TEL +44 (0) 1752 334933 Tackle for the Real World
2010 sees Snowbee launch over 50 new products for the coming season. We have nearly finished clearing obsolete and discontinued items though our dealer network and any final items are now available through our Warehouse Clearance sale - on a first come first served basis, whilst stocks last. (To make sure you are notified of all forthcoming promotions and an annual catalogue, don't forget to register with us on the home page and Submit your postcode into our dealer network to find you nearest participating Snowbee stockist)
Many of the new products are now in stock or certainly will be very shortly, so if there are any new products you particularly want to try on or see, these should be in your Local Snowbee stockist very soon. If not then please let them know and they can order them in for you.
Snowbee (UK) Ltd has come a long way in its 26 year history and the 102 pages of the 2010 Game Fishing catalogue are packed with great modern products, offering the very latest in design, technology and materials, making them available to todays modern day game angler under the increasingly popular Snowbee brand. We also recently launched the new Sea Fishing catalogue which continues to grow too.
20th March 2010 - Annual Open day - Drakes Court, Plymouth PL7 5JY (doors open 10.00 am)
Tel 01752 334933
Saturday 27th March 2010 - Spring Cup - Innis Fishery, near St Austell, Cornwall.
Tel 01726 851162
Sunday 11th April 2010 Bristol Reservoir Fly Fishers Spring Competition - Chew
Tel 01275 332339
Saturday 8th May 2010- Snowbee South West Float tubing competition - Drift Reservoir, Cornwall. In association with the NFTA (Organiser - David Williams)
Tel 07831 512008 (NFTA Secretary)
Saturday 15th/Sunday 16th May 2010 Sportfish Show - Reading. A great weekend and chance to try
many of the new products for 2010 early season.
Tel 0118 9303860
Friday 11th - Sunday 13th June 2010 - EFTTEX European Retailer Exhibition - Valencia, Spain
Tel 01752 334933
Tuesday 22nd June - Saturday 26th June 2010 - Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships - Mid Wales.
Sunday 4th July 2010 Snowbee/Southwest Lakes Trust 4 Man team bank fishing event, Siblyback - Some confusion over this date but will definitely be held this Sunday and whilst there is a big field already entered more teams are always welcome (£100/team payable on the day to include fishing and refreshments) - Floating Lines only meet 10.00 am for a 11.00 - 5.30pm match, followed by presentations with Pint and a Pasty.
Tel 01566 771930
Friday 23rd - Sunday 25th July 2010 - CLA Game Fair - Ragley Hall, Warwickshire. Come and see us and try some of our latest gear for yourself at the largest outdoor and country pursuit event of the year.
Tel 01752 334 933
Friday 23rd July 2010 - Youth Home International - Grafham Water, Cambridgeshire.
Tel 01480 810531
3rd -9th August 2010 (TBC) - Youth World Fly Fishing Championships, Slovakia
Date to be confirmed - Product presentation and Demo - Blakewell fishery, Barnstaple , North Devon.
Tel 01271 374267
Sunday 17th/Monday 18th October 2010 Tackle and Guns Trade Show - Stoneleigh Agricutural Show Ground, Warwickshire.
Sat 30th/Sun 31st October 2010 - British Fly Fair International, Trentham Gardens, Stoke on Trent.
Tel 01782 388382
All events and activities as they happen will be reported here throught 2010.
Snowbee South West Lakes Fly Fishing Team Competition
A record number of anglers from Devon and Cornwall came to fish in the seventh annual Snowbee South West Lakes Trust Team fly fishing competition at Siblyback Trout Fishery on Sunday 4 July. Eleven teams of four anglers from all over the South West fished from the bank in this floating line competition, competing to win the Snowbee Perpetual Trophy (a handsome bronze sculpture of a rising fish by local artist, Robin Armstrong), as well as South West Lakes Trust fishing tickets and fishing tackle supplied by Snowbee UK (the competition’s sponsor). The high water temperatures, combined with winds and rain, made the fishing conditions challenging, although by the end of the day a respectable number of fish (70 rainbow trout) were caught by the anglers, including three full bags of 6 fish, and fish of 4lb 11oz (Steve Ebdon of Exeter) and 4lb 9oz (Dave Johns of Cornwall). Fish were well spread out around the lake, and caught mainly on lures or dark nymphs, all fished with floating lines (a stipulation of the competition).
