So for the teams reaching the finals, there will be much preparation

So for the teams reaching the finals, there will be much preparation – practice sessions at the host venue, fly-tying and generally checking over the tackle to ensure that everything is up together.I have been fortunate enough this year to work alongside John Horsey in the organising of The Peregrine International Team Challenge (to give it its full name). I have entered every competitor’s catch onto the computer, I have checked and double checked the results, and I have to say that it has been very interesting to be on the “other side” of the weighing scales. It surprised me at first to see the amount of preparation that John has to put into the organising of the event, even at the match stage of things. We have had fifteen qualifying rounds so far (there is one round to be held at Grafham on July 31st ). We started at Rutland on May 1st, with 34 teams. Inauspiciously, one angler due to fish the competition took a phone call on his mobile ‘phone on the way to the match, and had to divert his attention to his role as a police officer. Thankfully John Marshall came to the rescue and found a willing angler to fill the boat space, otherwise I would have had to “suffer” a day afloat on Rutland in May! The water fished magnificently that day, and the anglers brought an amazing 822 trout to the scales. Individual winner Mike Gunnell had two superb 4lb. fish in his bag, whilst Alan Hayward won the best fish prize with a 4lb 5oz rainbow. Four teams won through to the final –Cormorant FF, Rutland Water FF, Potteries Fly-tying and Team Terminal Tackle.We moved on to Chew Valley (the home water for John and me). Here, over the three days of competition, 192 anglers fished and brought 967 trout to the scales. The best catch over the three days went to Mike Walker, who was just about the only angler to “risk” fishing dries. He also fished in great pain as he had put out a disc in his back, necessitating pain killing tablets every couple of hours. John and I managed to get afloat for a couple of hours on the second day of the competition, and drifting across the middle of the lake – anywhere that there was a wind lane – we found trout ready to come up for our dries.At Bewl Water in Kent we had 104 anglers fishing, but as one was delayed in traffic I had to fish for an hour or so. It was a pleasant enough morning and I managed to rise a couple of fish to my team of dry flies, but the most successful fishermen that day used slow sinking lines. John and I always take a rod and reel with us on our trips, but as we have to load his car with the range of sponsors “Peregrine” rods and “Nomad” clothing, we don’t bring our full tackle bags with us. This presents an interesting situation actually, as it means that we can check out our dry fly tactics against the competition methods being used on the day. We try to keep as far away from the competition boats as we can, apart from when we do the fly checks.At Llandegfedd there were eighteen teams fishing. In the morning, during the regular briefing, John warned the competitors that a thunderstorm was forecast to pass our way sometime during the day. Now carbon-fibre rods and electrical storms don’t go too well together, so he gave the anglers the option of coming back to the marquee that Hyder provided for the weighing in, or going ashore at the most convenient spot. When the thunderstorm came over it provided amazing scenes. Several anglers took the option of coming ashore for a break, but most carried on fishing. Thankfully everyone was fine (though incredibly wet), and there was a pretty good humoured weigh-in that evening. The changing weather made for a difficult day’s fishing, but there was still a decent rod average of over two fish per man.The long drive to Keilder Water was next on our calendar. John was suffering from food poisoning on the day of our drive up there, so I had to accept the job of driving his smart “Discovery”, a pleasant car to drive compared with my battered old Rover. John had managed to rustle up enough anglers to ensure two days of competition on this vast water, and the water authority were most helpful – even supplying buffet meals after each event. Ray Horne, fishing for Osprey Team Nomad, managed to catch two five pound rainbows having also caught a five pounder during his practice session the day before.In North Wales the fine Llyn Brenig hosted two days of the challenge. On the 18th of June many of the 232 fish were caught on dry fly tactics, but the weather changed on the next day, and slow sinkers were very much the favoured lines. I went out fishing with Patrick Arnold (I left John tying flies for his Rivers fishing trip to the Czech Republic) and we both managed to catch a fish. We tried down towards the Island, as there were no competition boats there. However, when we turned to come back up the llyn, we realised that the wind had gathered in strength and it was a wet and wild journey back. As we turned into the relative calm of the yacht club bay, I spotted a yacht break its moorings. We did the decent thing and chased after it to try to bring it back, but it was no easy task, as the Brenig boats are not huge, and the yacht was an eighteen footer! We received some strange looks from the competitors, but got the yacht safely back onto a mooring. We are waiting to hear if we can claim salvage rights, as it would surely have been wrecked had we not chased and returned it.Loch Leven, the mighty home of competition fishing came next. In Scotland anglers are probably even more devoted to the pursuit of their sport than anywhere