year.
Top overall bag went to well known Scottish angler Ronnie Gilbert with a magnificent catch of 20 trout for 40lb 5oz.

Overall the England Team performed very well – it was always a big ask to beat the hosts on a water they know so well. As manager I could not have asked more from them. A great team that gelled really well. A special thank you to Martin Burgess the team captain, his dedication and team management was second to none. Also a huge thank you to all the staff at Menteith fishery and all the people involved in organising this event.

Special thanks to Dan Tranter and Dave Currie of the England team for all the fundraising they did prior to the event to help the team with their financial costs – great work!

The team comprised, Martin Burgess (Captain), Phil Thompson, Dave Johns, Tony Curtis, Ben Race, Alex Johnstone, Dale Burgess, Tony Fox, Mark Macleod, Andy Cottam, Dave Currie, Richard Denny, Dan Tranter, Graeme Bell. Thanks also to travelling reserve Alan Clark for his help with the admin (and fishing so well in support of the team).

Full results are on the IFFA website http://www.iffa.net/

Ian Colclough – Team Manager