The winning team was ‘The Siblyback Raiders’, consisting of Tony Chipman, Dave Johns, Paul Jones, and Roger Truscott, who between them, caught 19 fish weighing in at 31lb 7oz.. Team Snowbee took second place with12 fish for 19lbs 7oz, with The Hawthorns (Steve Ebdon, Andy Gooding, Peter Kempton, and Dennis Symmonds) catching 8 fish for 15lb 12oz. Prizes were also awarded for the two heaviest fish, and the top four individual heaviest bags.
Competitors, with winning team (Siblyback Raiders) in centre.
The prizes of Snowbee fishing tackle and South West Lakes Trust fishing tickets were presented by Simon Kidd (Sales and Marketing Manager of Plymouth based tackle company, Snowbee UK) during the drinks and refreshments which were served after the competition. Other prize winners included a rod for the Heaviest Fish caught (Steve Ebdon), and prizes for the four Heaviest Individual Bags.
The next trout fishing competition run by the South West Lakes Trust will be the ‘Peninsula 2000’ open boat pairs competition, this year supported by Orvis, which will be held at Wimbleball Lake on Sunday 5 September.
2010 England Rivers Qualifier
The regional qualifying round of the Rivers competition was held at Fingle Bridge on the River Teign, the Peninsula Federation organized this annual event and was open to anglers from all over the country. The Peninsula region covers an area from Bristol to Land’s End and organizes this and other fishing events.
The anglers found the fishing quite difficult this year, mainly due to the low water condition, however there were some notable exceptions. Pete Kempton from Exeter fished in the morning session and managed to catch double the number of fish than his nearest rival. Pete fished the ‘Piddledown’ run and caught his fish using the ‘duo’ method, this is where a dry fly is used on a top dropper and a nymph fished underneath it, all of Pete’s 20 fish came to the nymph.
The quality of fishing on the River Teign, which is a part of the Upper Teign Association water, is outstanding with 136 measurable fish, up to 32cm, being caught; each fish is measured and then returned carefully to the water. The details of the size of the fish are then recorded by an independent controller, points being awarded for each fish and the overall length of the fish, these points are then totalled up at the end of the competition.
The winner of the Snowbee Perpetual trophy was local angler Pete Kempton, who caught 20 trout in only 31/2 hours of fishing. 6 anglers will now go on to the National Final to be held at Llangollen on the Dee in August where the top 5 anglers will represent England.
Snowbee UK Ltd again provided sponsorship for the competition with prizes and the perpetual trophy, pictured below.
Pictured left to right: Alex Bobba, Lewis Hendrie, John Tyzack, Pete Kempton, Andrew Gooding and Dave Johns.
Pictured above are the top three anglers from the morning and afternoon sessions. These six anglers will be invited to fish the Rivers National Final on the Welsh Dee in August.
Below: Winner Pete Kempton being presented with the trophy by competition organizer Andrew Gooding, (pictured left) himself a competitor in this event. Both Pete and Andrew have represented England and this year Andrew Gooding has been selected to represent England in the European Championships.
Peninsula Federation Loch Style Qualifier at Blagdon Lake 25th April 2010
The annual quest for for places in the National Final of the Loch Style fishing started at Blagdon Lake on Sunday 25th April. The event sponsored by Snowbee UK attracted 24 competitors to try and gain a place in the England team.
The fishing at Blagdon had been unusual, it seemed that all of the fish in the lake were along the North Shore, Orchard Bay and Pegs Point. In practice this information seemed to be accurate, but fish also seemed to be moving along the bank away from the North Shore and further up into Rugmore Bay. This knowledge meant that most of the boats and all of the bank anglers would be concentrated there.
Beautiful Blagdon lodge and competitors getting ready for this year's competition.
2010 competitors trying to look as though they enjoy being photographed, 'get on with it, we just want to go fishing'.
The winner, Paul Jones, fished along the area from Ash Trees to catch his 8 fish by 12.45 using a Di-5 and two flies, a ‘Blob’ and a Booby and slowly pulling it back and then hanging the flies, Paul had also lost another 6 fish using this method.
There were fish willing to take a more natural fly in Rugmore Bay and these could be caught using a floating line and Diawl Bachs, until the wind picked and made this method very difficult. Towards the end of the match boats tended to make their way back to the lodge area and Home Bay, where some found fish that hadn’t shown up before this weekend, one angler caught his eighth fish with 20 minutes to go using the floating line method. One angler was playing a fish here when a pike grabbed the fish and started to swim off with it, the angler managed to turn both fish and got them back to the boat, the pike then let go of the fish and managed to knock it off the hook as well, it was that fish’s lucky day!
