The Association of Major Flyfishing Clubs

2009 ewsletter
All the Results –All the Reports – Each Month

Round Six - The Autumn Association Match and The Final Tables
At the beginning of the week I where Bob Handford single angler to represent them
knew what I was going to say acknowledges that fishing , this at the Autumn Match.
in this editorial. I was going
to say that we have had the
best season ever. Even in
difficult conditions, the best
fishing we have ever had.
With no matches that failed to
produce better than expected
bag averages.

I was going to say that we have

had the best attendance record
ever with only the occasional
team turning up with less than
a full team.

I was going to say that this was

the best season ever (apart
from matters of principle in the
Spring Match) for 100% team
attendance.
And then we had the Autumn
Association Match on Chew
and it all changed.
My sympathies go out to Bob
Handford and his team at
Chew. The fishing was
dreadful – and the results
almost unbelievable.
On the 18th. September Group
Two had one of the best results
ever on Chew. They had a rod
average of 6.9 and no blanks.
Two weeks later in the Autumn
Association Match no group
managed an average of 1 fish
per angler and nearly twice as
many anglers blanked as
caught fish.
I have just read this week’s
fishing Report from Bristol
Chew does not look all that malignant in this picture.
There is a stiff breeze, but from a good direction and plenty of
cloud cover.
But the fishing was extreme.
year, has been very variable. I It is at the Autumn Association
think we have experienced the Match when the successful
top and bottom of the teams and individuals, who we
variability graph. have been fishing with all
season, are given our
I have no criticism of Chew! approbation. To ignore this
You pick a date and sometimes event, and not send a single
you are lucky and have an person to represent their team
exceptional day. Mostly seems to be the height of
conditions are imperfect and rudeness.
you struggle a little.
Occasionally you are faced In fairness I must also point out
with impossible weather that The President – The
conditions etc. and go home Chairman – The Treasurer
fishless. (who rushed off early) and two
of the three members of the
ot Good Enough! committee also absented
What I find incompressible – themselves. Only the
and disgraceful, is the fact that Secretary and Mike Clark of
two teams (both in Group One) the Committee were there to
were incapable of finding a carry the whole event.
 Autumn Association Match *** Match Report and all the Results
CHEW RESERVOIR Saturday 3rd. October 2009

The weather was not kind to
anglers for the 2009 Autumn
Association Match. Strong
winds from the West South
West – gusting up to 30 mph.
However, it was slightly less
strong than through the
Midlands, where boats were
not let out on Rutland. A occasional rod could be seem
small consolation was no rain!
Anglers practising on the
Friday had reported the fishing
was difficult, but that there
were catchable fish in several
areas. On the day, and for
most anglers, this proved too
optomistic.
At the start of the match about
a third of the boats headed up
into Villice Bay and drifted
parallel to the shore down
towards the boat pontoons.
Almost all the rest headed
towards the boat pontoons to
start a drift in towards the
Dam.
Inevitably as so few fish were
caught along these drifts, more
and more boats ventured
further afield as the day
progressed.
The first angler to catch was
Tony Baldwin of Bristol
Reservoirs F.A. He caught a
3lbs 1oz fish close to the
pontoons.
As the day progressed and by
mid afternoon the very
bending on either side of the
pontoons.
To the organisers, observing
from the lodge, it was clear
that it was a difficult day. At
the six o’clock weigh in the
true horror of the day became
clear.
In Group One six anglers
caught and six anglers blanked.
It was worse in the lower
groups. In Group Two six
anglers caught and twelve
blanked. Group Three had the
worst statistic – four anglers
caught and fifteen blanked. In
Group Four five anglers caught
and ten blanked.
67%, over two thirds of the
anglers, failed to catch a fish.
This was the most unrewarding
match the Association has ever
had.
In Group One, Bewl Bridge’s
failure to send a team gave
Fish Hawks ‘A’ the
Championship.
Bristol’s second place in Group
Two confirmed their first place
in the Table, and promotion to
Group One next season.
In Group Three Bewl Bridge’s
‘B’ Teams fourth ‘first place’
of the season gave them the
Group Three Championship.
Grafham Water ‘B’ Team just
managed to achieve more
points than there near rivals,
East Midlands T.F.A., and they
will be promoted to Group
Three next year.

