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Angling Trust Loch Style Team Championships 2022

Read Time: 8 mins | Published: 30th June 2022 | Author: Rob Edmunds

During the winter of 2021 a group of like minded individuals decided we needed a fresh challenge. To us competition fishing is as much about the camaraderie, banter and the social side as it is the fishing. We wanted to be serious challengers rather than just turning up to participate in events.  As such we decided that we would form a new competition team with the aim to compete against the already established teams on the circuit and hopefully shake things up a little.

During the winter of 2021 “Fulling Mill Team Tequila” was spawned, a group of experienced anglers from all parts of the UK with one common interest “competition fishing”. For us this is a serious business and one that dominates our lives.  You may call it “geeky” but discussions regarding materials, hooks, flies, fly-lines, oxygen content and refining angling methods is part of our daily “Whats-Ap” banter….its fair to say we all live and breathe fishing and tackle.

The team!

The second big event on the competition anglers’ calendar was recently held over the weekend of June 25th and 26th at Draycote Water in Warwickshire, The Angling Trust Loch Style Championship, a six angler team event that offers substantial cash prizes for the winning teams.

The Angling Trust Loch Style Championship is fished to “International Rules” and scored on a full catch, measure and release basis with the match regulated by boat stewards. The combined team length of fish caught over the two days determines the overall result

The match consists of 3 x 3 hour sessions per day. During each session, one angler from each team will act as a boat steward for another team.  Every competitor must act as a boat steward once each day and compete for 2 x 3 hour sessions per day – it’s a unique format.

As a team we all practiced for a couple of days before the event. Identifying areas and methods. The searing temperatures with little wind in practice (32c) meant the water temperature had warmed significantly to around 18c and the fish had left the shallows finding comfort in the deeper, cooler water around B buoy and the Dam area. Our final day’s practice had gone well – we were all very confident. Our most successful method was fishing a Di-8 line (15 – 20 seconds down) with a single Cat’s Whisker Booby on a 8ft leader of 7lb Masterclass Flurocarbon, a very simple method but very productive and one we all excelled at, as it required long casts to be made in order to get the fly deep enough.

Match Day 1: Conditions had totally changed from the previous 3 days, the hot weather had deserted us and it was now overcast with a stiff 12 – 17mph wind. The change in conditions totally threw us. Would the fish still be deep or would they now be “top of the water” ??  Would we even be able to fish deep in the wind? There were arguments for and against pretty much all scenarios and representations were made vigorously……in short we didn’t know and our practice was actually now of little significance. We suspected there would be 2 distinct layers of fish, those in the top 4ft and those still holding deeper at 15 – 20ft. But if the cooler weather continued then more fish would come up in the water.

We decided to go for broke and put all our eggs in one basket. Conditions looked perfect, the wind was up and  from past experience we know that Draycote water is incredibly well stocked with a much higher stocking density of fish per acre compared to venues such as Rutland or Pitsford. We reasoned that a hight work rate when pulling lures “Tequila Boobies” on a fast intermediate line should guarantee us fish in the top 6ft, especially if we fished long drifts covering as much water as possible.

Preparing for day 1.

By the end of day 1 it was clear that we had made a grave error, 54 fish for the whole team meant that we were in 3rd place, some 16 fish behind the leaders at the halfway stage the “Renegades” who had performed well and amassed 70 fish.

It was clear that we had an uphill battle on day 2 and clearly had to rethink our tactics.

The unique format of this match means there are no secrets, all teams know all methods, flies, and areas that are producing fish very quickly – this is mainly due to the “team boatmen” who are able to watch and learn from the other competitors they are stewarding. We had to make use of this information and use it to our advantage.

We established that both the Renegades who had a commanding lead and the RAF Fish Hawks in second place were fishing the “Washing Line” method and concentrating their efforts in the shallower water around 20 – 70m off the banks. The area’s that were seemingly producing fish constantly were Hensborough Bank, Rainbow Corner and the Inlet.

The consistent fly-line seemed to be an Airflo 6ft Slow Tip or an Airflo 12ft Slow Tip, with a variety of nymphs on the droppers and a small booby on the point, a slow figure of 8 was then all that was needed to pick up fish consistently –  our “Pulling” tactics clearly wasn’t the most productive method.

Match Day 2: We shamelessly copied the tactics and methods from those teams above us. It was simple really we just had to fish the method better than everyone else. We had a lot of catching up to do and again decided to go for broke.

Just like the successful teams on Day 1 we opted to fish the “Washing Line” method on an Airflo 6ft Slow Tip. With a 22ft Leader of 10lb Fulling Mill Master Class Flurocarbon. We fished a small size 12 Foam Arsed Blob top dropper, with a size 12 Cocktail Booby on the point, in between we fished 2 buzzers. The Fritz used on the Fab and Booby is a new material currently being tested by Fulling Mill so we knew it was a unique colour that others may not have, it had been working well in practice and product testing and it may give us an edge if the fish had seen the same patterns repeatedly.

We knew there was a large shoal of fish in Rainbow Corner and around the Inlet but suspected they would “switch off” after an hour of so of angling. Especially as almost every boat was fishing the same area for the same fish, using almost identical tactics.

We hoped that we could have a good first session, reduce the lead the Renegades and RAF Fish Hawks held over us and apply some pressure to them. We were fully aware that in competition fishing just as in any sport “pressure” often leads to mistakes, especially in the final stages.