1st Paul Jones 8 fish for 19lbs 1oz
2nd Mike Cocks 8 fish for 18lbs 4 ozs
3rd Tony Chipman 8 fish for 15lbs 0oz
4th Peter Kempton 6 fish for 13lbs 13ozs
5th Mark Stevens 7 fish for 12lbs 7ozs
6th Dave Johns 6 fish for 11lbs 6ozs
Winner, Paul Jones, being presented with his prize and the hand carved Snowbee Perpetual Trophy by Marketing Manager Simon Kidd.
BRFFA –Snowbee Spring competition
The annual BRFFA open day on Chew was held on Sunday 11th April 2010 with nearly 50 entrants and plenty of prizes, courtesy of the main sponsors, Snowbee UK Ltd. This day usually proves to be extremely popular and kicks off the spring season for many and this year proved no exception. After grim reports of how the Chew had been fishing since the start of the season, the fishing was superb, despite the coninuing cold winds that have blown relentlessy since xmas it would seem.
Martin Cottis plays a good rainbow caught on dries during the afternoon
The prize winners at Chew BRFFA with local guide and BRFFA Club event organiser Martin Cottis
A cold, stiff breeze blew from the north east all day, but if you could find some shelter there were good fish to be caught and a variety of methods proved successful. Nymphs and buzzers proved most successful and the quality of fish was excellent. Plenty of fish were feeding if you were in the right places and if brave enough could be taken on dries too. The event is a joint bank and boat compettioon to decide tehn overall winner and invaraibly the mobility of the boats proves more successful but for a pleasant change the bank Anglers reigned supreme with lots of good fish still hugging the shallows near the shore.
Overall winner was Dave Dodds (Bank!!) with 8 fish 22lbs 1oz (including a 6lbs-10oz rainbow) Dave won a new top of the range New Prestige 10ft #7wt rod worth £200 and a pair of the new Polarising Magnalite Sunglasses
Dave Dodds Bank Plate and overall winner, plus Pete Ford Boat Champion pictured with Snowbee Sales & Marketing Manager Simon Kidd.
Individual top bank rod Sean Torrington had 8 fish17lbs 14oz and won himslef the New Geo 790 Cassette reel.
2nd bank, Rod Newton 8 fish 16-10,
3rd bank Tony Torrington 8 fish 15-09,
4th bank Dev Stickley 8 fish 15-00.
Top boat rod Pete Ford had 8 fish 18lbs 2oz and also won a New Geo 790 Cassette reel.
2nd boat Sam Blackwood (in his first Chew competition) 8 fish 17-13
3rd boat Ron Tutt 8 fish17-07
4th boat Tony Baldwin 8 fish 16-09
Best fish not in the prizes above came from boats for Peter Kempton, a 4lbs 3oz Rainbow
47 anglers fished the competition with 36 on the boats and 11 bank. They caught a total of 268 fish with a rod average of 5.55 on the boats and 6.18 from the bank!
An excellent average weight of fish for the day was just over 2 lbs.
INNIS FISHERY SPRING CUP 2010
SPONSORED BY SNOWBEE UK
Snowbee UK have once again sponsored this annual event and have supplied a superb selection of prizes. Innis Fishery and the anglers competing would like to express their appreciation for the support that Snowbee UK continue to give.
To this in 9 days
The lakes are fed from a spring fed river and this obviously helped in this transformation.
The difference in fishing was amazing to watch, from only having a few inches of fishable water to over 15 feet of fishable depths and the myriad of methods and flies that this allowed.
The only stipulation with this competition, as it is a totally catch and release event, is that there is no 'booby' fishing.
Innis Fishery had obviously pleased the weather gods, the lower lake had been drained to carry out work to remove the excessive weed growth and was drained during February to do the work.
The removal of the weed was to help anglers fish different depths and methods throughout the year and was carried out by a team of volunteers.
The lake went fromt this;
Although the numbers competing were down this year the field contained 4 England Internationals, including the current England Loch Style Team Manager and produced a rod average of 9.2 fish per angler, the best ever for this event. The fishing got of to a furious start with fish coming to the net from the first hooter. All of the fish were witnessed by an independent controller and then carefully returned to the water.
The fish were spread out in both lakes, although there were several ‘hotspots’ these tended to change during the day giving everybody a fair chance to catch the beautifully conditioned fish.
