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The end of May soon arrived, particularly when you are looking forward to the Home International Competition on Lough Mask in Ireland. This year is extra special for me as I have been appointed to Captain the England Ladies Loch Style Team.
Saturday May 28th arrives; now lets see have we got everything, Rods, Flies, tackle box, waterproofs, who said you need less equipment with flyfishing? Blazer uniform, fishing uniform, boatman gift and boat partner gift, ‘it’s nice to say thank you with a little something for them to remember you by’, and extra this year the mascot a big white bear named “ELLMO” (short for England Ladies Lough Mask Original; a named chosen by the team) oh and of course 16 red roses for the blazers. Enough paperwork to fill a filing cabinet including maps of the water, game plans and tactics. Glad we have a large enough suitcase and an estate car! I hope the ferry can keep afloat with all this stuff.
Mon May 30th
We arrive at the Hotel at last, it is nice to see some of the other teams are here, it’s great to meet up with old friends some of whom we haven’t seen since last year at Menteith, Scotland. Now it all starts, blazer uniform on, new responsibilities this year, attend the international meeting to discuss the forth coming week, before photos this year. With the help of my Vice Captain (a new idea for us this year) Kate Royce I left her with the responsibility of getting the team gathered together ready for the photo shoot, pre-brief and welcome evening given by the host team Ireland. After receiving our red lions badges and the red roses, everyone is lined up and checked, ‘yes we all look smart’, let the cameras do there worst. After which we are treated to canapés and wine during the welcome evening given by our hosts from Ireland.
Practice Day 1 Tuesday May 31st.
Before we depart on the practice, photos in fishing Uniform down at Cushlough Bay is first call of the day even though we are all eager to go fishing, Quick team briefing, we pair up, make sure we know which areas we are all heading for.
The weather was kind to us this morning; light winds and the sun came out, excellent day for Buzzers and Nymphs. Its great to go out fishing because although your doing your best to find out the methods, this gives a little time to relax and remove come of the tension before the big day. 6pm came all to soon and its time to head back to the hotel for team de-brief and to sort out the boat pairings and areas to fish for tomorrow with Paul, (team manager). We had found some great flies that worked and areas where we had found fish; the maps were marked up ready for tomorrow. Dinner was had now off to bed.
Practice day 2 Wednesday June 1st.
This was an overcast day with a little more wind. I am paired with Maggie Godwin to find out if the buzzers and the areas in which fish were found the day before were still working. Much to our disappointment no fish to buzzers, the wind had picked up which made it difficult to fish that way. Time for lunch we beached the boat on an island and started to eat our sandwiches. Maggie and I notice what looked like a speed camera that faced out onto the lough! Oh well we are in Ireland after all; we’ll watch our speed! Time to rethink tactics and we both decide its time to go and try the other areas, with traditional Irish mayfly patterns and see if they work with the increasing winds. 6 pm arrived and it was time to go back to our debrief house
courtesy of Richard and Margaret Holmes who allow the team to invade their front room. Richard and Margaret have managed to conjure up enough chairs to seat all 20 of us and Margaret appears with endless cups of tea, coffee and biscuits and then leave us to have our meeting. The Ladies had done well and come up with a few good areas to head for tomorrow (with high winds forecasted), and about half a dozen flies to give us some good patterns to start with. But we don’t have enough flies for us all, good job we have our travelling fly-tyer Steve Newsome with us, it looks like he has got a long night in front of him.
Match Day. Thursday June 2nd.
We invade the fishery office at Cushlough Bay, politely removing the friendly residents for our last team briefing before the match starts. Everyone is in good spirits, we share out the flies, mark up our cards for the top four flies, check our maps and wish everyone well. Half the team has captaincy of the boat for the first 2 hours, this can be important as it means we get to choose which areas we want to start fishing in although I have found that working together with my boat partner is best, because both of us want to catch fish. Waterproofs are a must especially as the heavens have opened
and the wind is getting stronger by the minute,with some driving rain in it; it looks as if the forecasters have got the weather right for once, typical. Kit check; fly rod, tackle and the important lunch bag is in the boat, it’s time, march down to the water to the sounds of the customary Bag Pipe music played by the local piper. This year Ireland have got a local school band as well to lead us to the water, they looked lovely in the smart uniforms.
