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The ELFA was once again invited to participate in the European Championships, organised by the Federation De International Sporting Mouche, the governing body for both the World and European Championships.
Last year the event was in Sweden, but this year the host country was Poland with the event based on a town called Lesko in the South East of Poland, close to the Ukranian border. This area is known as the Beizscady region of Poland and has a mixture of low lying and rolling countryside and some very dramatic mountains, hills and lakes. The area is very rural and scenic, not that there was much time to take in the sights.
This region is home to two rivers, the San and the Solinka upon which the championships would be held.
The team arrived on Sunday 12th June, landing a Krakow airport mid afternoon, which was followed by a 5 hour car journey down to Lesko. The first night was extremely interesting when we arrived at the hotel, which resembled an old castle and the accommodation was also out of the dark ages. We had no choice that evening but to stay, however the following day, after a few phone calls we were moved. We ended up at the local ski village, or given the time of year a very grassy steep slope with a ski lift. This was much better and everyone settled in well.
The 13th and 14th were used as unofficial practice days to get the team acclimatized and fishing on the rivers. The 15th was an official practice day, as was the 16th, however the team rested that day given there was the best part of 3 days competition to follow.
The Solinka is a mountain river approx 20 metres wide on average with some deep descents at times making it quite quick flowing, uneven depth and very rocky (hard wading in places), whereas the main part of the river San is a low land river running below Hydro electric Dams and is on average 150 to 180 metres wide.
The San to look at is awesome and you’d expect it to be extremely deep in the middle. Indeed, just like most rivers it does have its deep areas, however at normal water levels you could wade across the river without going more than waist deep (quite amazing when you’re stood out in the middle).
One thing for certain is that the San holds a very good head of Grayling, some Brown Trout and also white fish including one called an Ide, which is similar to a roach. Whilst the team were out in Poland the river levels varied dramatically, indeed when we arrived the river was in flood and looked more like cocoa than water, the river does however seem to settle to good fishing conditions fairly quickly as long as the rain abates. When the river was normal and clear catches of Grayling were very good and you could expect 30 fish in a 3 hours practices session. Competition days started at 05.30 and the team went to bed at 23.00. This is not a holiday!
The competition consisted of 5, three hour sessions, 2 sessions on the 17th, 2 sessions on the 18th and one session on the morning of the 19th June. 4 of the five sessions are held on the rivers and one on a Lake (it was a Lake if they weren’t letting out water from the Hydro Dams, which was happening most of the time, giving us a flowing lake, flowing as fast as the rivers!).
The ladies went out with 3 objectives in mind:
· To beat the Swedish Ladies (the only other Ladies team). This was fior ELFA to get their own back for losing to them by just one point in Sweden last year. This was achieved with more than 20 points the difference.
· To beat one of the male teams. We came close but the Dutch just managed to leapfrog us on the very last session.
· For one or two of the Ladies to be in reasonable individual positions. There were 95 competitors with Kate Royce top lady in 60th position and Susan Sissons in 69th position. These were not as high as we would have liked but this is a creditable performance against the cream of Europe’s anglers.
The team were: Mary Hopper, Sue Hunter (Reserve), Mairi McFarlane, Wendy Miller, Kate Royce, Susan Sissons, Maggi Godwin (Coach), Paul Miller (Manager), Paul Sissons (European Coordinator). SEE PHOTO
The European Championships are in Slovenia in 2006 and hopefully the ELFA will receive an invite.
Anyone interested in being a member of the team must meet one of the following criteria to be assessed as a potential candidate:
1. Having been in the European Team in 2005 in Poland.
2. Be in the top 10 at the loch Style National to be held on Eyebrook, 28th August 2005.
3. Be in the top 10 at the Rivers National to be held on the river Dee, Wales, 5th November 2005.
If you meet any of these criteria, you can elect to attend the assessment day on the river Dee, Wales on the 6th November 2005. Anyone requiring further information can contact Kate Royce. |