The majority of anglers failed

to catch a fish. Only one
angler, Mark Brinkman
(Grafham Water F.F.A. ‘A’)
caught more than two fish.
Only seven other anglers
caught two fish with all the rest
managing one or nil.

With so few fish being caught

it is impossible to talk about
flies, methods or depth.
There were not enough fish
caught to give any indication
of what was successful.
 Challenge Table 2009 – Running Scores

Points scored for: Rd1 Rd2 Rd3 Rd4 Rd5 Rd6 Totals Position

Group One
Bewl Bridge F.C. ‘A’ 3 4 4 4 5 0 20 2
Fish Hawks ‘A’ 2 5 5 5 4 5 26 1
Hanningflield F.A. 4 3 2 2 3 0 14 4
Rutland Water F.F. 1 2 3 3 2 4 15 3
Soldier Palmers ‘A’ 5 1 1 1 1 3 12 5

Group Two
Bristol Reservoirs F.A. 3 3 3 4 5 4 22 1
Grafham Water F.A. ‘A’ 4 4 1 2 4 5 20 2
Iver F.C. 0 1 5 3 2 2 13 5
Queen Mother F.C. 0 2 4 5 3 3 17 3
Royal (avy/Marines 5 5 2 1 1 2 16 4

Group Three
Bewl Bridge F.C. ‘B’ 3 5 5 5 2 5 25 1
Crawley F.C. 1 1 1 2 1 3 9 5
Fish Hawks ‘B’ 4 2 2 3 3 3 17 4
Invicta F.C. ‘A’ 5 3 3 4 5 4 24 2
Soldier Palmers ‘B’ 2 4 4 1 4 3 18 3

Group Four
East Midlands .T.F.A 4 4 3 2 4 2 19 2
Grafham Water F.A. ‘B’ 3 3 4 4 3 4 21 1
Invicta F.C. ‘B’ 1 2 1 1 1 1 7 4
Tunbridge Wells F.C. 2 1 2 3 2 3 13 3
 Autumn Association Match at Chew on Saturday 3rd.
October
All the Individual Results
GROUP O E GROUP TWO GROUP THREE

ame o Weight ame o Weight ame o Weight

Bewl Bridge F.C. ‘A’ Bristol Reservoirs F.A Bewl Bridge F.C. ‘B’
Tony Baldwin 2 4lbs 6oz David Little 1 4lbs 15oz
o Show Paul Roach 0 Ken Holmes 0
Mark Stevens 1 2lbs 15oz Chris Nunn 1 3lbs 2oz
Mark Withyman 1 1lb 12oz Ray Burt 0
Fish Hawks ‘A’ TOTAL 9lbs 1oz TOTAL 8lbs 1oz
Mal Bruce 0
Si Morris 1 3lbs 10oz Grafham Water F.F.A. Crawley F.C.
Tony Slater 1 2lbs 9oz Mark Brinkman 4 7lbs 3oz Baz Reece 0
Warren Gain 2 3lbs 15oz Harley Smith 1 3lbs 5oz Peter Wyles 0
TOTAL 10lbs 2oz Brian Calvert 3 5lbs Tony Kaatze 0
Norman Rushton 0 Bob Burchall 0
Hanningfield F.A. TOTAL 15lbs 8oz TOTAL

o Show Iver F.C. Fish Hawks ‘B’

