James Atkinson, Oliver Avis, Oscar Boatfield, Carl Malpass and Fen Oakley represented Team England FF in the recent World Youth Championships in Lozere, France.
Apparently this was an extremely tough competition, fishing for pressurised wild fish. The final results were: 1st Czech Republic 2nd USA 3rd France, with Ireland 5th and England 8th. Individually, Martin Musil (Czech) was World Youth Champion, 2nd Lukas Starychfojtu and 3rd Austen Randecker (USA).
The Rivers National took place on the upper beats of the East and West Dart (courtesy of the Duchy of Cornwall and the West Country Rivers Trust). Heavy rain and unseasonally low temperatures made practice sessions testing, but on the day the sun shone and the fishing excelled, with a total of 540 measurable fish caught.
The winner, Andy Croucher (Southern Fly Fishers) won each of the four sessions, scoring an unbeatable 4 points. In 2nd and 3rd places were Lewis Hendrie and Alex Bobba (Peninsula Federation), 4th was Andrew Scott (Northern Federation) and 5th Paul Lee (Southern Fly Fishers). The top five go on to represent England in next year’s Home Rivers International against Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
I am sure that you are all aware that TEFF continues to raise significant funds by attending various shows where we sell new and secondhand tackle, fly tying materials, clothing, etc. John Ball is the mastermind and driving force behind these funding activities aided by Simon Lucas and Malcolm Price; other volunteers help man the stands at the shows, me included.
There is a huge amount of work done by John in advance of these shows packaging & pricing all of the goods in such a way they can be displayed in a professional manner; without this work by John and his team we would have significantly less funding to help defray the costs for the TEFF teams and personal contributions would rise significantly.
Whilst discussing funding I think it is appropriate that I point out that the officials of TEFF are all volunteers and give their time freely and also do not claim any expenses and hence, whilst fulfilling their duties, they are always out of pocket. All funds raised go to help fund Team England Fly Fishing in International Fly Fishing Competitions.
This is the BRFI show hosted at Stafford in June this year.
The 2012 CLA Game Fair has been cancelled because of a water logged site. This is a big blow to us as this is one of our major fund raisers and as such will reduce the available funds for next year’s competitions. We are looking into other ways to raise funds; one suggestion is to list some of our stock on this website so that people who are interested can contact us to purchase the items.
If anybody has any ideas on fund raising or has unwanted tackle, fly tying tools/materials, fishing clothing, etc. please contact me or John.
Me : crc@qsiuk.com John : j.ball50@btinternet.com
Clive Collier
Chairman TEFF
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Bewl Water has announced that they have introduced any method trout fishing, this is due to falling revenues which have made the fishery non profitable and hence the need to generate more income.
Though this is regrettable, it is a fact that many businesses are struggling in these difficult times, I personally applaud them for taking action to save the fishery from closing.
I have received a number of phone calls complaining about this course of action and questioning whether the Loch Style National and the Spring International should be held at Bewl. It is a known fact that without competitions most of our reservoirs would find it difficult to make ends meet, so for TEFF to withdraw would be counter productive and would cause the fishery further problems, so TEFF will continue to support Bewl Water in whatever way we can so that the fishing is preserved.
I would also like to point out that in the past I have fished an International on Trawsfynydd in Wales which is an any method trout fishery and noticed no difference to the fly fishing. Also I have spoken to some of the Hanningfield guys who say it makes no difference to them that it is an any method fishery.
What I would like is that our fly fishing community support Bewl by making a bit of effort to go fishing there, it is a stunningly beautiful fishery full of hard fighting blues, normal rainbows and brown trout.
Fifty entrants competed for places in this year’s national final to be held at Bewl Water in September.
Fishing had been challenging for several days prior to this event with plenty of fish showing on top but proving difficult to catch. Trout had been feeding hard on needle fry but a well-presented fly that landed in their path, would tempt them to take. After days of windy cool weather match day saw a complete change to sunshine and flat calm making it harder to get close enough to the moving fish. Top rod on the day was Stafford angler and England International Paul Angell who took 7 trout for a total weight of 16lb 13ozs. Also catching 7 trout and finishing second was David Currie from Wilmslow in Cheshire. His fish weighed in at 15lb 5ozs.
Best fish on the day fell to Peterborough angler Leon Smith who landed a specimen of 5lb 9ozs.
Thanks should go to the staff at Blithfield for hosting this event and providing contestants with a buffet afterwards.
The rod average on the day was 2.43 and the average weight of the trout was 2lb 4ozs.
The first 14 have qualified for the National Final.
Westlow Mere are holding a Charity Day on Sunday 8th July, with proceeds going to the Northwest Air Ambulance. Supported by Orvis, the day will also celebrate 30 years of fly fishing at Westlow Mere, and feature fly casting and fly tying demos/tuition, a fly casting competition, celebrities, fly tyers, plus a barbeque and refreshments all day. Entry £20 (2 fish). Full Details
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Team England FF were represented in this competition by Mike Tinnion (manager), Phil Dixon (captain), Tony Baldwin, Mike Dixon, Terry Phillips, John Tyzack and Scott Nellins (reserve). More information
Paul Page (captain/manager), John Horsey, Phil Dixon, Simon Robinson, Howard Croston, John Tyzack and Scott Nellins (reserve) represented Team England FF in the 2012 World Championships 2012 World team profiles
There is more information at the official site as well as their Facebook page. The competition was fished over four river sessions, on the Sava Bohinjka, Sava and Kokra rivers, and one lake session, on the lake by Most na Soči. 30 teams were registered to take part.
