2006 Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships - Llangollen, North Wales, UK

2006 Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships Llangollen, North Wales, United Kingdom
Sept 25, 2006
by: Todd Oishi

Every second year, the countries of the Commonwealth send some of their finest fly fishers to fish the Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championship -- this year's championship was held in Northern Wales. The competition was spread out over four days on the scenic and spectacular River Dee and two loch-style sessions were held on the massive Llyn Brenig reservoir. We were more than pleased with the size and numbers of both grayling and browns in the river Dee and the enormous rainbows that the Brenig possessed were every lake fisherman's dream!

The 2006 Canadian team -- that consisted of Mark Anderson, John Beaven (captain), Carl Brumby, Todd Oishi and Donald Thom -- was called into action to compete against some of the best anglers that Australia, England, Isle of Man, New Zealand, South Africa, Scotland and Wales had to offer. This year several countries sent multiple team entries: Scotland had both a men's and ladies team, England sent two men's and a ladies team, while Australia and Wales had entered two men's teams. This brought the number of teams in attendance to thirteen -- with a total of sixty-five individual competitors.

Our Canadian team was plagued with last minute cancellations this year, as one of our members (Gord Bacon), had been sent home prematurely from Portugal's World Fly Fishing Championships with some very serious health issues. We were however fortunate enough to have found an English angler, named Carl Brumby who was permitted to fill the vacant spot. Randy Taylor -- who is one of our Fly Fishing Canada's strongest competitors -- had an unexpected work related matter that required his full attention and left our team short a competitor. He did manage to find and send a last-minute replacement named Mark Anderson -- who was certainly no stranger to competitive fly fishing.

Our team practiced daily on the Dee, where we had good results with both nymphs and dries. Each practice session produced decent numbers of grayling and brown trout as well as unbelievable numbers of juvenile Atlantic salmon. The Brenig fished exceptionally well, with top-water action producing respectable numbers of rainbow trout in the three - five pound range. After four successful days of practice, we felt quite optimistic and prepared for whatever challenges the competition might throw our way!


September 22, 2006:
9:45am till 11:45am - First session Championships

For my first session of the competition, I had drawn a beat just under and downstream of the world's biggest aqueduct, which towered high above the River Dee. At the start of my two-hour session, I could see the occasional grayling rising and rippling the glassy surface of the upper-most pool. I could tell that these fish were grayling by the small bubbles that formed upon the surface after each delicate rise. As grayling takes in an insect upon the surface, the vacuum created within the grayling's pea-shaped mouth, draws the insect inwards, and small bubbles are produced as they exhale the water and any air that was inhaled in the process.

I had my first grayling within the first fifteen minutes, but it was too small to count. After several more minutes, I had another take my fly and it was a counter this time. My controller recorded its length after briefly admiring its beauty, we gently released it back into the water. I waded back out and tried the same pool for a while, but it only produced the odd small fish so I moved on further downstream.

I tried Czech Nymphed as I worked through a fast chute, but the waters refused to give up its fish. With a short two hour session (two hours is the typical time period) the pressure was on to keep moving and searching for willing fish. At the tail-out of the riffle, I felt several light taps on my line -- they were Atlantic salmon par of approximately 15cm length. Not wanting to harm these fish -- and waste valuable time -- I moved downstream further to a shallow, heavily weeded pool.

My first few drifts produced little more than weed upon my flies. I switched tactics and tied on three spiders (soft-hackle patterns), which allowed me to successfully swing my offerings above the weed bed channels, in plain view of any fish that might be willing. Within the first several drifts, I had my first taker! I abruptly set the hook and brought to my net as quickly and carefully as possible -- it was a 30 cm grayling.


I waded back across the river to my controller where we recorded and released the fish. I waded back to the same spot and swung my spiders over several channels, which produced several more fish, and several that were too small to count. Sadly -- just as I had cracked the secret of these waters -- the session came to an end... My results in this session were good enough to earn me a second placing.

12.00pm till 2.00pm - Second session Championships

After getting off to a great start, my hopes were high until I arrived at my next competition beat. Quite late as a result of the organizer's unforeseen transportation problems, my controller informed me that I had less than five minutes before I was to start my next session. I told him that I needed longer time to prepare and that half-an-hour was pretty much the standard prefish prep time for competitions. He told me that due to the tight scheduling, that we must strictly adhere to the designated times for each competition session.

