Country: ENGLAND
Venue: Rutland Water
Dates: 13th to 17th May (incl.)
Match date: Friday 16th May
Accommodation: Best Western Hotel, Rockingham Forest, Corby

AT TEFF was represented by: Frank Sumnall (captain), Phil Calvert, Andy Cottam, Dave Currie, Nick Dunn, Samantha Edmunds, Shaun Gaskell, Mark Macleod, Gary Morris, Paul Roach, Paul Runec, Riccardo Saccone, Phil Shaw-Browne, Rob Toptalo & Paul Angell (manager).

PRACTICE DAY

2025 Spring International Final Practice Day at Rutland Water

MATCH DAY

2025 Spring International Final at Rutland Water

RESULTS

ENGLAND TAKE THE GOLD!!!

1. England 185 fish 367lbs 9ozs
2. Scotland 177 fish 347lbs 10ozs
3. Ireland 108 fish 209lbs 14ozs
4. Wales 99 fish 193lbs 4ozs

Brown Bowl (Best Basket): Tyler Hay (Scotland) 27 fish 53lbs 5ozs
H. Emyr Lewis Trophy (Heaviest Trout): Mark Macleod (England) 3lbs 11ozs

Top 4 Individual Results:
1st Tyler Hay Scotland 27 fish for 53lb 5oz
2nd Gary Morris England 22 fish for 43lb 8oz
3rd Nick Dunn England 21 fish for 41lb 11oz
4th Ronnie Gilbert Scotland 20 fish for 39lb 6oz

England team positions:
Gary Morris 2nd
Nick Dunn 3rd
Phil Shaw-Browne 6th
Mark Macleod 8th
Phil Calvert 9th
Dave Currie 14th
Shaun Gaskell 16th=
Riccardo Saccone 18th
Frank Sumnall 19th
Paul Runec 20th
Samantha Edmunds 25th
Andy Cottam 32nd
Rob Toptalo 43rd
Paul Roach 47th

Paul Angell, Team Manager, reports: ‘Teams representing England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales assembled at Rutland Water on Tuesday 13th May to begin preparations for the Spring Loch-Style Fly Fishing International 2025. Three days of practice followed where a variety of tactics and flies were tried out by all teams to try to settle on a plan for match day on Friday 16th May. Key to this was also to identify areas holding fish, and more importantly to identify those areas which had few or no fish – vital in a water like Rutland which is over 3,100 acres in size.
Match day dawned with cooler temperatures and a wind which had switched to a northerly. Still bright and breezy, but with more cloud cover at times. Fishing in this competition takes place from drifting boats with two anglers, from different countries paired by ballot, fishing over the front of the boat. In each boat is also a boatman who records all fish caught. The match commenced at 10am with a rolling start from in front of the lodge. It was quickly obvious that most boats headed for the north shore of the south arm, or the end of the peninsula, where practice had found large numbers of fish, many of which had been recently stocked. A few boats also headed to Sailing Club bay.
The England team had found that good numbers of fish were to be found in the upper layers of the water and whilst brightly coloured flies were still attracting fish, more were to be taken using nymph and buzzer patterns in conjunction with coloured blobs or fab’s either straight lined or washing line tactics.
At the close of the match, with all boats inside the harbour by the finish time of 6pm, it quickly became obvious that the match would be decided with a close contest for first place between England and Scotland. At the weigh-in, the gold medal went to England who totalled 185 fish to Scotland’s 177. Ireland took 3rd place with 108 fish and Wales in 4th with 99.
It had been a great team performance with every member contributing during practice and on match day, under the excellent leadership of team captain Frank Sumnall. The team would like to thank the staff and rangers at Rutland Water for their help in running both practice and the match itself, and the staff at the event hotel – The Great Western Rockingham Forest – who went out of their way to help ensure the smooth running of the event.
The team would like to thank Fulling Mill, Guide Fly Fishing, and Snowbee for their continued support for the team, Craghoppers for help with team clothing and in particular Keith Wallace the TEFF Sponsorship and Marketing manager, and his company Envirofil for their continued support and work behind the scenes.’