else you are likely to fish. Where else would you find sane human beings leaving their families to go on a “night session” on their local loch – fishing from 11 pm through to 5 am, or doing the early session from 3 am through to 10 am? On Leven we had two competitions in one day, the first fishing from 4 am through to 10.30 am, and the second one fishing from 11am until 6 pm. John and I were amazed to see so many wide-awake happy fellows preparing for their early session. We had only managed to get about three hours of sleep! Once the competitors had set off to their starting drifts, we had the option of returning to our hotel for a few welcome hours of sleep, or of a few hours of fishing at a magical time of the day. Lock Leven is not renown as a top-of-the-water fishery, but when we were deciding whether to fish or sleep, we saw two fish rise, gently supping down some small flies trapped in the surface film. That was enough for me, and John woke up remarkably quickly too. We set up our rods in double quick time, jumped into the nearest spare boat and motored out towards Castle Island. There was an amazing “rise” going on, with fish sipping spent caenis from any bit of water that was slightly calm (wind lanes were definitely the best bet for these fish). Bear in mind that 36 boats had driven through this area not fifteen minutes earlier. This didn’t have any effect on the fish as they were totally preoccupied. In the short spell that we had out there John boated five good rainbows and a couple of browns, whilst I caught three lovely rainbows. Several of John’s fish came when he moved his team of dries – a practice that neither of us tends to follow. There were 159 fish weighed in after the morning session, and the quality of the rainbow trout in the loch is just fantastic. The afternoon session produced even better bags of fish and better quality too. 72 anglers weighed in 236 fish – David Chalmers catching 15 trout for 23lb 5 oz, and George Ingles weighing in a beautiful 4lb 2oz rainbow. John and I couldn’t resist seeing if the trout we saw in the early morning were still around in the afternoon. There were some great wind-lanes crossing the loch, but only the odd fish moved in them. John had a couple of fish “move” to his flies, but I landed the only fish of our afternoon trip – a cracking rainbow of about three and a half pounds.Hanningfield always seems to be windy and bright when I go there. July 10th was no exception! Round fifteen was the first one in which an angler failed to turn up – his team suspected that he was going to let them down. We couldn’t find a substitute, so I was called into action again. It is tough work assisting John in these competitions! Again I only had the floater in my pocket. Again it produced a lovely three-pound trout for me just twenty minutes into the competition. Unfortunately I had to return to the shore to do my work on the computer, so I missed the one spell of cloud that came over at about one o’clock.The teams that have won through to the final at Rutland, will have the pleasure of fishing two sessions – one in the evening, followed by an early morning start the next day. We all look forward to some moving fish – especially if they are of the quality that the reservoir has been producing so far this season. It was the venue for the first of the season’s Home Internationals. England proudly notched up another impressive victory. The English team landed 81 trout, to Wales’ 69, Scotland’s 47 and Ireland’s 45. Chris Howitt scored a second “Brown Bowl” victory in a row, to give him four outright victories – an achievement unmatched by any other angler in the competition’s history. All of his fish at Rutland came to dry flies, and included in his bag was the best fish of the competition – 5lb 10 oz.I promised last month that I would look at the tackle that competition anglers use these days. Starting with the rod, ten footers are the most commonly used. Generally speaking, the more expensive brands tend to be the ones used by most of the serious anglers. Personally I have used Orvis rods for the last 12 years, but that is because I have been fortunate enough to have won four of them! I am getting some great reports about the new “Enigma” rods that are marketed by Fishtec, but I have yet to try one. Peregrine rods are a quality product, and in the range there is bound to be something to suit everyone; I particularly like the S1 that they produce. Roger McCourtney is responsible for this company, and he tells me that at present he cannot produce his rods quickly enough. I have tended to use nine to nine and a half foot rods more and more in my fishing, whilst I have also tended to fish lighter and lighter. I now use almost exclusively 5 weight lines if I am on floaters, but 6 weight if I have to go below the surface. Interestingly, I was talking to Chris Howitt about his great achievement in the Home International, and he said that he too fishes 5 weight lines when on dry flies! Reels are mainly for storing lines, so as long as the reel comes with an easily changed spare spool, then it will be suitable. A complete range of sinking lines needs to be in the bag, along with various nylons. Fluorocarbons are the “In” things at the moment – having spent last year in New Zealand though, I haven’t had enough time to assess them fully. I have some strong views on leaders – I will talk about them next month.July 20th, 21st and 22nd sees the English finalist in the Hardy competition fishing at Rutland to try to secure a place in the International Final. I will give a breakdown of that in my next article.Tight lines.

Martin Cottis