England made a good start in the first session, finishing 4th behind Spain in 1st place, Finland 2nd, and Slovakia 3rd. Scotland were 8th and Ireland 23rd. Teams 1session Howard Croston was 3rd individual, with John Horsey 5th, both winning their respective sessions, Howard on the lower Sava Bohinjka river, John on the Lake at Most na Soči. Dick Logan of Scotland also won his session on the upper Sava Bohinjka river and was placed 2nd overall. Individuals 1st session
The Czech Republic won the second session session2 teams and now lead the competition with Bosnia & Herzegovina 2nd and Italy 3rd. England are now 8th, with Scotland 9th and Ireland 23rd. session1&2 teams Howard Croston followed his win in the first session with a 2nd place session2 indiv and is now in 1st place overall session1&2 indiv with Phil Dixon 23rd and John Horsey 25th. Dick Logan (Scotland) is 8th, Jake Harvey (Scotland) 11th and Michael Twohig (Ireland) 43rd.
Belgium won the third session teams session3ahead of the Czech Republic who increased their overall lead, with Spain in 2nd place, and France 3rd. England are currently 11th, with Scotland 10th and Ireland 24th. teams after session3 Individually, the most outstanding feat was from Bertrand Jacquemin (France) who scored 76 fish on the Lower Sava Bohinjka river, where Phil Dixon had 23 to come 6th. session3 indiv Howard Croston had a good session on the lake scoring 4 fish to come 4th, and retains his overall individual lead, ahead of 2011 World Champion Valerio Santi Amantini (Italy) and David Arcay Fernandez (Spain). Phil Dixon is 15th and Dick Logan (Scotland) is 9th. indiv after session3
France won the fourth session session4 teamstaking them to 2nd in front of Italy 3rd and behind the Czech Republic at 1st. England moved up to 8th, ahead of Scotland at 11th with Ireland 23rd teams after 4 sessions Individually, John Tyzack won his session on the Kokra session4 indiv Howard Croston came 9th on the Sava, dropping to 6th overall. The first three were 1st David Arcay Fernandez (Spain), 2nd Valerio Santi Amantini (Italy) and 3rd Tomas Adam (Czech Republic). Jake Harvey (Scotland) was 24th indiv after 4 sessions
In the fifth and final session France slipped back teams in session5, finishing 4th, with the final top three placings being 1st Czech Republic 2nd Italy and 3rd Spain. England finished 7th, Scotland 13th and Ireland 25th teams after session5 Despite a section win by Amantini indiv in session5, David Arcay Fernandez (Spain) hung onto his first place to become World Champion, with 2011 World Champion and 2012 European silver medallist Valerio Santi Amantini (Italy) 2nd, Tomas Adam (Czech Republic) 3rd and Howard Croston 4th. indiv after sesion5 Well done Howard!
Hot, virtually windless conditions welcomed the 33 competitors taking part in the first of the South East FFF’s two qualifiers at Bewl Water. Even so, one or two quick fish were taken before any sort of a consistent wind got up. Thereafter the pattern appeared to be quick bursts of action for the occasional boat with long spells of grind-it-out for the rest. The Dam appeared the favourite starting-spot for many, and it was here that Bewl club chairman Peter Radula-Scott got off to an excellent start with half a dozen fish on buzzers. This bag was only topped by Harry Fox’s five fish, mostly taken in a hectic spell on the slime line when sport appeared to have slowed up for most others. Bob Barden, Pete’s boat partner came third thanks to a near-four pounder, followed by more five fish bags to Hugh Frew, Steve Collins, Vince Brooks (making the most of a late spell) and Mike Heritage, one of the few to risk the trip down to Rosemary Lane, which paid off well for him. The second of this two-part qualifier will be on Sunday 1st July, when for many there’ll still be everything to play for.
14 anglers competed in the Northern qualifier heat this week with the top three anglers qualifying for the final to be staged at Bewl Water Kent in September. Congratulations to winner Tom Robson who caught 13 fish in very challenging conditions. Second place went to Peter Appleby who caught 7 fish and third place went to Ted Fenwick who landed 4 fish. The best areas on the day were Benny Shank, Belling and Tower Knowe. The best tactic was to use a slow sinking line teamed with small lures and wet flies fished slowly.
Our right to fish is under serious threat. Little by little our right is being eroded. What are you going to do when you can no longer go fishing, play Tiddlywinks?
Individual Membership is £25 per year, which is less than 50 pence a week, not a lot to protect your right to fish and ensure there are fish to catch!
Please don't be apathetic, join the fight to save your fishing.
Join The Angling Trust Today
Angling Trust Team England Fly Fishing 