Angling Trust Team England Fly Fishing

Sunday 26th May 

Vince Brooks made the most of a tactical move from Monty’s Seat to Rosemary Lane to take the top spot in the first of the South East Federation’s loch-style qualifiers on Bewl Water, ahead of boat partner Nick Cox. On a day that saw light winds and mostly bright conditions, 28 anglers returned an impressive average of more than 5 fish per head, with 8 finishers. Clear water conditions saw buzzers and nymphs take a lot of fish, although Boobies and Blobs also worked, fished on a variety of lines including floater, midge-tip, intermediates and DI3. A promising start saw sport slow for many as the haze burnt off, but fish started moving again when this returned in the afternoon. The second qualifier will be fished on 23rd June, with the points total from both days determining who goes through.

Full Results: 130526 SEFF First Leg(1)

(Image courtesy of Ray French, South East FF & Bewl Bridge FFC Bewl Angle)

Rivers National Organiser Denis Symonds (Peninsular Federation) has announced the allocated number of qualifiers for this year’s Rivers National on the River Dart, 13th-14th July.

Numbers of qualifiers from each federation are based on a percentage of their entry as regards the overall entry numbers (98), calculated against the total number of National participants (32). As an example, the North 1 qualifier was fished by 7 anglers. 98 (overall entry numbers) divided by 7 = 14 (7.14%). 32 (number in National) divided by 14, or 7.14%, = 2.29, so 2 anglers qualify for the National from the North 1 qualifier. (Note: Half+ fractions are rounded up.)

Sunday 19th May 

14 anglers fished the Northern Federation’s River Ure qualifier on two Bolton Castle Estates beats at Wensley, North Yorkshire. Despite very heavy rainfall Saturday morning, the river condition was falling and clearing down.

Fred Bainbridge was the overall winner and became the Northern Federation’s River Ure Champion, 2nd Simon Robinson, 3rd Robbie Bell, 4th Dave Hudson, 5th Keith McAdam and 6th Pete Scholes.

Many thanks go to the Bolton Hall Estate for allowing us to fish their superb Wensley Dale river, and to Edd Greenwood for all the help he gave the anglers and myself (organiser Paul Page) to help make the qualifier a success.

Full report: 2013 River Ure Web site report

Full results: 2013 River URE River Qualifier results

Sunday 19th May

Alan Tonge reports that the Southern Fly Fishers enjoyed a fantastic day for fishing with the fish hard on the feed. A lot of overwintered, hard fighting fish were caught. This was the first time they tried a split Catch & Kill/Catch & Release format and it seemed to work well. Conditions were bright with a slight breeze which allowed a lot of floating line use. The majority of the fish were close in to the banks with Wick and Herons being the productive areas.

1st Dale Burgess (12 fish) 43-0-0

2nd Mark Withyman (12 fish) 42-5-0

3rd Mark Miles (12 fish) 42-1-0

4th Martin Burgess (12 fish) 41-15-0

5th Gary Haskins (12 fish) 41-5-0

Full Results: chewresultstestbw

1. Scotland (63 fish) 127-14-0

2. England (42 fish) 79-8-8

3. Wales (32 fish) 61-11-8

4. Ireland (21 fish) 42-3-8 

Best Basket: Peter Auchterlonie (Scotland) 9 fish for 20-5-0

Heaviest Trout: Richard Hooper (Wales) 3-3-0

English best basket: Roger Truscott 8 fish for 16-1-0 

Irish best basket: Francis McSharry 6 fish for 13-8-8

Scottish best basket: Peter Auchterlonie 9 fish for 20-5-0

Welsh best basket: Jason Heath 4 fish for 9-2-8

Full Results: iffa2013spring

Some practice days had seen strong winds, which did not help the fishing, but conditions improved with a moderate SSE the day before the match, which saw most teams do rather better. On match day, however, the wind swung round to a chilly NNE. Scotland nevertheless sealed a convincing victory, taking the top three individual spots. Overcast conditions saw the wind drop to a good nymphing speed, encouraging some competitors to take off the DI3 they went out on, to switch to the floater or midge-tip. Birds were active as a few areas saw heavy hatches of green midge, with fish holing up in tight pockets near the bank. Hook Straight saw the most boats, but Ferry Point and Monty’s Seat was also popular. The following represented Team England FF:

Richard Slater (captain), John Ball, Robert Barden, Paul Canning, Andy Croucher, Steve Cullen, Harry Fox, John Hardy, John Horsey, Simon Kidd, Paul Lee, Denis Symonds, Roger Truscott & John Tyzack, with Clive Collier (manager). Our congratulations to Scotland, and our thanks to Bewl Water management for providing such a fair venue, and to the Mercury Tunbridge Wells hotel, Pembury, for their hospitality.

