England Ladies River National 2006

The England Ladies Flyfishing Association, Rivers National was held on the river Wharfe at Bolton Abbey, 30^th September 2006. This event is used to determine who will represent ELFA at the European Championships or Commonwealth Championships for the following year.

For the first time in the last 4 years the lady competitors found a river that looked to be in fairly good condition having only experienced some rain showers in the pervious 24 hours. The last 3 years had seen various levels of flood on the river Dee in Wales.

The competitors were split into 2 sections, and the river was split into 2 sections; above and below the Cavendish Bridge. Each competitor fished one section in the morning and swapped over at half time to fish the other section in two, 3 hour fishing spells.

The day was overcast with sunny spells and an increasing breeze as the day progressed, but the river level stayed constant throughout the day. The most productive tactic for the day was dry fly fishing with small F flies and Klinkhammers producing the majority of the fish.

In a tight competition and with the number of fish caught determining the split for 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th places given each of these competitors had the same placing points. The results were:

1^st Susan Sissons 3 points

2^nd Gina Le Faux 4 points

3^rd Hilary Tomlinson 4 points

4^th Kate Royce 4 points

The ELFA would like to thank the Bolton Abbey Estate and especially Mark Whitehead, head river keeper for hosting and supporting the event.