Elinor
Presentation
1st place – England (with 5NFFC Event Organiser Dave Currie)
2nd place – Norway (with 5NFFC Event Organiser Dave Currie)
3rd place – Scotland
Captain of 1st Team & 1st Individual – Mark Withyman, England (with Chris Bobby, AT TEFF)
2nd Individual – Gilliaum Vermeulen, England (with Chris Bobby, AT TEFF)
Biggest Trout (52.5cms) – Henrik Botnevik, Norway (with Chris Bobby, AT TEFF)
FINAL RESULTS
INDIVIDUAL FINAL RESULTS BY TEAM
INDIVIDUAL & TEAM RESULTS IN SESSION 4
SECTOR RESULTS OF SESSION 4
Paul Page reports: Provisionally, England hold the lead after Session 3, with Norway, Ireland and Scotland battling for 2nd, 3rd and 4th places.
INDIVIDUAL & TEAM RESULTS IN SESSION 3
SECTOR RESULTS OF SESSION 3
Below (top to bottom):
Henrik Botnevik landing a 52.5cms fish, the largest one from Elinor
Darren Curran netting a fish for 1st place in Session 3, Sector 3
Henrik Botnevik and Andy Taylor, peg by peg in Sector 4
Ian Runcie, Captain, Scotland
A View of the Sector
Paul Page reports: It was a tough day today, hot with bright sunshine, and gusting North East winds. However, the teams caught fish at both Elinor and Grafham (see results below).
England dominated, but Norway and Scotland cannot be written off tomorrow, as they will have learned a lot from today.
INDIVIDUALS & TEAMS AFTER SESSION 2
INDIVIDUALS & TEAMS IN SESSION 1
SECTOR RESULTS OF SESSION 1
INDIVIDUALS & TEAMS IN SESSION 2
SECTOR RESULTS OF SESSION 2
Below (top to bottom):
Eamon Keaney, who won the 2nd Session on Sector 3 at Elinor
A swan taking a close interest in Erlend’s technique
Fishing amongst swans
Groups C & D at Elinor today
Gilliaum Vermeulen
DRAW
GROUPS
BANK PEG ROTATIONS
BOAT PARTNERS
Paul Page reports: Practice day saw bright sunshine, high temperatures, and a bit of a North East wind. Despite the conditions, teams caught on both Grafham Water and Elinor Trout Fishery.
To deal with the heat, the programme has been brought forward, with an early 7:00am start at Elinor, while boats will be away at Grafham at 9:30am, with fishing starting at 9:45am.
Below: Erlend Vivelid Nilssen of Norway with a fish
Grafham Water & Elinor Trout Fishery, Huntingdon, England
Monday 12th to Friday 16th June 2023
Angling Trust Team England Fly Fishing is pleased to be hosting this year’s 5N Championship, which will be based at the Racecourse Hotel, Huntingdon. The fly fishing will be from drifting boats on Grafham Water, and from the bank at Elinor Trout Fishery. Teams will compete to FIPS-Mouche rules at four 3-hour sessions spread over 2 days.
Four Teams have registered, representing England, Scotland, Ireland and Norway.
England:
Mark Withyman (Captain), Andy Taylor, Simon Clarke & Gilliaum Vermeulen
Scotland:
Ian Runcie (Captain), Scott Freeman, Ian Wilson & Ron Chesney
Ireland:
Declan O’Sullivan (Captain), Darren Curran, Eamon Keaney & Richard Willis
Norway:
Cato Vivelid Nilssen (Captain), Erlend Vivelid Nilssen, Henrik Botnevik & Geir Granli
CHAMPIONSHIP PROGRAMME
Monday 12th June
15:00 Check in at hotel
20:00 Dinner in hotel
21:00 Captains’ Meeting & Draw
Tuesday 13th June
06:30 Breakfast
09:00 Practice Sessions – Grafham & Elinor Sectors
20:00 Dinner in hotel
21:00 Captains’ Meeting
Wednesday 14th June
06:30 Breakfast
09:30-13:00 Session 1 – Grafham & Elinor Sectors
14:15-17:45 Session 2 – Grafham & Elinor Sectors
20:00 Dinner in hotel
Thursday 15th June
06:30 Breakfast
09:30-13:00 Session 3 – Grafham & Elinor Sectors
14:15-17:45 Session 4 – Grafham & Elinor Sectors
20:00 Dinner in hotel
21:00 Medal Ceremony
Friday 16th June
06:30 onwards Breakfast & Departure
The 2023 5NFFC is being sponsored by both Hunt’s Original and FlyFishNorth, who are kindly providing samples of their Fly Preparation and Fly Tying materials.