It started well for Team Tequila with bags of 15 and 12 fish to our boats in session 1. We were now only 4 fish behind the Renegades who were leading with 85 fish – who only added 14 fish to their overnight total. We had also leapfrogged the RAF Fish Hawks and moved in a convincing second placed position…..Pressure was now really mounting and as experienced anglers we knew what it feels like to be both hunter and prey in these situations.

A strong start during day 2!

Team Tequila is a blend of successful, seasoned competition anglers with a touch of youth, a dangerous combination. Our tails were up, confidence was sky high especially after reducing the Renegades lead by such a significant amount in session 1, we sensed a distinct opportunity to strike a decisive blow.

Again in session 2 Matthew Griffiths our team captain deployed all our boats to the same area Rainbow Corner and the Inlet. Relying on the age old match principle, “never leave feeding fish until they are no longer feeding or there are none left to catch”. All our team began catching quickly and clearly faster than anyone else, 70% of the fish were coming to the new Fab or booby and 30% to the buzzers in the middle droppers. The session ended and our boats posted scores of 16 and 17 for a combined total of 33 fish. Huge bags in just a 3 hour session which in reality is only 2 hours 30 mins of fishing time if you account for motoring to and from the location.

We had now established a commanding lead of 16 fish over the Renegades who had been relegated to second place after enduring a difficult and frustrating session. With the fish not “switching off” as expected we continued to target them in the final session. We knew it would be very difficult for the Renegades to salvage the match now as the momentum and confidence was clearly in our favour. They would have to take bigger risks  to close the gap and potentially try and find fresh fish that we were unaware of, which would provide us with more opportunities.

The final session did get more difficult as we expected, especially as boats had motored over the fish continuously all day, often in very shallow water. With the majority of the fish holding in the top 3ft it’s easy to understand why they become spooked with the noise and disturbance that was caused and so went off the feed.  Again our 2 boats posted a respectable score of 19 fish in the final session to take our final total to 133 fish some 28 ahead of the Renegades who finished with 105 fish.

It continued to produce fish.

On reflection we endured a terrible start to the match and not really what we expected after 2 days practice and with the quality of anglers in the team.  To be almost bottom of the field came as a shock. But effort is usually rewarded and a great second day’s performance resulted in a winning start for our new team, which meant Matthew Griffiths as captain collected the trophy for a third time, having previously won the title twice before with the FNF Nymphomaniacs.

For a full match report  with session scores please visit the Angling Trust Facebook page.

Angling Trust Loch Style Championship 2022 Results  –

1 – Fulling Mill Team Tequila

2 – Renegades

3 – RAF Fish Hawks

Tactics

Team Tequila employed the “Washing Line” method as our winning tactics initially fishing on a 6ft Airflo Slow tip when the fish were high in the water (at the start of the day or when it was overcast) before reverting to an Airflo 6ft fast tip as the fish dropped deeper to around 4 – 8ft ft in statained sunny periods. We fished a 4 fly cast on a 20ft leader of 10lb Masterclass Fluorocarbon.

The patterns used were:

1 x Fab

2 x Crank Shank Buzzers (code 989)

1 x Cocktail Booby (code 2393)

The Washing Line Method is a generic term used to describe a floating point fly (usually a Booby, Fab or Popper Hopper) with nymphs on the droppers; it allows the angler to fish multiple flies in the killing zone, in this case, the top 3 – 6ft of water.

It’s essential that you understand your tackle and flies and how slight changes in both can affect the depth you are fishing at, typically, this method is used when fishing a Floating, Mini Tip or Intermediate line when the fish are in the top 8ft of water. Although, it can be equally effective on faster-sinking lines ie Di-3.

It’s fairly obvious that the larger the booby eyes (or amount of buoyancy in other patterns) then the higher the point fly will hold in the water.

However, the type and diameter of your leader material will play a huge part as to how the cast fishes and acts in the water… The length of leader and spacing’s of flies will also drastically affect how deep your set up fishes, for example, a fluorocarbon leader with 7 – 10ft to the top dropper then 2 further droppers spaced 3.5ft apart with a size 12 small eyed booby on the point with size 10 nymphs on the droppers will allow the angler to fish deeper than most anglers imagine – depths of 15ft are achievable with a slow retrieve in calm conditions…

The size and type of fly will have a huge effect on how the leader fishes (epoxy buzzers will sink fast and pull the cast down, crunchers will hold up in the water due to their hackles trapping air) – A size 10 fly (especially if tied on heavy wire hooks) will drag the cast down, including the point fly, allowing you to fish on the drop.

For the point fly, a booby or a FAB is my preferred pattern to use, but a popper hopper is also a great way to keep the cast suspended when terrestrial insects are present.

Fishing the Washing Line Method

Make a cast, then make 2 pulls to strip the flies, this will straighten the leader and ensure that you are in direct contact with your cast, allowing you to feel the slightest of takes. It will also cause the floating point fly to skate across the surface hopefully drawing attention from nearby fish to your flies.

All that’s needed then is an ultra slow figure of 8, basically keeping in contact with your flies (if fishing on the drop) or retrieving them at a slow pace, all your flies will be held at the correct depth for longer, increasing your chances.

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