I quickly reached back for my fly rod from my Fishpond backpack, attached the reel, tied on a fresh leader system, but before I could tie on my second fly, my controller shouted "BEGIN"! I was so rushed and ill-prepared that beyond not having had a decent opportunity to even preview my beat -- I still hadn't the time to even assemble my second fly rod that I normally leave on the bank for working small dry flies. This would prove to be disastrous as during the rushed preparation for this session -- I had neglecting to secure and double check that my back-up fly rod was firmly attached to my backpack!

I waded out into the river, casting and working every seam and flow that might hold a fish. Within the first fifteen minutes, I took a spill as I stepped onto a small patch of weeds that lay on top a flat rock. The strong current swept my feet and I fell into the water with a force that knocked my wading staff loose and dangling by its tether. As I regained my composure and folded up my staff -- I realized that I had lost my Sage fly rod that was attached to my backpack.

I was devastated as this rod was not mine to loose, but rather one that a friend had loaned to me for this competition. I quickly scanned the river for any sign of my fly rod and made my way back to shore so that I could run to the bottom of my beat in hopes of catching the rod as it drifted downstream.

I slipped about as I made my way to the bottom of the beat, but sadly there was no sign of the rod. My next move was to wade back upstream to the location where it came free, and hopefully feel it with my feet as the waters of the Dee were quite dark and tea-stained. With only a little more than an hour left in this session -- I had felt that I had pretty much blown my chances and more importantly, my concentration and focus.

With less than ten minutes to go, I strung on a single dry Royal Coachman and waded deep into the mid-river's currents in order to reach the far bank's waters. I bobbed my way downstream as I worked the far bank with my dry. I cast it into a slack seam behind a small boulder and with the help of a reach/serpentine cast. I was able to obtain a still presentation that would last only seconds at best. It was at that split-moment just before the currents pulled the last bit of slack line -- which causes the fly to speed up as well -- I saw a large brown trout roll in the water's surface as it tried to grasp my fly. Unfortunately, the fly had begun its acceleration and the trout missed it only by a few millimeters.

I recast to the same rise for several attempts and sadly moved on to the next most likely spot. I worked the river until the end of the session, but the loss of the rod weighed heavily on my mind. Time came to an end and I informed my controller that I had lost my rod and the circumstances that surrounded its lost. I walked my beat one last time and left the river with a heavy heart, as not only had I blanked in this session, but I had lost a $600 Sage fly rod in the process.

I placed 11th in this session.

2:15pm till 4:15pm - Third session Championships

This was a challenging beat, as there was rarely any room for a decent back cast unless I waded directly into the river. This stretch of the Dee was known locally as 'the salmon pools'. The far bank was strictly 'off-limits' as it belonged to an angling club, that restricts all public access to its banks.

My last session for the day and I couldn't have asked for better conditions as the late afternoon skies clouded over and the winds were non-existent. My controller informed me that the previous competitor had done well on this beat and hooked several grayling during her session. I was optimistic even though I could only see the odd occasional rise on the edges of the deeper pools. I had decided to use my small CDC's for this beat as it was wide, glassy and deep.

I had limited shoreline from which to cast, as the steeply sloping banks were treed and covered with small shrubbery. I covered the upper most sections without any takers, so I worked my way downstream to a small island that split the river's flow into two equal portions. I saw a grayling rise in the slight eddy that the island created, and began to wade across the river to the island, from which I felt I could properly cast my offering to the fish.

As I waded across, I continued to cast and skate my small fly on top of the waters below me. The river was deep, dark and its rocky bottom was extremely slippery. Trying to focus more upon my wading as the water breached the top of my waders -- I saw a rise and set my hook! I immediately felt the heaviness of the fish as it ran into the main stem of the river. Still trying to maintain a secure footing, I turned and slowly made my way back towards the bank -- and my controller -- as I fought this large grayling

After releasing the large grayling, I tried to dry off my CDC fly, but it was no use, as the grayling's slime had rendered it useless for the time being. I opened my fly box to select another CDC pattern, but as I took a spill while crossing back with my fish... my CDC fly box, drying patch and all of its contents were now completely soaked!