England Team Captain Mark Withyman said: “It’s always a real honour to represent your country in your chosen sport, so I and the team are all delighted to be fishing the 5N on home soil. We believe that these competitions are important to be supported as they represent the stepping stone to other Fips mouche events and as such are a valuable introduction to the pressures and intensity that those competitions hold. Our thanks go to the organisers, controllers and competitors for holding the event which I’m sure will be a good one”
Angling Trust Team England Fly Fishing 5NFFC Event Organiser Paul Page said: “June is a challenging month for trout fishing as both water temperatures and weed growth increase. However, there are plenty of fish to be caught and returned safely at both fisheries. Grafham Water and Elinor Trout Fishery are well established and renowned Midland stillwaters so we can expect a good competition.
LINKS
Holiday Inn Huntingdon Racecourse Hotel –
www.ihg.com/holidayinn/hotels/gb/en/huntingdon/xhuhr/hoteldetail
Grafham Water – www.anglianwaterparks.co.uk/grafham-water-park/fishing
Elinor Trout Fishery – https://elinortf.co.uk/
Hunt’s Original – www.huntsoriginal.co.uk
FlyFishNorth – www.flyfishnorth.com
Angling Trust – www.anglingtrust.net
Team England Fly Fishing – www.te-ff.org
Qualification for the 2022-23 National Final will be from four qualifying matches run nationally on the Rivers Itchen, Dee, Ure & Wear, starting in October 2022 and running into Spring 2023.
Thirty-two places will be available at the National Final, which will be fished on the 2nd-3rd Sept 2023, on the Upper Tees, Northumberland.
Ticket links will be available from the links below and updated as the season continues. For any queries regarding the AT TEFF Rivers National please contact the coordinator Peter Scholes – 07523 121 494.
Matches will be fished to full international rules and the AT TEFF River Qualifier scoring system, to a Measure, Catch and Release basis. Only in season fish, 20cms and above, will be eligible for measuring / scoring / awarding fish points.
Entrants will be split into 2 groups:
Morning Group fishing am & controlling pm.
Afternoon group fishing pm & controlling am.
Entries open: See individual qualifiers
Entries close: See individual qualifiers
Entry Fee: £30 + fishing fee (please check individual Qualifiers to see if fee is payable on the day or in advance)
October 2022
Sunday 16th October – South East FF Federation – Lower Itchen fishery (Official Practice: Saturday 15th October) – Limited to 26 competitors – Organiser: Tony Fox
Results: 1. Jim Dillon 2. Cameron Craigs 3. Mike Heritage 4. Baz Reece 5. Julian Erbsloeh 6. Harry Chance 7. Trevor Hayman 8. Alex Adams
November 2022
Sunday 20th November – River Dee, Llangollen – HQ: The Hand Hotel, Bridge Street, Llangollen, LL20 8PL
Results: 1. Phil Dixon 2. Gary Hedges 3. Pete Buckey 4. Simon Caddy 5. Simon Clarke 6. Carl Nixon 7. Mike Dixon 8. Kevin Moran
April 2023
Sunday 16th April – River Ure, Wensley, Wensleydale, North Yorkshire – 9.00am-5.30pm – HQ: Three Horseshoes, Wensley, Leyburn, N Yorkshire DL8 4HJ. am fishing Wensley Beat; pm fishing Bolton Hall Beat
Results: 1. Chris Richardson 2. Peter Crowe 3. Gavin Walsh 4. Stan Moore 5. Keith McAdam 6. Bria Lillie 7. Mike Chris Micallef 8. Paul Fairhurst
Paul Page reports: Once again, the Qualifier was centred around Lords Bridge on the Bolton Hall Estate in Wensleydale, which gives magnificent views of Wensleydale, the River Ure, and both Bolton Castle and Bolton Hall. Despite the poor weather mid-week, which saw the river rise drastically, the weekend was fine and sunny with at last some decent warm spring weekend weather.
Tuesday’s rainfall over the Howgills put a welcome metre of water on the river level on Wednesday, which by Sunday had fined down to a nice pace and level for the Qualifier.
The 16 qualifier entrants met up at the Three Horseshoes inn at Wensley to pair up with their controllers. 8 fished the morning session and the other 8 fished the afternoon session.
