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The
17th Ladies Home International, Flyfishing Championship
was held at Llyn Brenig, Wales on the 15th June 2006.
This
annual event, which moves from country to country on a yearly basis,
draws together teams of lady anglers from England, Ireland Scotland
and Wales to compete for both prestige and a number of trophies. The
event will be held in England in 2007, Scotland in 2008 and Ireland
in 2009, returning to Wales in 2010.
A
trophy is awarded to the Top team, Top Rod, Biggest fish caught and
for the bottom team. A number of other trophies are also in
existence for winners of the competition between the individual
nations as a symbol of spirited rivalry.
Each
team fields 14 lady anglers and the event is fished over an
eight-hour period, usually between the hours of 10.00 and 18.00
(this was changed to 09.00 to 17.00 in Wales, given the travelling
time from the water to the hotel). The event is fished from drifting
boats on reservoirs, lochs and loughs with the competitors being
paired with an angler from one of the other nations and they have a
boatman in each boat to help control the boat if required.
The
competitors will be told how many fish they are trying to catch and
should they catch that number of fish in the allotted time they then
stop fishing, note the time and are awarded a time bonus for the
remaining time left in the competition.
The
winners are the team who catch the highest weight of fish, including
time bonus within the eight-hour period; individual results are
based on fish weight without time bonus.
The
winners this year were England, narrowly beating Wales into second
place with Scotland third and Ireland fourth. This is Englands’ 11th
victory in the 17 years of competition between the countries, which
goes to show the skill and dedication of the England team over the
years.
It
is fair to say that you’ll never see so many lady anglers in one
place at any one time during
the year and this should be seen as a positive to the growing number
of ladies participating in the sport. Many of the ladies have
partners, friends or colleagues along to help in their preparation
and practice for the event. There are always two official practice
days held the two days before the competition but you will find that
a number of the competitors will, have visited the venue of the
International in the weeks leading up to the competition to prepare
and develop the winning techniques for the big day itself, such is
the desire to compete and win!
All
of the countries have their own fly-fishing associations, membership
is open to all ladies as well as other genders as associates, and
the associations are there to promote the sport of flyfishing
primarily for ladies, but also in general. The competition aspect is
a key date in the diary of each association, but a minor part in the
overall calendar of events run by each association. You only have to
visit their web-sites to appreciate this!
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