Rivers National

Hi Guys

I have just come back from fishing in the England Rivers National on the River Itchen. This is the event that can determine your position in the England youth rivers teams so there was lots at stake.

I set of on Saturday morning to make the 5 hours journey down to the Itchen at Southampton. Saturday was just a day for me to gain some confidence in fly and methods, as I don't fish chalk streams very often, in fact I only fish them about once a year if that!. Anyway it was a successful day for me as I caught a few fish and identified some successful flies an methods. I didn't catch lots of fish as I wanted to save them for match day!. after this I went back to the hotel to finish off my preparation for the day, this took me 4 hours as I wanted to make sure that I plenty of my successful flies so I woudent run out on the day and also making up plenty of leaders as the forecast was for strong winds.

Sunday was match day and I was very nervous as I wanted to make sure that secured my place in the team as well as trying to better me last years result of second place. I was fishing the lower section in the morning, which I hadent looked at in my practice but never the less it looked very inviting. while setting up I had seen few fish rising so I started with a trio set up to get the best of both worlds as I was fishing dry fly and nymphs at the same time. I fished all of the likely looking runs only to lose one at the net!. After this it took a while fore me to settle in. My first and second fish were trout so when I next struck I was expecting another trout but instead I found myself connected to my first Grayling of the day. I had hooked it on the far bank past a dense weed bed so I tried to French net the fish to stop it burying into the weed but unfortunately it hit the bank below my net and fell off. It then took me half an hour to get my first fish in the net. I fished my way up the beat fishing every gravel run and at the end of the session I had 4 decent Grayling which was good enough for second place. In the afternoon I caught too fish in very quick succession but then I again struggled to catch moor, I eventually got another. A nice hatch started to come off and I switched to drys to miss one first cast, but then no more offers with the dry so I fished the run again with nymphs and got a take first cast, but as I knew there were more around I opted to stay nice and low but this proved to be the wrong move as the fish came off at the net. This made me very anxious as the session was drawing to a close and I knew every fish would make the difference. I caught no more Grayling which left me in forth place, third place also had 3 fish but had slightly bigger fish so beat me on fish points.

So overall it was announced that I was third, not bad but not as good as I had hoped for. But never the less a good result. First place went to Carl Malpass who ran away with the victory, with Oliver Avis in second and me in third place. So well done to Carl for  winning the Tom Bilson trophy, and to Oli for his silver medal.

James

Thankyou

Hi Guys


Sorry its been along time since I updated, but I have recently suffered from a serious neck injury which concluded in a ride in the Air Ambulance to Lancaster hospital. Thankfully it was just a torn muscle but it could have been much worse!. So first of all I would like to thank the hospital team for the hard work and getting me back on my feet as quick as possible.


Secondly I would to thank G.R. & R.D. Taylor at Kikby lonesdale. After a shopping trip into Kikrby today, they very kindly offered to support me in my fishing competitions by giving me some very high quality clothing. So thank you for your support it is much appreciated. For anybody looking for some good outdoor clothing or army surplus supplies here is a link too there site http://www.gr-rdtaylor.co.uk.


James Atkinson