Team Fish Weight1. ACA Masterline 42 87

Day one saw the best of the fishing. ACA Masterline ended the day in “pole” position, with 42 fish for over 87 pounds. Ron Gent came in as the third individual with his ten fish limit bag weighing 21lbs 7.5oz, and the rest of the team supported him well. Thirteen pounds separated the ACA team from second placed Orchill Blue Fins, who performed marvellously to catch 37 trout weighing over 74 pounds. Third were the ever-consistent Bewl Bridge Fly Fishers with 36 fish and about a pound behind. Here is a list of the top ten after day one: Team Fish Weight1. ACA Masterline 42 87-082. Orchill Blue Fins 37 74-14.53. Bewl Bridge FF 36 73-074. The Springwater Segdoune 30 69-125. Cormorant FF 33 65-036. Ospreys 26 58-017. Llanilar Ty-Nant AA 30 56-15.58. Fish Hawks 27 56-089. Perth RASC AC 25 52-06.510. Blagdon FF Cortland 24 50-10So, Cormorants were indeed well placed; there were Scottish teams lying in second and fourth places; a local team was in top spot as in the Peregrine/Nomad; past winners Weald of Kent and Blagdon were out of contention.The second day of the competition proved to be much more difficult and a few anglers even ventured away from the stockie shoals. As the water was clearing in the North Arm, those who ventured far enough found some serious moving fish – and had a good time catching them. Weald of Kent were in fact the team to benefit most from driving around the lake. They won Day two by miles! Their thirty fish weighed over 72 pounds, but as the team were so far behind it was only good enough to push them into seventh spot.ACA Masterline stuck with the way that they know best and caught 21 fish for the six-man team, and this added to their first day haul proved to be plenty to make the title in theirs. Bewl Bridge FF moved up one spot to overall second place. The team caught consistently, though Ray Burt was the star performer for them with 16 trout over the two days.The most amazing “comeback” was recorded by my friends in the Blagdon team, who were in tenth place after day one, but recovered to claim the bronze medal after catching 28 trout on day two – that was the second best catch for a team on the day. No one star in their team on this occasion, just good consistent “bagging”.Of the Scottish teams, Orchill dropped from second to eighth, whilst Segdoune dropped just one place to fifth.Dave Shipman and his team ended up in tenth place, with Dave himself blanking and “Curly” only managing to catch one fish on the second day! Obviously things were tough!Here is the breakdown of the final placings: Team Fish Weight1. ACA Masterline 63 131 – 122. Bewl Bridge FF 59 114 – 93. Blagdon FF Cortland 52 109 – 114. Ospreys 49 107 – 145. The Springwater Segdoune 49 107 – 11.56. Llanilar Ty-Nant AA 54 107 – 07. Fulling Mill Weald of Kent 46 104 – 18. Orchill Blue Fins 52 102 – 12.59. Fish Hawks 46 93 – 110.Cormorant FF 45 90 – 1011.Perth RASC AC 44 90 – 612.Brosna Anglers 38 85 – 1313.Thack AC 39 83 – 414.Margam FFC 34 68 – 215.FVV Belgium 32 64 – 1316.Shetland AA 33 62 – 14.517.Team Sunburst 27 59 – 7.5On the individual front, top rod over the two days was Robert Gilbert of Thack AC with 15 trout weighing (with time bonus) 37lbs 7oz. Second was Ron Gent with 15 for 32lbs 11, and third was Robert Baldie who had 14 trout for 30lbs 14.5oz.

Ian Kelly of Brosna Anglers just pipped Ian Wilson of Team Sunburst for the best fish in the final. The Irishman’s fish weighed in at 5lbs 10.5oz, whilst Ian Wilson’s was ONE OUNCE LESS!