9.55am; this is it; we sit waiting for the start gun (having rounded up our Irish boat man and pointed them to their boats), proud to be fishing for our country England. We were wished good luck by the team manager Paul Miller, families and friends whom now have to wait for 8 hours. I’m glad I’m fishing.
With engines fired up, the pistol shot signals the match is underway and 28 boats roar out of narrow exit of Cushlough Bay into the vast expanse of Lough Mask. My boat partner was Sheila Mannion from Scotland, we agree to start a drift between two small islands and manage to draw a few fish up to our flies but don’t connect with any, we end the drift and go around again, by which time the rain is coming down even heavier and the wind is really blowing now (we later find out it got up to 30 miles a hour at times). The morning goes very quickly and the boatman decides its time for a lunch break (you have a mandatory 30 minute lunch break in Ireland), we find a suitable spot to pull up on an Island in the lea of the wind. Excellent news this island has a shelter which allows us a little break from the rain and wind although it didn’t seem that cold. A couple of other boats pull up but no other England team members, but it is nice to have a chat with the other teams.
Not many fish had been caught only 2 in the boats on here. We moved to a slightly different fishing area in the afternoon and worked the islands further down the Lough, and on the way back to Cushlough worked in and out of the bays in short drifts
At last I hook a fish only for it to get away, I’ve risen so many and not held onto any.
Time speeds by and its time to pull up and stop fishing the match is over, 6pm has arrived. All the boats are moored up and its time to see how we did it is great to see the team, family and friends all smiling, but tense.
The excitement and tension all around is tremendous, as we wait for the weigh in to begin, Wales and Scotland have weighed in, Scotland lead with 12 fish, now its our turn 17 fish, its looking good just keeping fingers crossed, the host teams turn and they are coming up with some good sized fish and it is looking close, my heart was beating so fast I was so nervous and excited but it looked like England had done it. We waited nervously for them to announce the score over the loud speaker. Why do microphones always whistle before anyone speaks this is it the final results!
4th Position- Wales, 3rd Ireland, 2nd Scotland and 1st Place goes to England, we are the 2005 champions. Cheers and champagne corks are flying around Yippee we did it. I’m even wetter now Kate has poured the Champagne down my neck.
The day isn’t over yet, time to head back to the Hotel, quick change into our blazer uniform, time for a quick de brief to find out what the fish were caught on. Most popular line was the Cortland Blue and the most popular , fly voted on by the fish themselves was the Melvin Octopus, Golden Olive bumble and a Fiery Brown.
After congratulating the team on a good result, the team presented me with a beautiful gold necklace with a fish charm on it; this they said was for being a great captain. Thank you, but I think the team deserve the congratulation as they all worked together and fished hard as a team and supported each other, well done to all. It seems they also have a sense on humour and presented team manager Paul with a plastic toy multi tool kit as a thank you, good job we had a real one lined up too.
It’s time for the International dinner and presentations. We all line up in our teams in the corridor the piper pipes us in and we take our places at the tables, this year I’m on the top table with the other team captains and special guests.
After a wonderful meal it was time for the presentation of the trophies, medals and the speeches. Having never given a speech before I was extremely nervous, but with support from the team I managed it. They said it would be easy if we won I’m still not convinced.
Time to party now and relax with all the teams who had turned into new friends we had made during the international week, and dance the night away to the live band. A great way to end a week filled with great team spirit and excellent wild brown trout fishing, done in traditional Irish Style. And of course we WON!
I would like to say a special thank you to my husband Paul for all his support and patience though out the year and during the whole week in Ireland. A big Thank you and congratulations go to the team for 2005 well done. Thank you to all the supporters who accompanied us on our trip to Ireland.
Time to go home and look forward to the national competition on Eyebrook in August to try and get in to the team for 2006, fingers crossed everyone.
England came home with the Bob Church trophy, Anne Marshall rose bowl, Wendy Miller Anglo Irish cup, Moc Morgan cup, Bord Failte Irish tourist board trophy,
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