The morning session’s 09:00 start on the Wensley Beat downstream from Lords Bridge was greeted with a warm misty start, which once burned off by the sun, set the weather fair with regular hatches of grannom sedges. Peter Crowe won the morning session with 5 trout between 26cms and 36cms, Gavin Walsh coming a close second with 4 trout, Brian Lillie third with 3 trout, and Paul Fairhurst fourth with 2 trout, the largest of which was a magnificent 45cms, the largest fish of the day. The 8 anglers who fished the morning session caught a total of 19 trout between them.
After swapping over from controlling to fishing, and changing partners, 8 anglers competed in the afternoon session upstream of Lords Bridge on the Bolton Hall Beat.
The afternoon session’s 14:00 start on the Bolton Hall Beat upstream from Lords Bridge was slightly breezier with the temperature dropping as the session progressed. The regular hatches of grannom in the morning disappeared. However, Chris Richardson, who ventured up to the top of the beat, found accommodating trout and won the afternoon session with 7 trout ranging between 20cms and 33cms. Stan Moore came second with 3 trout, the largest of 42.2cms being the biggest in the afternoon session. Keith McAdam came third with 3 trout and Chris Micallef fourth with 2 trout. The 8 anglers who fished the afternoon session caught a total of 17 trout between them.
Paul Page, the event organiser, said that the early April Ure Qualifier was always a challenge as the grayling are out of season. Once the mist lifted in the morning there were abundant sedge hatches on the Wensley beat, however as the day progressed the cool breeze in the afternoon changed things. However, both Peter in the morning and Chris in the afternoon proved that if you had the right tactics and read the river well there were trout to be caught.
Wensleydale and the Ure are a stunning place to fish and if you were lucky enough on Sunday you might have seen the first of the now resident ospreys to return to the estate. Our thanks go to the Bolton Castle Estate for giving us access to the estate’s fishery and to Tom Orde-Powlett for their continuing support.
May 2023
Sunday 21st May – River Wear – HQ: Jubilee Bridge Car Park, DL15 0DJ – Fishing Times: Morning group 9.00 am – 1.00 pm/Afternoon group 2.30 pm – 6.30 pm – Briefing: 8.00 am
Results: 1. Andrew Sowerby 2. Karl Watson 3. Anthony McKenna 4=Pete Scholes 4=Tom Hunt 6. Daniel Williams 7. Nick Craigs
National Final 2023
Upper Tees: 2nd & 3rd September 2023
2022-2023 Rivers Qualifiers Entries, Results & Allocation spreadsheet
The 27th FIPS-Mouche European Fly Fishing Championships was held in Covilha, Portugal, from the 22nd-28th May, 2023.
Competing Teams
Belgium – Czech Republic – England – Finland – France – Ireland – Netherlands – Norway – Portugal – Slovakia – Spain
AT TEFF was represented by Bernie Maher (Captain/Manager), Joel Beeney, Del Spry, Mark Withyman & Andy Taylor.
Results
Session 1
In the first session Del Spry scored a 3rd place on the Upper Zêzere River, with Andy Taylor coming 5th on the Paul River. Mark Withyman saved a blank with one fish on the Lower Zêzere River to come 7th, ahead of Andy Croucher, fishing for Norway, who blanked. Joel Beeney blanked on the Alva River, while Bernie Maher also failed to catch on Rossim Lake. England were lying 10th out of 11 teams. France were in the top spot, with 15 placing points, ahead of Finland 2nd with 25pts, and Spain 3rd with 26pts.
Session 2
In the second session Andy Taylor came 3rd on the Lower Zêzere River with 2 fish, while Joel Beeney came 4th on Paul River, and Bernie Maher 6th on the Upper Zêzere River. Del Spry came 11th on the Alva River, despite catching, while on Rossim Lake Mark Withyman was one of five competitors who failed to catch. England moved up one place into 9th (out of 11 teams). France remained in 1st place, with 34 placing points, but a good performance saw Spain move into 2nd with 44pts, with the Slovak Republic 3rd on 49pts. Nicolas Abadia (Spain) led the Individual rankings, with two 1st places, ahead of Lionel Fouvier (France) in 2nd with 3pts, and Erlend Vivelid Nilssen (Norway) 3rd with 4pts.
Session 3
In the third session Andy Taylor saved a blank at Rossim Lake to come 7th, while Bernie Maher also scored a 7th place on the Alva River, and Del Spry came 8th on the Paul River. Mark Withyman caught on the Upper Zêzere River but still came 11th, while Joel Beeney failed to catch on the Lower Zêzere River. England stayed at 9th, while Ireland, who had been in 5th place, dropped back to 7th. France remain in 1st place, with 55 placing points, with Spain still at 2nd with 66pts, and the Slovak Republic 3rd on 72pts. Individually, a 2nd place in the session saw Nicolas Abadia (Spain) remain 1st with 4 placing points, with Lionel Fouvier (France) still in 2nd with 5pts, and Daniel Martin (Spain) moving up into 3rd place with 6pts.