(Images courtesy of Cliff Waters of Fishypics. Our thanks also go to photographer Alan Ward, Fieldsports Britain YouTube channel, and Andy Ford from Sky TV’s Tightlines, who also covered the event. Catch the Fieldsports Britain coverage here – from 16.13 onwards. You can catch the Tightlines broadcast as a podcast here)

Following a number of recent issues which had been raised and considered by TEFFIC our Loch Style Manager Martin Introna has decided that for personal reasons and in the best interests of our Teams that the best option was to resign as Loch Style Manager.

I’m sure you will join me in thanking Martin for all his work to date and wish him all the best for the future.

Clive Collier

Chairman Team England Fly Fishing

Sunday 28th April

The Federation of Peninsular Flyfishers held their annual qualifier, sponsored by Snowbee UK, Plymouth, in the beautiful setting of Blagdon Lake, Somerset. This year’s event took place in near perfect conditions, with overcast conditions and fairly light winds, if a little cold. With the lightish winds most anglers went out with floating lines and imitative flies as the fish were feeding on buzzers. Dave Grove, who was determined to catch all his fish on dries, managed to get his limit but not until late in the afternoon. The top bag on the day went to Cornish angler Paul Jones, a former winner of this competition, with 8 fish for a total bag weight of 28lbs 14ozs, which included a rainbow of 4lbs 1oz. Paul caught his fish using sinking lines and pulling tactics, after finding that this was the better method in practice. He won the Snowbee perpetual trophy and tackle from Snowbee UK. The quality of fishing at Blagdon has to be experienced to be appreciated. The rod average for this event was an astounding 7.7 fish per angler, with an average weight of 2lbs 9ozs. The total catch included 8 over 4lbs and 28 over 3lbs, and all fit, fighting rainbow trout, and for this Bristol Water should be congratulated.

2013 Blagdon Report

Full Results: Blagdon 2013 Results Summary

The Team England FF Bank Team for 2013 will be (right):

Phil Dixon (Captain); Glen Appleby; Howard Croston; Rob Frame; Tim Gilchrist (Reserve); Gordon Swain; Andy Taylor; and Alan Jenkins (Manager).

They will represent Team England FF at the Bank International in October at Lochter fishery, Inveruie, Aberdeenshire. 

Here they are (below) at a recent team squad day at Seighford Lakes, along with Jim Tuck, Bank Organiser, and Clothing Sponsor John Grant from Grantz Clothing,  who supplied the team outfits.

Westlow Mere, in conjunction with Coppenhall and Congleton Flyfishers, are holding a Charity Fishing Match on Sunday 19th May, in aid of Cancer Research UK. As well as the John Pass Cancer Research Trophy, there is a very generous prize list, including fly fishing tackle from Scierra worth £250, free fly fishing at a range of top class venues, plus vouchers for tackle, furniture, meals and accommodation from local hotels. Lunch break and refreshments available. Entrance Fee £25

Full Details: Westlow Mere Charity Event 2013

Bob Church, Trout Fisherman, November 2012

Tony Pawson was a much-loved sportsman. He had played football and cricket at the highest level, but it is for his contribution to fly-fishing for trout he was best known. In 1984 I qualified for England to fish in Spain along with Tony, he was elected captain. Tony was the perfect gentleman but also had a very competitive streak. It was clear to me England had the right captain in Tony. We were to fish the River Tormes in Salamanca. Going to Spain a week before the competition day gave us time to practise, the river was running high from flood. Instead of the usual dry fly method, Tony and the team opted to use slow sink lines and traditional English fly patterns such as the Black & Peacock Spider. Casting to the centre of the river and allowing the current to swing the flies into your downstream bank and slow figure-of-eight retrieve. We stuck to Tony’s decision and it worked. Tony won the whole event. Tony was the new World Fly Fishing individual champion and we as his team were a close runner up as second. So it was gold for Tony and silver for the team. Tony was presented with the largest cup trophy I had ever seen. It even had its own seat on the plane coming home. In 1987 he was the main organiser along with David Swatland in hosting the World Fly-fishing Championships in England. Results, England won gold on Grafham, Rutland and the River Test. Individuals, first, second, third, fourth, and sixth, missing one place only for a clean sweep. The best ever organised Championships. Finally Tony took the same team to Tasmania in 1988 where the terrain on the central plateau was tough. Tony’s team did it again managed by the late Geoff Clarkson. England won yet again. Tony also started the Commonwealth championships where it has grown from strength to strength with India hoping to compete next year. Tony brought joy to many people raising funds for charities and was always great to be around. A great legend and will be sadly missed.