Considering the weather yesterday the competition could not have been held in better conditions, with overcast sky and occasional sunny spells to get the early season insect hatching.
The most unusual catch of the day must have gone to local angler Paul Nottle, who managed this little beauty, this delightful little amphibian was safely returned to the water unscathed.
The 2010 competition was the most closely fought for a long time with several angler going into the last half hour with a good chance of winning. When the results were announced there were 2 anglers who had both caught a fantastic 18 fish, Craig Barr, England Team manager and Kevin Hockley. The results went down to who caught the first of their fish, and this went to Kevin Hockley. Kevin caught his first fish at 9:47 beating Craig into 2nd place and was presented with his Trophy,prizes and a cheque for £150 by Snowbee’s sales and marketing manager Simon Kidd
Winner Kevin Hockley being presented with his trophy and prizes by Snowbee Sales & Marketing Manager Simon Kidd and Innis Fishery Co-owner, Dave Johns.
Reports of other events in recent past below
England Rivers Qualifier - (South West heat 2009 - River Teign)
The South West heat to reach the National Finals for this prestigious event took place at the picturesque setting on the River Teign at Fingle Bridge. 22 anglers from as far away as West Yorkshire and Derbyshire having entered this event.
The anglers were not disappointed with the quality of fishing with 183 measurable fish being caught; each fish is measured and then returned carefully to the water. The details of the size of the fish are then recorded by an independent controller, points being awarded for each fish and the overall length of the fish, these points are then totalled up at the end of the competition.
The winner of the Snowbee Perpetual trophy was local angler Andrew Gooding, who amassed over 1000 points for the 27 trout he caught, this huge score was achieved in only 3 1/2 hours of fishing.
Snowbee UK Ltd again provided support for the competition providing prizes and the perpetual trophy.
Pictured left are the top 3 anglers from the morning and afternoon sessions.
Left to Right: Pete Kempton, Tony Baldwin, John Tyzack, Andrew Gooding, Richard Cobbledick & David Long.
Below: Winner Andrew Gooding being presented with the trophy by Snowbee UK’s marketing manager Simon Kidd, (pictured right) himself a competitor in this event and Peninsula Federation Chairman Pete Kempton. All three have represented England and qualfy for this years National River final and this year Andrew Gooding has been selected to represent England in the European Championships.
Float Tubing Spring Open 2009 - Drift near Penzance
The South West members of the National Float Tube Association have just held their 4th annual Float Tubing spring event, sponsored by Snowbee, at Drift reservoir in Cornwall. Despite attrocious weather conditions for float tubing, with strong and cold winds persisting throughout, an excellent day was enjoyed by all.
With winds gusting to 35 mph, the sun did manage an appearance but heavy blustery rain buffeted the competitors all day long. Some had travelled from as far afield as London, the Midlands and Wales but last years runner up, Vaughan Try from Penzance, came through to win the top prize, of the brand new float tube from Snowbee. Vaughan took his limit in a matter of hours and spent the rest of the day with his feet up watching the other competitors battling the elements.
Further events will be held in the South West through the summer months - keep an eye on the events calendar above for details.
Loch Style Qualifier Sponsored by Snowbee UK Ltd Blagdon Lake 26th April 2009
This prestigious qualifying event to find the top anglers to fish for England took place after some very unsettled weather, the previous day, where anglers on Chew Valley Lake were buffeted with high winds. The anglers who competed at Blagdon were luckier however with lightish winds for most of the day and brighter weather. (As pictured right)
In the weeks leading up to this competition the lake had been fishing exceptionally well, but with the change in weather the fishing became more challenging. Fish were being caught very early in the competition but the unpredictability of trout fishing soon came into play.
Anglers who were catching well seemed to find it difficult to keep finding fish willing to take the fly, this allowed some of the other competitors to catch up. The top end of the lake, along with the areas around the dam were the place to be and the preferred method was a floating line with small nymphs retrieved very slowly.
The eventual winner, Simon Kidd from Plymouth, caught all of his fish at the top end of the lake using a variety of methods. As always it seemed that there would be a large number of bag limits, but this fear proved unfounded, with only 5 bag limits appearing at the scales.
Pete kempton with a full finned 3lb 6oz Blagdon rainbow in this year's qualifier.
The rod average for the competition was 4.8 fish per angler with an average weight of 2.2lbs per fish, this due to the excellent stocking policy of Bristol Water.
Snowbee UK Ltd once again supported this event with an array of prizes and the Perpetual Trophy for the winner.
