England won the Home International Youth Fly-fishing Championship held at Grafham Water on Wednesday.
It was a breezy day which made conditions very demanding for all 56 competitors who fished from boats drifting ‘loch-style’ in the waves (anchoring is not allowed) but a lot of hard practice over the past three months paid off for England on the 1,500 acre Cambridgeshire reservoir. All of the 14 England team members caught fish, with John MacIntosh from Lancashire taking the individual champion trophy as well.
This follows England’s victory in Wales last year. England’s youth squad are hard to beat on their home waters having won 4 out of 5 Internationals fished in England over the past 18 years.
At the presentation dinner Team Captain, Matthew Kidd from Plymouth, praised the dedication of the whole team and the tremendous support from team manager Rob Edmunds and coach Phil Longstaffe over the past year. A team of six will fly out to Slovakia for the World Youth Rivers Championships next week.
The England Youth Flyfishing Association, which manages the team and this year’s international expects to become part of the Angling Trust’s competition and performance structure later this year.
Results:
1. England 63 fish for 121lb 3/4oz
2. Ireland 39 fish for 70lb 123/4oz
3. Scotland 31 fish for 60lb 13/8oz
4. Wales 19 fish for 34lb 43/4oz
