2023 Loch-style National Final, Grafham

Venue: Grafham Water
Official Practice: Friday 22nd September
Competition: Saturday-Sunday 23rd-24th September
Entry: Through Loch-style Qualifiers held throughout year

DAY 1 – SATURDAY 23rd SEPTEMBER

Keith Wallace reports: The weather at Grafham water was good to anglers today with sunshine and a moderate Westerly breeze on the water. Fishing wasn’t easy but fish were caught using certain methods.

BOATS AWAY AFTER THE BRIEFING

WEIGH-IN

DAY 2 – SUNDAY 24th SEPTEMBER

BOATS AWAY

Ian Colclough: Press Release: The Final was held at Grafham Water over two days on 23rd and 24th September.
Practice proved that the fishing was going to be a challenge for the 100 qualifying anglers taking part.

Day 1 of the Final dawned with good conditions for fly fishing but no one told the trout. Top rod on the day was Mark Macleod with a very impressive 9 fish for 17lb 1. For this win Mark was allocated 1 place point. Mark was using a four fly set-up with two Fabs, one on the top dropper and one on the point, with a UV Cruncher and Hare’s Ear between. His line of choice was 3ft Midge-tip. He concentrated his efforts at Deep Water Point, Rectory Bay and ‘G’ Buoy Point. His fish came to the nymphs in the morning, and the coloured flies in the afternoon.

Day 2 proved even more of a challenge, with a change in weather to cloud and a gusty strong Southerly wind making fishing the North shore of the lake difficult. Despite his win on Day 1, Mark knew that he must not blank on Day 2, as a blank is awarded with 100 place points, and he would then be out of the running. He need not have worried as he caught 3 trout on the day, weighing 4lb 9ozs, giving him a further 29 points and a total of 30. This was enough to see him finish in 6th spot and gain a place in next years AT TEFF Loch-style Team.

Overall National Loch-style Champion was Ian Gaskell, who finished 7th on Day 1 and 1st on Day 2. Close behind was Ben Race, who had the same place points (8) but was pipped by Ian on overall bag weight. For the first time a father and son have made the team – well done Ian and Shaun who finished 18th!
The rod average catch over the two day final was 2.43 fish.
The anglers that will make up next years two teams are:
Simon Bird, Sean Brooks, Andy Cottam, Richard Denney, Nick Dunn, Pete Eville, Simon Gaines, Ian Gaskell, Shaun Gaskell, Gary Haskins, David Johns, Mark MacLeod, Mark Miles, Stanley Moore, Gary Morris, John Piper, Sean Porter, Ben Race, Jim Rigby, Paul Roach, Riccardo Saccone, Philip Shaw-Browne, Dom Sheratte, Richard Slater, Philip Thompson, Paul Tweddle, Ben Watson, Jake Wenman