Session 4
The fourth session saw the fishing pressure apparently start to affect the results. Mark Withyman scored a 5th place on the Alva River, while Bernie Maher also came 5th on the Paul River. On the Lower Zêzere River Del Spry was one of six competitors who failed to catch, while Andy Taylor was one of the seven who blanked on the Upper Zêzere River. On Rossim Lake all 11 competitors in the session failed to catch, which included Joel Beeney. England dropped one place to 10th, while the French held on to their lead with 86 placing points, with Spain remaining in 2nd place with 96pts, and Finland moving into 3rd with 106pts. A blank on the lake saw Nicolas Abadia (Spain) fall out of the top three, which was now led by Lionel Fouvier (France) with 8 placing points, with Vincent Mathieu (Belgium) 2nd with 11pts, and Daniel Martin (Spain) remaining 3rd with 12pts. Unlike Vincent and Daniel though, Lionel was yet to fish his lake session, so the final session could see these positions altered once again.
Final Session
In the last session Andy Taylor came 4th on the Alva River, Mark Withyman came 4th on the Paul River, and Joel Beeney came 5th on the Upper Zêzere River. Bernie Maher failed to catch on the Lower Zêzere River, and Del Spry was one of the six competitors who blanked on Rossim Lake, where only seven fish were caught in the session. One of these was caught by Lionel Fouvier (France), which gave him the 4pts he needed to become European Individual Champion, 1pt ahead of Vincent Mathieu (Belgium) in 2nd with 13pts, and Daniel Martin (Spain) 3rd with 15pts. England finished the competition in 9th place with 194 placing points, behind Ireland in 8th with 185pts, whose team member Robbie Phelan won the final session on the lake with 2 fish. France ended up European Champions with 111pts, getting four of their five team members in the top 15, with Spain in silver with 130pts, and Finland bronze with 139pts.
Sectors
Sector 1 – Upper Zêzere River
The upper sector of the Zêzere is a typical mountain river. The sector has an approximate extension of 8 km. Composed of wells and currents, a fish community mostly of wild trout, as well as repopulated for this event. The river passes over an essentially granite soil, embedded in a pronounced valley.
Sector 2 – Alva River
The river Alva also has its source in Serra da Estrela. The typology at the championship site is a river regulated by a dam. It presents a great diversity of water types and requires fishermen to know different techniques.
Sector 3 – Paul River
Ribeira do Paul is a tributary of the river Zêzere. From its source, also in Serra da Estrela, it presents a great diversity in terms of water type. It has an approximate length of 7km. In most of your catches, although they are small/medium sized trout, don’t be surprised if you get the trophy of a lifetime!
Sector 4 – Lower Zêzere
The Baixo Zêzere sector is a larger version of the Alto Zêzere, but with increased difficulty for competition. Clear waters, with different types of structures and current speeds. Very scary trout, with some trophies there! It will also take population reinforcement with farmed trout exclusively for the test.
Sector 5 – Rossim Lake
The Lagoa do Vale do Rossim sector is the lakes sector of this competition. Located at an altitude of more than 1000 meters, it offers stunning landscapes in the heart of Serra da Estrela.
You can find more information at the Championship website here>> and also on their Facebook page here>> and on their Instagram page here>>
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
AT TEFF are pleased to announce that Withern Mill Trout Farm and Fishery are new TEFF sponsors. Owners Matthew and Sara (below) have kindly agreed to support not just TEFF, but also England Ladies.
Withern Mill Trout Farm & Fishery, Withern, Lincs, is beautifully located on the edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds, and surrounded by stunning countyside. It offers five intellligently designed lakes, regularly stocked with rainbow and blue trout from 2lbs to 10lbs, and offering a varied day’s fishing for everyone, from novice to expert. Along with half a mile of the Great Eau River, holding beautiful grayling and wild brown trout.
A holiday cottage, plus a five site Camping and Caravan Club site, is also available for bookings.
You will find more information on their website here>>
Withern Mill Trout Farm, Church Lane, Withern, Lincs LN13 0NG Tel: 01507 450356 Mob: 0776025557 Email: info@withernmilltroutfarm.co.uk Website: http://www.withernmilltroutfarm.co.uk
Angling Trust Team England Fly Fishing 