BRFFA Spring Shield
Saturday 18th April yielded another superb day of fishing on Chew, in this years annual spring Club event supported by Snowbee UK Ltd. Fish were still hard on Buzzers and the Dam, Herons, Nunnery and Moreton provided the best of the fishing. Early morning there was plenty of cloud cover and fish were high in the water with odd ones feeding off the top. As the wind picked up and the sun came out however, things changed and buzzers on long leaders proved most effective. After a brief purple patch early afternoon, it did become progressively harder for many, but a great day was enjoyed by all with high spirits and some excellent fish being caught.
Keith Brown caught the best fish of the day, a lovely rainbow of 6lbs 4oz but that only just pipped Royston Jennings' superb Brownie of 6lbs 3oz, for a long time appearing it would take the top spot, but Royston lost out in the end by a slender one ounce!!! .
Keith won a new XSD Fly reel outfit for his achievement
Royston Jennings with his lovely 6lbs 3oz Brown Trout
Tony Baldwin took top individual honours on the day from the Boat, with a bag weight of 8 fish for 20lbs 4oz with Mark Withyman a close 2nd and top boat angler after Tony with 19lbs 13oz. Dev Stickley had the top bag from the bank of 18lbs 10oz. Tony won a Brand new top of the range Geo 790 fly reel and line outfit ,whilst both the top boat and bank anglers won a new Snowbee Diamond fly Rod. Other tackle prizes were awarded for top placings with all prize winners taking home some of the brand new Fluoro-tec Flouorocarbon for even better success in the future.
The fishing was so good to start with in fact that several bank anglers, who started their match earlier, had finished fishing before the boat anglers ventured onto the water!
64 fished in total, 18 from the bank and 46 on the boats.
After the event a meal was enjoeyd by all the competitors put on in the Woodford Lodge and during the dinner a cake was presented by BRFFA to celebrate Snowbees 25 years as popular manufacturer and distributor in the game fishing Industry
Simon Kidd accepting the presentation on behalf of Snowbee UK Ltd
Innis Spring Cup - 2009
Saturday saw the best weather this competition had ever seen, far from the usual cold wet weather the competitors were used to, the sun was shining there was a gentle breeze, still a little bit on the cold side, but a welcome change from the March weather of previous years.
35 anglers were competing for the prestigious title along with a prize list worth over £1500. Snowbee Uk Ltd were the main sponsors and once again provided top quality prizes of Diamond Rods, the new Geo Reel, clothing Fly lines and nets. Following previous years the organisers awarded several prizes to competitors not at the very top of the list as well. Among these were junior angler Thomas Pearce, who had beaten a number of respected senior anglers in the process.
The lunch time break saw a change from previous years, nobody had landed more than 5 fish and there were at least 4 anglers on that total. This meant that every body was still in the running for the top cash prize of £200.
The afternoon session, usually the time when the fish have their siesta, was totally different. Anglers were limited to catching a maximum of 5 fish from any one peg were doing just that, with several taking this ‘limit’ from their vantage points.
Pictured above: Russell Symons landing an Innis Rainbow
Eventual winner, Pete Kempton from Exeter, did just this adding 10 fish to his 5 fish morning session. Pete caught his 15 fish total using an intermediate line with a tadpole type barbless fly to allow the fish to be safely returned to the water
Pictured Left to Right: Russell Weston, Snowbee UK Manging Director, Simon Kidd Snowbee UK Sales Manager, Pete Kempton 2009 Innis Spring Cup Winner & Dave Johns Innis Fishery owner.
South West England River Eliminator - 2008 (River Teign)
The local South West heat to select anglers to represent England fly-fishing on rivers, took place on Saturday the 31st of May, at the beautiful location of Fingle Bridge on the river Teign. The heat attracted anglers from as far away as Lancashire as well as many local anglers. 26 anglers were all trying to qualify to represent England next year. The field was strong with no less than 10 of the anglers having represented England before at National, European and World Championship level. Snowbee, who support the local federation, provided prizes for the top anglers on the day, as well as the hand carved trophy, that the top individual receives.
The weather had been unpredictable all week with localized thunderstorms causing the river to rise rapidly. Fortunately the water conditions settled and the water was looking good, and improving as the day progressed. The competitors were divided into two sections, one group fishing, while the second acted as controllers. The controllers measured every fish and then returned them unharmed to the water.
