Rutland Water

Anglo Welsh are 2012 Lexus Team Champions

Two days of consistent Team performances with no blanks assured Anglo Welsh FF finished in 3rd place on Day 1 and 1st Place on Day 2 to take the covetted title of 2012 Lexus Team Champions.  In fact, they were so consistent, even if they had a blank - which would count as 132 place points against them; they would still have been Champions!

In 2nd place for the 3rd consecutive year, were the ever consistent Rio Masters team and in 3rd place were Margam FF from Wales.

This year, the Team matches have been fished to FIPS Mouche World Championship rules, where all individuals' positions in the match are added together and the Team with the least place points are crowned Champions.

This format suits the more consistent teams and no longer can 1 individual's performance carry their team through.

Most of the competitors enjoyed the new format and most importantly, more Teams entered this year than last.

Cliff Waters will have full pics from both the Team and the Indiviedual Finals on his "Fishy Pics" web site.

Renegades lead Lexus Teams Final after Day 1

The Renegades lead the challenge for Lexus Team Champions 2012 after the 1st day of competition, having amassed the lowest total place points score of 235 points..  22 Teams are battling it out over 2 days here at Rutland Water and the sunny, windy conditions did little to help the elite field of 132 anglers.

Although the fishing was hard, the quality and size of the Rutland trout was extraordinary.  Average weight was 2lb 9ozs and the best fish to the scales was a Brown Trout weighing 7lbs 3ozs and fell to the rod of Trout & Salmon Magazine's editor Andrew Flitcroft.

Top rod on Day 1 was Warren Gain of the Fishhawks, with 6 fish for 20lbs 12ozs, including a 6lb 1oz Rainbow Trout.  Warren was closely followed by Blagdon's Mark Miles with 7 fish for 20lbs 8ozs and Margam's Rob Honour with another 7 fish weighing 19lbs 15ozs.

The match is fished to FIPS Mouche World Rules where points are allocated to individuals based on their position in the match, so no one individual can dominate the Team's results and every team member's contribution counts - with a blank adding 132 points to the Team's score.  So every angler is now trying to avoid the dreaded blank at all costs and team work is everything!

In 2nd place are the reigning Champions, Alba Orvis FF from Scotland with 282 points, 3rd are Anglo Welsh FF with 284 points, 4th Seighford Sharks with 329 points and 5th are Rio Masters with 338 place points.  In 6th place are previous Champions Team Airflo with 342 points, 7th are another previous Lexus Champion Team; the Ospreys, with 342 points, 8th are Sonik Sports Pitsford Pirates with 358 points, 9th are Nymph-O-Maniacs with 367 points and in 10th place are Iain Barr Team Costa with 378 place points.

The conditions at the start of Day 2 were far better, with lighter winds and a cloudy sky.  There was another even split, with boats heading for both Arms and some to the main Basin.  I predict more fish being caught today than the 253 caught yesterday!

Day 2 at Rutland

2012 Lexus Team Final kicks off today.

The 2012 Lexus Team Final has just started here at Rutland Water, with 22 Teams and 132 anglers competing for the title of Lexus Team Champions.

When the shotgun start signalled the "off", the boats split pretty evenly, with 28 heading up the South Arm, 17 to the North Arm and 21 boats opting for the Main Basin.

Practice here has been hard, with bright sunny skies and a biting sharp wind making things difficult.  The winds have dropped a bit today, but it is still cold and sadly; still bright and sunny - often the kiss of death for feeding trout!

The anglers are fishing to a 4 fish kill, then Catch and Release, with every returned trout counting as 2lbs 4ozs; the average weight of trout here at Rutland Water.

The reigning champions; Alba Orvis Flyfishers are here to try to retain their Trophy and previous Champions Iain Barr Flyfishing, Team Airflo and Ospreys are also attempting to recapture their titles.  For the first time we have a ladies team in the Grand Final - the Damsel Nymphs from Scotland.  We wish them well and the other 17 Teams who have done so well to be at this Grand Final.

I will update the match situation after the first day weigh-in which takes place at 1800hrs and will take at least an hour to complete.

Sponsors Flags at Rutland

Alba Orvis Flyfishers are new Lexus Team Champions

After a thrilling final day, top Scottish team Alba Orvis Flyfishers have been crowned the 2011 Lexus Team Champions.
On Day 1, they were in 3rd place, just 1lb 7ozs off the top spot, occupied by Blagdon Flyfishers, with Rio Masters in 2nd place.