Clive Collier 0 David Eames 0
Jeff Hickson 0 Gary Holdsworth 0
Rutland Water F.F. Poy Palmer 0 Ian Lishman 0
Mike Gunnell 0 Ken Williams 0 Andy McKay 0
Sean Cutting 0 TOTAL TOTAL
David Lang 1 2lbs
Paul Sissons 1 1lb 10oza
TOTAL 3lbs 10oz Queen Mother F.F. Invicta F.C. ‘A’
Tony Kirkham 2 6lbs 8oz Graham Williams 0
Phil Hall 0 Chris McLeod 1 1lb 10oz
Soldier Palmers ‘A’ Andy Murphy 0 John Mees 1 1lb 9oz
Lindsey Simpson 0 Mick Hill 0 Mark Searle 0
Graham Lumsdon 0 TOTAL 6lbs 8oz TOTAL 3lbs 3oz
Mick Angell 0
Dave Husein 1 1lb 15oz
TOTAL 1lb 15oz Royal avy/Marines Soldier Palmers ’B’
Mark Close 0 John Gamon 0
Dave Minall 0 Rob Wilson 0
Best Fish 3lbs 10oz Ron Tutt 0 Lindsey Simpson 0
Si Morris (Fish Hawks) Tony Wilkinson 0 ******
TOTAL TOTAL
Best Bag 3lbs 15oz
Warren Gain (Fish Hawks) Best Fish 4lbs Best Fish 4lbs 15oz
TonyKirkham David Little
Average Weight 2lbs 4oz (Queen Mother) (Bewl Bridge F.C. ‘B’

Average Bag 0.6 fish each Best Bag 7lbs 3oz Best Bag 4lbs 15oz
Mark Brinkman David Little
(Grafham Water F.F.A.) (Belw Bridge F.C. ‘B’

Average Weight 2lbs 3oz Average Weight 2lbs 13oz

Average Bag 0.7 fish each Average Bag 0.2 fish each
 Autumn Association Match at Chew on Saturday 3rd. October
Group Four Results - Match Winners

Group Four
ame o Weight

East Midlands T.F.A

Mat Sefton 0
Mel Parrott 0
Ian Pebberdy 0
Sam Blackwood 0
TOTAL

Grafham Water F.F.A. ‘B’

Chris Bobby 2 6lbs 9oz
John McCallum 1 1lb 14oz
Joan Russell 2 3lbs 9oz
Lianne Frost 1 1lb 7oz
TOTAL 13lbs 7oz

Invicta F.C.’B’
Kieran Caulfield 0
Keiran Bonas 0
Adam Worker 0
Ryan Worker 0
TOTAL

Tunbridge Wells F-F.S.

Peter Thomason 1 1lb 10oz The Kew/Queen Mother Plate
Ron Lewis 0 Best Team in an Association Match
Keith Lawrence 0
Keith Nicholson 1 2lbs 5oz *****
TOTAL 3lbs 15oz Presented to: Grafham Water F.A. ‘A’
Best Fish 3lbs 1oz
By: Tony Kirkham (2nd. Left)
Chris Boby Head of the Arboretum and Horticultural Services
(Grafham Water F.F.A. B’) Kew Gardens

Best Bag 3lbs 1oz

Chris Boby
Grafham Water F.F.A. ‘B’

Average Weight 2lbs 3oz

Average Bag 0.5 fish each

The Eddie Gray Cup

Best single bag in an Association Match
*******
Presented to: Mark Brinkman (right)
By: Mike Clarke (Committee)
Photo Page Group One and
Group Two Winners

Fish Hawks ‘A’ Champions

Presented with the Association Trophy by Bob Handford (right)
Manager Chew Reservoir

Bristol Reservoirs F.A. Group Two Champions

Presented with the Anglian Water Trophy by John Mees (right)
Fishery Manager Grafham Water
Photo Page Group Three and group
Four winners

Bewl Bridge F.C.’B’ Group Three Champions

Presented with the Essex Water Trophy by Mike Clark (right)
Representing Hanningfield Reservoir

Grafham Water F.F.A. ‘B’ Group Four Champions

Presented with the ‘new’ Fulling Mill Cup by Mark Brinkman (right)
Captain of Grafham Water F.F.A. on behalf of Fulling Mill
 FU DAY 2009
Fished at Pitsford on Sunday 11th. October

ame o Weight Pair Weight The Weather was fairly kind for the Fun Day,
1 Invicta F.C.’A’ which always finishes the season. This is for
Mike Smith 7 15lbs 8oz teams of four and you fish with your team
Peter Oldham 5 12lbs 13oz 28lbs 5oz mate, rather than by draw. It wasn’t too cold,
Bob Ayres 2 5lbs 3oz
Steve Middleton 6 15lbs 20lbs 3oz it wasn’t too bright and, until just before the
TOTAL 48lbs 8oz 4.30 pm end of the match, it was not too windy.