The quality of the fishing on the section of the Teign once again proved to be outstanding, with 214 trout caught up to 36 centimeters in length. There was also one Sea trout of about 2.5lb caught, by local angler Darren Everitt but unfortunately this ‘bar of silver’ did not count towards the result and was safely returned unmeasured.
The final placings were very close with local anglers taking all of the top 6 positions. In overall first place was Launceston angler Denis Symonds, who qualifies for the national final again having done so on both Loch style and Rivers in recent years.
The full result was divided into the morning and afternoon sessions
1. Denis Symonds from Launceston
2. Alex Bobba from Uffculme
3. Peter Kempton from Exeter
1. Robert Dadd from Newton Abbott
2. Simon Kidd from Plymouth
3. Martin Burgess from Somerset
All above hope to have done enough to reach the last 32 who will contest the national final on the River Tees later this year, where the top 6 will represent The Snowbee Sponsored England rivers team in 2009.
Right: Denis Symonds – Southwest Regional Rivers Champion 2008
Peninsula Loch Style Eliminator
Steve Ebdon is pictured here on Sunday 27th April at Blagdon, winning the 2008 South West Peninsula final qualifying event for the English National. After a tense wait, on a superb fishing day, where no less than 166 fish were caught by the 26 Anglers fishing, at a rod average of 6.4 fish (no less than eight weighing in at over 3lbs) a loud cheer went up as Steve Ebdon was announced a very popular and worthy winner.
Snowbee have sponsored this local South West regional qualifying event for several years now and will continue to do so next year. Steve won the coveted perpetual Trout Trophy and a new XSD 780 5 spool outfit with matching Snowbee fly line.
Snowbee sponsored BRFFA event - April 2008
Another popular local event in the South West of England, local to Snowbee, the past few years has been the BRFFA annual cup match fished at Chew. This event used to be held in the Autumn, but a move to the spring has resulted in some great early fishing the last two years. Again the fishing proved spectacular with many excellent fish being taken on buzzer throughout the day. Denny Island proved a popular spot with most of the boats taking shelter from the stiff wind behind the Island and along the north shore.
Bristol, Angler Tony Baldwin 2nd (from right) is pictured here delighted with his win and bag limit of 17lbs 14oz. He received the Annual Trophy and a brand new 2008 10ft Snowbee Diamond Rod for his efforts. Rob Honour (right) finished 2nd with 17lbs 4oz and Martin Burgess 3rd (far left) who works at Chew, came 3rd with his bag limit of 16lbs 5oz.
Whilst primarily a boat match, a bank match takes place at the same time and a good limit catch for local angler Malcolm Fisher, provided him with 1st place from the bank and he also took home a new 9ft 6” 7wt Diamond rod.
England Rivers Eliminator. River Teign 3rd June 2007.
Sponsored by Snowbee UK
The final heat to select the 32 finalists to compete for a coveted England cap took place on Sunday at the beautiful location of the River Teign at Fingle Bridge.
26 competitors assembled in a bid to fill the last places in the final. The event is split into morning and afternoon sessions, with the top anglers from each session going through to the final.
After meeting their partners for the day the big question was where to start fishing? With 11 miles to choose from the anglers were evenly spread in the main areas.
The morning session proved to be the more difficult with the trout reluctant to feed. This was reflected in the results, the best bag being 9 fish, this was caught by Snowbee UK’s marketing manager and England international Simon Kidd. Simon also caught the largest fish of the day, a fantastic brown trout of 41cm.
The afternoon session proved a little easier for some anglers, England internationals Peter Kempton from Exeter and Richard Cobbledick from Launceston caught 14 and 13 trout respectively.
The anglers at the Fingle Bridge pub keenly awaited the results.
In the morning session;
1st with 9 fish was Simon Kidd from Plymouth.
2nd with 8 fish was Andrew Gooding from Newton Abbot.
3rd with 8 fish was Denis Symonds from Launceston.
In the Afternoon session;
1st with 14 fish was Peter Kempton from Exeter.
2nd with 13 fish was Richard Cobbledick from Launceston.
3rd with 8 fish was last years overall winner, Robert Dadd from Newton Abbot.
This years overall winner collecting the magnificent perpetual trophy donated by Snowbee UK was Peter Kempton, seen below being presented with the trophy by Simon Kidd from Snowbee UK.
The winners will contest the final, held this year on the River Dart in July.
