Angling Trust Team England Fly Fishing

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.

Full Results

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

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

Full International team details on IFFA website

Wales put in great performance to cope with a big change in river conditions on the day of the match.

1st Wales         31 fish     1435 pts       43 placings

2nd England    18 fish      829 pts        64 placings

3rd Scotland      9 fish      401 pts         66 placings

4th Ireland        7 fish      330 pts         67 placings

Full Results: iffarivers2012

Report by Mike Tinnion: RIVERS INTERNATIONAL, RIVER TAY, SCOTLAND

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.

(See FIPS-Mouche Rules Competitionrules 2011 English_v2 and Rule Modifications RM SLOVENIA 2012 – final eng-1.)

Official practise was on the Monday and Tuesday 4th-5th, with the competition taking place from Wednesday-Friday 6th-8th June.

There is also more information in the Championship Bulletin, Sector Maps and a Guide to Fly Fishing in Slovenia

Fly Fishing in Slovenia

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 session3 ahead 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 teams taking 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!

Report by Paul Page 2012 World report

Sunday 27th May

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.

Full Results: 120527 SEFF Qualifier

Sunday 20th May

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.

Results: Weigh in sheet

Sunday 20th May

On a hard day where there were only 2 limits and nobody blanked, the winner of the SFF Chew qualifier was John Braithwaite with 8 fish for 28lb 11oz (including Time Bonus). Biggest Fish of the day was a 5lb 2oz Rainbow falling to 4th placed Tony Hill. 104 fish were caught at an average of 4 per rod and an average weight of 2lb 15oz.

Full Results: chew qualifier

Friday 18th May

The Team England FF team for this year’s Spring Loch-style Home International on Lough Sheelin consisted of:

Martin Introna (Manager), Bill Rankin (Captain), Paul Angell, Sean Brooks, Steve Collins, Ian Donaldson, David Drake, Stephen Ellerbeck, Martin Greatbach, Kim Green, Mark Howard, Mark MacLeod, Colin Martin, John Stevenson and Mark Withyman.

Early reports are that Ireland won Gold with Keiron Thomas of Wales taking the Brown Bowl with 7 fish.

1st Ireland        34 fish        2076 points

2nd Wales        32 fish         2004 points

3rd Scotland     27 fish         1692 points

4th England      13 fish          788 points

Brown Bowl: Kieron Thomas (Wales)

H. Emyr Lewis Trophy: Frank Kelly (Ireland)

Full Results: iffa2012spring

Video featuring the victorious Irish side

TEFF Boat Manager Martin Introna comments, “Fantastic week despite our result but hey! Well done to all the medal winners! The England team with Captain Bill Rankin worked their socks off and the new caps (all 7 of them) including our reserve performed like seasoned internationals! We knew we needed to average 2 fish per man and were around that figure during our practice days…we did our best but were beaten by some great teams! Well done to home nation Ireland who closely won from a strong Welsh team effort followed by Scotland and England who absolutely worked like troopers and were a credit to TEFF. I’m sure some will rejoice in our position but let me tell you this, once you have sampled this type of fishing in the wonderful country of Ireland, please take time to consider how massively different it is to our heavily stocked reservoirs where in some cases you would bag up using bunch of keys tied to a hook…Ireland is all about the fishing…not the ‘catching’! We all made many new friends and will hopefully keep in touch. Stan Headley and I had a terrific time as newbie managers and learned a lot through our experience. Our guys took a good look at our spoon…I insisted…as it should be a long time before we have the opportunity again…we shall return!

Thanks to Crover Hotel for their fantastic service to our party and to Micheal Callaghan for all the organising and lastly to Lawrence Finney for the framed flies given to the managers, a complete star of a man!

PS, I would like to thank all my mates who are sending all the joke ‘spoon’ texts to me…as expected they are all English apart from one who shall remain nameless (Boo)…Love the banter! I give it so I have to take it ha ha! One thing is for sure, and I am positive I speak for the whole English squad, if we could do it all again knowing we would still come back with the ‘Spoon’…we would swim over!”

Martin adds “Massive thanks John Ball for all his guidance and help for me personally in making this a trip to remember”.

At the Team England FF AGM last November (See Report TEFF AGM 27-11-11) it was decided not to enter a team into the European Championships (a competition we would have very little chance of doing well in) and instead organise a training trip to Norway, the venue of next year’s World Championships, to be better prepared for this event. Even so, TEFF still covered this year’s European event.

12 teams took part in this year’s event, which was held from the 13th-20th May, near to the Montebelo Aguieira resort. (See more details here: 18th European Fly Fishing Championship – Portugal(1)) It was held over five river sessions, on the Rio Mondeggo, Rio Alva and Rio Ceira.

France took an early lead after the first session, ahead of Spain, Romania, Italy and the Czech Republic. Ireland were 7th with Scotland 10th. TEAMS

Individually, Ludovic Chaomleffel of France led the first session, with Thomas O’Connor of Ireland in 4th place and Kenny Riddell of Scotland 19th. INDIVIDUAL

The Portugal 2 team won the second session, ahead of the Czech Republic and Italy. Scotland were 9th and Ireland 11th. TEAMS-1 Individually, three Portugese, an Italian and a Finnish competitor were in the top five places. INDIV

After two sessions, the Czech Republic were leading, with Portugal 2 second and France third. Ireland were lying 9th and Scotland 11th. TEAMS 1&2(1)

In the Individuals, former World and European Champion Pavel Chyba (Czech Republic) was 1st, with Ludovic Chaomleffel (France) 2nd and Laurent Gagneux (France) 3rd. Thomas O’Connor (Ireland) was 13th and Keith Renton (Scotland) 27th. INDIV 1&2

Spain won the third session Teams Individuals which put them into 1st place overall, with the Czech Republic 2nd and Portugal 2 3rd. Ireland were lying 10th and Scotland 11th Teams cummulative.

Individually, former World Champion Martin Droz (Czech Republic) was now lying 1st, with Ludovic Chaomleffel (France) 2nd and David Garcia (Spain) 3rd. Thomas O’Connor (Ireland) was 20th and Keith Renton (Scotland) 34th. Individuals cummulative

The Czech Republic won the fourth session TEAM INDIV and overtook Spain to lead with 74 points to third 76, with Italy 3rd on 86 points, and France and Portugal both on 97 points. TEAM CUMUL(1)

After winning his session Martin Droz (Czech Republic) remained top Individual, two place points ahead of David Garcia (Spain) in 2nd, Valerio Santi Amantini (Italy) 3rd, and Pavel Chyba (Czech Republic) 4th. Thomas O’Connor (Ireland) was 20th and Kenny Riddell (Scotland) 37th. INDIV CUMUL

Spain also won the fifth and final session TEAMS while Martin Droz recorded another session win, as did Valerio Santi Amantini INDIVS.

Final Results are: 1. Spain 89 pts 2. Czech Republic 98 pts 3. Italy 107 pts 4. Portugal 2 125 pts 5. France 129 pts 6. Poland 153 pts 7. Portugal 1 163 pts 8. Romania 179 pts 9. Finland 213 pts 10. Scotland 221 pts 11. Ireland 237 pts 12. Netherlands 258 pts TEAMS CUMULATIVE

Individuals: European Champion: Martin Droz (Czech Republic) 2. Valerio Santi Amantini (Italy) 3. David Garcia (Spain). Thomas O’Connor (Ireland) finished 31st and Kenny Riddell (Scotland) 39th. INVID CUMULATIVE.