Amazingly, those same 3 teams occupied the top 3 places on the 2nd day, albeit in a different order.

Blagdon Flyfishers from the West Country dropped to 3rd place, with Rio Masters again taking the runners-uop spot and Alba taking the 2nd day honours.  And it was the size of Alba's win on the final day that helped them to the top overall spot over the 2 days.

Top Individual Rod was Paul Roach from the West Country who was fishing for Team Snowbee.  Roach had 13 trout weighing 28lbs exactly.

 

  Team Results
        Fish Total Weight
1 ALBA ORVIS FLYFISHERS   55 117 lb 9 oz
2 RIO MASTERS     47 103 lb 0 oz
3 BLAGDON FLYFISHERS   44 97 lb 10 oz
4 PEREGRINE ESTHWAITE   38 79 lb 15 oz
5 ANGLO WELSH FLYFISHERS   33 73 lb 12 oz
6 TEAM WELLBANK     36 73 lb 6 oz
7 MARGAM FLYFISHERS   34 72 lb 9 oz
8 SEIGHFORD SHARKS   30 70 lb 9 oz
9 TEAM SNOWBEE     34 68 lb 15 oz
10 TEAM FROG HAIR     34 67 lb 13 oz
11 BRFFA EMERGERS     30 64 lb 14 oz
12 NYMPH-O-MANIACS   32 63 lb 13 oz
13 CLAN CHIEFS     32 62 lb 5 oz
14 GREENWELL PERSUADERS   29 62 lb 5 oz
15 ANGLO SCOTS     28 58 lb 12 oz
16 CHATTON TROUT FISHERS   26 54 lb 15 oz
17 TEAM FROZEN NORTH   23 53 lb 6 oz
18 STOCKS FALCONS     24 52 lb 13 oz
19 OSPREYS     24 50 lb 7 oz
20 TEAM AIRFLO     27 50 lb 0 oz
21 STOCKS HAWKS     16 32 lb 2 oz
Alba Orvis Flyfishers - 2011 Lexus Team Champions

Lexus Team 1st day Results

Day 2 - 13:00hrs

The 2nd day of this year's Lexus Team Championships Final is now underway.  Stronger winds and bright skies - normally the kiss-of-death for fly fishing - greeted the 126 anglers this morning.  Once again, the majority of the boats headed for the main basin, but 9 brave souls went straightr down the South Arm and I think they have made a good decision - but time will tell!

Top Team yesterday were West Country nymph and dry fly specialists Blagdon Flyfishers, with Rio Masters 2nd and Orvis Alba Flyfishers from Scotland 3rd.  The rod average was a respectable 3.34 and average weight of trout 2lbs 2ozs.  Top individual rod on Day 1 was Martin Barrett of Anglo Welsh Flyfishers - again from the South West of England.  Martin is one of the country's top coarse anglers who is quickly building a reputation on the fly fishing circuit.

Here is a run down of the results from Day 1.

        Fish Total Weight
1 BLAGDON FLYFISHERS   30 65 lb 14 oz
2 RIO MASTERS     28 64 lb 9 oz
3 ALBA ORVIS FLYFISHERS   29 64 lb 7 oz
4 PEREGRINE ESTHWAITE   27 57 lb 3 oz
5 SEIGHFORD SHARKS   23 51 lb 13 oz
6 TEAM SNOWBEE     25 48 lb 12 oz
7 NYMPH-O-MANIACS   25 48 lb 4 oz
8 ANGLO WELSH FLYFISHERS   21 47 lb 6 oz
9 TEAM WELLBANK     20 42 lb 10 oz
10 MARGAM FLYFISHERS   21 42 lb 6 oz
11 TEAM FROG HAIR     20 39 lb 14 oz
12 ANGLO SCOTS     20 39 lb 2 oz
13 GREENWELL PERSUADERS   17 37 lb 11 oz
14 CHATTON TROUT FISHERS   15 35 lb 8 oz
15 BRFFA EMERGERS     17 33 lb 13 oz
16 TEAM AIRFLO     18 33 lb 6 oz
17 CLAN CHIEFS     17 33 lb 2 oz
18 OSPREYS     14 28 lb 12 oz
19 STOCKS FALCONS     12 26 lb 5 oz
20 TEAM FROZEN NORTH   12 25 lb 15 oz
21 STOCKS HAWKS     10 19 lb 12 oz