2 Grafham Water F.A. ‘ A’ With the wind blowing over the Dam most
Peter Hartley 3 6lbs 15oz boats set out for that end of the reservoir. The
Richard Kesek 7 16lbs 9oz 23lbs 8oz
Norman Rushton 4 10lbs 10oz occasional fish was caught there during the
John Weaver 4 10lbs 3oz 20lbs 13oz day, but there was no wholesale slaughter.
TOTAL 44lbs 5oz
Most boats took short drift off the Dam, but a
3 Invicta F.C. ‘B’ few let their drift extend to the Pines. Here
John Mees 7 18lbs 10oz
Alan Taylor 2 4lbs 10oz 23lbs 4oz also the occasional fish was caught just as the
Graham Williams 1 2lbs 4oz weed beds were reached.
Mark Searle 4 7lbs 12oz 10lbs
TOTAL 33lbs 4oz By the afternoon boats were beginning to
spread out. East Midlands T.F.A. had their
4. Grafham Water F.A. ‘B’
Chris Bobby 4 10lbs 7oz Bank Match on the same day. At one stage
Steve Ellerbrook 4 8lbs 14oz 19lbs 5oz three rods on the Sailing Club Bay were seen
Chris Lane 3 7lbs 6oz bending at the same time. It was not long
Nick Preston 1 1lb 12oz 9lbs 2oz before a fair number of boats were drifting
Total 27lbs 7oz
along this bank. Again a few fish were caught
5 Tunbridge Wells F.F.S. here.
Bob Holland 3 6lbs
Richard Lovett 1 2lbs 5oz 8lbs 5oz It was very much a day for ‘scraping about’.
Alex Nicholson 2 4lbs A fish here and a fish there, with long periods
Andy White 4 9lbs 13oz 13lbs 13oz
TOTAL 22lbs 2oz of hard fishing between takes!

6 Hanningfield F.A. It certainly was NOT a day for imitative

Alan Stern 3 5lbs 12oz fishing, or for fishing on the surface.
Phil Shaw-Brown 4 8lbs 10oz 14lbs 6oz
Mick Newton 2 5lbs 12oz
Ray Malyon 0 5lbs 12oz Surprisingly, neither was it a day for fry
TOTAL 20lbs 2oz feeders. Every now and again a fish could be
seen chasing fry up. I tried a floating fry and
7 The Committee had one fish ‘look’ at it, but nothing more than
Graden Smith 2 4lbs 5oz that.
Peter Firth 1 2lbs 6lbs 5oz
John Caldwell 1 2lbs 4oz
Mike Clark 3 7lbs 5oz 9lbs 9oz No one caught a limit. Slow or medium
TOTAL 15lbs 14oz sinking lines – bright flies (like tequila sunrise
flies) seemed to produce the best results.
8 Invicta F.C. ‘C’
Alan Provost 0
Paul Stevens 0 John Mees, who is a master at this method, was
Ian Wilson 1 2lbs 6oz top rod and had the best fish at over 4lbs.
Arthur Sexton 3 7lbs 9lbs 6oz Three anglers blanked – but this being a fun
TOTAL 9lbs 6oz
day Mike Clark, the organiser, provided a small
Winners Invicta F.C. ‘A’ prize for each of them.
Best Pair Mike Smith/Peter Oldham
Best Bag John Mees We had a splendid meal – full carvery at
Best Fish John Mees prize given to Overstone Manor. It was exactly as it says on
orman Rushton 2nd. best the tin – A Fun Day
 FU DAY 2009

Winning Team Invicta F.C. ‘ A’

Best Pair
***
Peter Oldham
Mike Smith
(Invicta)

Best Bag Best Fish Prize

John Mees (Invicta) ***
%orman
Rushton

(G.W.A.F.F.A.)