As you can see it has been a while since I updated this page. So I though I had better get back on top of it.
So far this year has been fantastic. I have had lots of successful competitions at youth and senior levels. I have also had my biggest ever Brown Trout of 9 pounds from a river, and my biggest Grayling. Then to top all of that I have had lots of amazing practice days, where I have honed my skills.
As I have done so much this year, I think it would be best to just summarise some of my activities.
First of all I fished my first competition in early may. It was at local water Bank House Fly Fishery. I had never previously fished the lake but it looked good. It was the newly formed Iain Barr Airflo bank masters competition. To cut a long story short the weather was awful with high winds and heavy rain, but the fishing was good, I managed 14 fish which was enough to win the match and take me through to the final. The best method on the day was an intermediate line with a sparse Pitsford Pea on the point and an Amber Apps bloodworm on the dropper.
A few weeks later, it was time for a trip to Elinor and Grafham Reservoir. This was to fish in the Aiflo individual Final and also the Final of the Iain Barr Bank Masters. First came Practice, Elinor was out first port of call and it did not disappoint. Practice went really well with several fish coming to the net on several meathods, and things looked good for match day. Then over to Grafham, it was a similar story here with a cat booby and pink and yellow blob on a Di7 being the best tactic. I also managed a 6 pound rainbow on a Pearl Nemo. Match day at Grafham greeted us with similar conditions to practice. Unfortunately it was not my day and lots of lost fish meant a poor performance from me and 20th place with 6 fish. Next day was the Bank Masters at Elinor, I was hopeful for a top 10 finish after a bad day the day before. It soon became clear that the fishing was nothing like practice with 150 anglers on the lake the fishing became hard. I worked hard and caught 4 fish on 4 pegs which got me 11th place and top junior.
Now the big one the world championships. This year it was in France. The rivers were small and the fish extremely spooky. 4 days of practice later and hundreds of flies tied it was match day. The start was good when I had the first session win for England in 3 years with 11 fish all on nymphs. Unfortunately the second session was not as good with a bad beat draw a blank took me from 2nd individually to 18th. Things look a bot better in the third session with a nice beat. Until I asked my controller how many fish had been caught on the section and he replied 'Zero'!!. I managed 1 fish which kept me in contention. The final day saw me fishing the lake perhaps my best session. I managed 11 fish which was the most but the American angler beat me on fish points, but a 2nd place not the less. I was 11th going into the last session, but on the hardest river where 1 fish could win the session. Unfortunately another blank and a 21st place finish. I was later to find out that 1 fish could have got me 7th place. It was a fantastic experience, I learned a massive amount in new flies and leader set ups. The best lesson for me was a new presentation cast that presents a dry to a fish before the leader every time. I also met lots of new people who I hope I can keep in contact with in the future.
The last big competition I fished in was the loch style international. This year it would be my final year in the team due to age. We went for 2 days of practice were we identified areas and flies. It was decided that the method was a slow or fast intermediate with a Green Peter Stimulator on the top dropper a Claret Dabbler on the middle and a Black and Silver Dabbler on the point. Match day saw huge waves, perfect for fishing wets. I managed 7 fish which was top individual rod making me International champion. The whole England team had fished well with not 1 blank. This meant that we had 38 fish, 10 more than the Irish. So team and Individual gold. What a weekend!!
So that is a brief overview of some of my competitions this year. I will keep updating this blog with practice days and more competition as they come. If you have any questions please get in touch
James Atkinson
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