I had placed sixth in this session.

September 23, 2006:
9:45am till 11:45am - Forth session Championships

We arrived at Brenig early in the morning to clear skies, but strong winds that left the lakes surface quite choppy and unsettled. I had drawn a competitor from the Isle of Man as my boat mate. After the formal greeting, we spoke rather candidly and both had a wealth of information from our team mate's experiences of the previous day's competition to draw from. He told me that he wasn't comfortable running the boat and asked if I minded controlling the boat for both halves of the two hour session.

At first, when you consider the disadvantages of lack of a moment of free time due to constant starting of the motor and repositioning the boat for its next drift -- versus the advantage of being able to maneuver the boat to my advantage -- I reluctantly accepted his offer.


By the end of the fourth session I had two trout on my score sheet, while the Isle of Man competitor had one. We both worked hard for the fish we had managed to land. I had placed eighth in this session

12.00pm till 2.00pm - Fifth session Championships

This final three hour session would be spent with Susan Sisson, a member of the English Ladies' Team. One again, I had been asked to captain the boat for the first half of the session and control the boat and its drift - with the help of the drogue.

The afternoon wind was rather harsh, which resulted in our drifts being quite rapid and short even though the drogues performed quite admirably. The bulk of the crowd seemed to head towards the Eastern shores, but I convinced my boatmate to start our session on the Western shore as the winds would blow us at an angle sideways to the banks rather than away from them. This would allow us to work and effectively cover the shoreline with a grid pattern. I also preferred to fish the same waters that my fellow team mates had found to be productive during the previous day's competition times that mirrored my own.

At the conclusion of the fifth and final session of the championships, I had recorded two trout on the score card, which placed me sixth in my group. Everyone worked hard for every single fish that was landed during both sessions on the Brenig and several competitors blanked during today's sessions. As it would turn out, the Brenig fished much slower with the average catch being significantly lower than yesterday's.


Epilogue:

Back at the competition hotel, we gathered for our final team meeting in our rustic hotel room. Captain John -- the last to return from the fifth and final competition session -- had just returned from the Dee. He sauntered into the room and with the greatest smile you can ever imagine, looked my way and informed me that my Sage fly rod -- that was lost and swept away in Dee's currents 28 hours earlier -- had been found! John told me that a member of the Scotland's Ladies team had found it seven beats below my original location, which was nearly a mile further downstream!

Later that evening, during the closing ceremonies and awards banquet, I had the opportunity to personally thank the member of the Scottish Ladies team that found my fly rod. I now gained the reputation as being "The Luckiest Man in the Commonwealths".

The closing ceremony was a grand event with traditional singing, a fine meal, good wine and great company. The top honours of the gold medals went to Scotland's Men's Team, while Wales A took the silver medal, and Wales B the bronze. The "top story" of the championships was that of young Kieron Jenkins' achievements -- at only 14 years of age, he had broken the Commonwealth's standing-record for most fish caught in a single session and placed second individually. He is definitely an angler to watch out for in the future championships and competitions!

I shall never forget and will always cherish my memories of my personal one-on-one lessons on 'loch-style' fly fishing with Vince Gwilym on the Brenig - John Beaven's excellent tutorial on 'swinging spiders' on the River Dee -- and the numerous friendships I had made during my time at the Commonwealths. I feel that the angling experience over these past 21 days in Europe and the U.K. will only serve to improve my future fly fishing endeavours - both recreational and competitively.

Team Results Total Placings:
1 Scotland 80
2 Wales A 85
3 Wales B 123
4 England A 125
5 Australia Commonwealth 157
6 South Africa 166
7 New Zealand 169
8 Isle of Man 169
9 Canada 171
10 Australia World Team 176
11 England B 186
12 England Ladies 190
13 Scotland Ladies 220

Individual Results Name Total placings:
1st Scotland Men Jake Harvey 9
2nd Wales A Kieron Jenkins 10
3rd England A David Shipman 10
25th Canada John Beaven 26
35th Canada Donald Thom 33
36th Canada Todd Oishi 33
47th Canada Mark Andersen 38
50th Canada Carl Brumby 41

The next Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships will be held in New Zealand, 2008