 

  Individual Results
    Fish Total Weight
1 MARTIN BARRETT 10 21 lb 5 oz
2 NICK DUNN 10 19 lb 5 oz
3 PAUL ROACH 9 17 lb 14 oz
4 GREGOR FLEMING 7 17 lb 5 oz
5 PHIL DIXON 7 17 lb 0 oz
6 ALASTAIR BEAUMONT 8 16 lb 9 oz
7 JOHN BRAITHWAITE 7 15 lb 8 oz
8 NEIL ANDERSON 7 15 lb 6 oz
9 ANDREW HEDGER 6 14 lb 3 oz
10 ROB SOSBE 6 13 lb 9 oz
11 BEN BAYLISS 7 13 lb 8 oz
12 PAUL LITTLE 5 13 lb 6 oz
13 ALLEN HUGHES 7 13 lb 5 oz
14 JAMES GARDINER 6 13 lb 2 oz
15 PAUL WILD 6 12 lb 12 oz
16 RON GENT 5 12 lb 11 oz
17 JON TURNER 6 12 lb 10 oz
18 MARK MILES 6 12 lb 4 oz
19 JULIAN HUBBARD 4 12 lb 2 oz
20 JIM TWADDLE 6 11 lb 15 oz

Lexus Team Final Day 1 nears completion

Day 1 - 17:45hrs

Just 15 minutes to go and the weigh-in for Day 1 of the 2011 Lexus Team Championship Final will begin.
The competitors were treated to some cloud during the afternoon and plenty of trout have been caught.  We think that nymphs on floating, Midge-Tips and slow sink lines have been the main tactic with the majority of the boats fishing the basin due to a localised brown algae bloom in the South Arm.

Full results from Day 1 to follow.

John Horsey Fly Fishing
John Horsey Fly Fishing

Lexus Team Final - Day 1

12:30 Sunday

It's 13:10 on Day 1 of the Lexus Team Final and all 21 Teams are present, meaning that 126 anglers are out on the water.
Yesterday the fishing was very hard, due mainly to the awful weather - strong winds with intermittent rain and sunshine.  Later in the evening, the heavens opened and it tipped it down for over an hour.

This morning, it felt like Autumn, with low air temperatures, bright skies but thankfully; very little wind.

Many of the Welsh contingent were up early to watch the rugby, with Wales beating Samoa, closely followed by England's win over Georgia - so spirits were high in both camps!
 

9 boats ventured up the South Arm, with 54 heading for the main basin.  Within 6 minutes of the start, we counted 6 fish being netted, so things had definitely improved on yesterday!

13:13 Sunday

Some anglers have now taken their 4 fish limit bag and are on Catch and Release, so Fishery Manager John Seaton is happy that the Rutland trout have come back on the feed.  If the weather remains settled, this looks like being a fantastic competition.

I will update whenever possible over the next 36 hours.

 

Lexus Team Final this weekend

This weekend, the 18th and 19th September, will see 21 teams of 6 anglers descend upon mighty Rutland Water near Leicester to compete for the title of 2011 Lexus Team Champions.
All the teams have qualified from their Regional Heats earlier this year and the Grand Final looks like being a cracker!

Scores of full International Anglers will be rubbing shoulders and sharing tactics with anglers fishing their first major final - where else but fly fishing can you witness such a thing?

The rules have been amended to allow Catch and Release, so only 4 fish will be killed and then unlimited catch and release using de-barbed hooks.  At this stage, boobies will still be allowed, but not double hooks.

There is no doubt that Catch and Release is the best way to ensure a true result and the only worry is that some anglers will not de-barb their hooks properly - however, a Marshalls Boat will be on the water to check flies and hooks and anyone found with a hook not properly de-barbed will have their released fish disqualified.

Due to the Catch and Release element, the need for the ever-controversial Time Bonus has been eliminated and the team catching the greater number of fish normally wins - unless of course, some of the team members decide to target the larger, grown-on trout for which Rutland Water is rightly famous - in that case, the race for the stockies could be unwise!

I am hoping for a couple of testing fishing days, where stockies do not influence the result, competitors have a choice of whether they want to target the grown-on fish, they need a multitude of methods to catch them and most important of all, everyone has a great few days, leaving with some happy memories and making some new friends.

Full report on Tuesday.

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