The Snowbee National English Rivers Final 2007
The Snowbee National English Rivers Final 2007 took place on the East & West Dart on Monday 23rd July. The build-up to this prestigious event saw many of the top river anglers in the country travelling down to Dartmoor to practice on the Duchy water and develop tactics to tempt the native, wild brown trout. With almost constant rain in the area for some time, the river was high and coloured.
The vast majority of the qualifiers were present for the Official Practice Day on the Friday to refine their tactics and try to identify likely fish holding areas. In the evening, the Public Draw for Beats took place in the Badger’s Holt, Dartmeet. Officials from the Confederation of English Fly Fishers (CEFF), the event organisers, supervised the draw, which was witnessed by many local anglers who had volunteered to act as controllers for the competition.
Saturday was a Rest Day for the river but the anglers could ‘walk’ their Beats and locate the nearest parking areas. Meanwhile, a number of the controllers gathered at Fingle Bridge on the nearby River Teign to compete in their own competition. Although most were newcomers to competition fishing they had a most enjoyable day. Graham Lumsdon from County Antrim won the morning session with David Long from Totnes taking the honours in the afternoon.
Sunday was also a Rest Day for the river but Mount House School; Tavistock was the scene of a Fly Fishing Open Day, aimed at those new to the sport as well as the more experienced angler.
Snowbee (UK) Ltd, the sponsors of the National Final, hosted a Fly-Casting clinic with an opportunity to ‘have a go’. Also present were Yelverton artist Robin Armstrong with a selection of his pictures; Keith & Sandra Armishaw of River Reads, Torrington with a vast array of rare fishing books and antique tackle; Peter & Gillian Wildash of Mayo Flycraft, Dorset who demonstrated fly-tying and had flies for sale. There was also a second-hand tackle stand and spirit raffles.
A wet Monday morning saw the competitors arrive at the HQ, The Fountain Room, Two Bridges Hotel, to ‘sign-in’, receive their scorecards and get paired off with the 32 mostly local anglers who were acting as their controllers for the day. Each controller stays with his angler throughout the day to ensure they conform to the CEFF Rules, accurately measure and record their catch and witness the careful release of the trout back into the river. Head Controller, Brian Easterbrook, a Dartmoor fishing guide oversaw the briefings and dealt with last minute queries. The rain and overcast conditions made it difficult for the Beat Stewards to find the controllers after each of the four sessions to collect the scorecards.
Nevertheless, just under half had been returned to HQ by 2pm and the early front-runners could be identified. Soon after 5pm, exhausted and bedraggled, the anglers and controllers started to arrive back with various tales of success & failure. The results could now be calculated and wet clothing replaced by dry in readiness for the Final Dinner.
85 attended the dinner at the Two Bridges, which was presided over by Baz Reece, CEFF Chairman (and competitor). Baz thanked the Duchy Deputy Land Steward, Chris Gregory for allowing the competition to be held on Duchy waters and Brian Easterbrook for his services as Head Controller.
Stuart Wardle (England Rivers Team Manager) then thanked Russell Weston, MD Snowbee (UK) Ltd for his generous sponsorship of the event and his continuing support of the Rivers Team. Russell, in his reply, was delighted that the Final had returned to the South West and that Snowbee had played such a major role. The controllers were thanked for their superb contribution, as were all those who had helped make the whole event such a success.
John Tyzack, a fly fishing guide from Stockport became National Rivers Champion for the second year running. This was the fifth time that John has lifted this trophy and confirms him as one of the best river anglers on the competition circuit.
Local angler, Alex Bobba from Uffculme will gain his first England Cap after finishing Runner Up. Perikles Karageorgopoulos, a former England Rivers Team member from Kent was third. Mike Tinnion from Keswick in Cumbria, a regular World Team member was fourth. Local angler Andrew Gooding from Newton Abbot, who also qualified last year, came fifth. Successful methods included a combination of dry fly & small copper or gold-headed nymphs with a catch ratio of about 50/50, although John reports that for him, it changed to 85/15 in the afternoon. Richard Cobbledick from Launceston, a former Loch-Style International came close in sixth position and will travel with Snowbee Team England as Reserve, when they compete in Scotland in 2008. A total of 351 fish were caught, the best being 30.6cm by Tony Fox from London. CEFF trophies presented by Baz and a range of Snowbee tackle & clothing presented by Russell, were awarded to all the above.
The beauty of Dartmoor, the warm welcome of the locals and the challenges of fishing the Dart will ensure that many of the anglers, including those that struggled on competition day, will return during the coming months and years to continue their pursuit of the wonderful wild brown trout that it holds. However, if they fish a Final on the Dart in future years they might have to compete with a few more local anglers who, after controlling, have expressed an interest in joining the local Federation and entering the Qualifying Heats.
England has an enviable record in competitive fly-fishing. Four Team and five Individual Gold medals in the World Championships is a tally that many other sports can only dream of. In recent years, however, success in International Competitions has been made far more difficult due to a lack of proper funding. Team members have to contribute most of the costs involved and as a consequence, practice at the competition venues has had to be reduced to the bare minimum. If the (wholly volunteer and unpaid CEFF) is to give its teams the chance of competing on equal terms, substantial cash sponsorship needs to be obtained. If anyone reading this can assist in any way they are asked to contact the CEFF Treasurer, John Ball on 01202 482441.
Loch Style Eliminator - Blagdon Lake, Somerset
The competition has held in what had been a difficult period of fishing at Blagdon. The catch rate was not one to recommend a visit to the lake and practice sessions by the competitors had proved to be challenging. With this in mind the organizers were apprehensive about the chance of gaining a full result.
As it transpired, thanks to Bristol Water and the weather conditions, the fears proved to be groundless. The competition started in bright sunshine and a fairly brisk chilly wind. Local boat anglers had been catching at anchor in ‘Home Bay’ and ‘Butcombe Bay’ but these fish were hard on the bottom feeding on buzzers, this is not easy to achieve from a fast drifting boat as the fish required the presentation to be static. Thankfully the wind dropped and the fish started to feed normally. The majority of the anglers headed to Home Bay, with the odd boat going to Butcombe. The boats in Home Bay saw immediate results with Simon Kidd catching 5 on the first drift. Simon went on to complete a limit but with relatively small fish.
The eventual winner, Dave Grove, who was Butcombe Bay managed to find some larger fish.
The quality of the fish is something special at fisheries run by Bristol Water; the rod average for the day was 4.5 fish per rod. Of these there were 4 fish over 3lbs, 4 fish over 4lbs and 3 fish over 5lbs, The best being 5lb 14ozs caught by Cornish angler Tony Chipman.
The top three were;
1st Dave Grove 8 fish for 21lbs 15ozs. (Newton Abbott)
2nd Peter Kempton 8 fish for 21lbs 101/2ozs. (Exeter)
3rd Dave Johns 8 fish for 19lbs 7ozs. (St. Austell)
Snowbee Sponsored Brffa event
Snowbee Uk have sponsored the Brffa event at Chew Valley lake for the past 5 years, this years boat event was won by Team Snowbee captain and England International Andy Cottam.
The bank section was won by John Bowen. The happy winners are being presented with their prizes by Snowbee UK Managing Director Russell Weston and new Marketing Manager Simon Kidd, himself an England International.
Russell Weston, Snowbee’s Managing Director, bends into a nice early season fish at the BRFFA open day on Chew – 29th April 2007 (top left & bottom left)
Winner of the Snowbee / BRFFA boat section 2007 competition, Andy Cottam. (top right)
Winner of the Snowbee / BRFFA bank section 2007 competition, Tony Baldwin. (bottom right)
Snowbee XS Extreme Distance Lines.
Fly lines are frequently reviewed in the national game fishing press and as a premier brand, Snowbee are invariably included in the exercise. It comes as no surprise to us however that yet again the Snowbee line has come out at the top of the tree and the unique construction and design that goes into every new Snowbee line has produced yet another winner, as reviewed here in the November issue of Trout Fisherman.
Trout Fisherman November 2006 Review of ‘Distance Fly Lines’
Trout and Salmon November 2005 - Latest bonefish lines
Trout and Salmon November 2005 - Latest bonefish lines
"As more anglers take to saltwater fishing, an understanding of tropical saltwater lines becomes more important, especially as much of the British tackle trade is not familiar with their performance. This test is based on floating bonefish lines designated WF8, which is the most commonly used line in the Bahamas, Mexico and throughout the Caribbean. All the test lines, though selected for bonefishing, are also suitable for baby tarpon, permit, barracuda, jacks, snook or redfish, and also bass or pollack in Britain, depending on the ambient temperature. Though numerous lines are available for saltwater use, I have tested only those lines nominated by the manufacturers as their main bonefish floating line. Each line’s performance will be the same for its different weights – WF9 also being a popular choice among bonefishers. Although I describe the lines’ profiles I make no comment on their composition or why manufacturers make their lines in a specific way. What I am concerned with is how they performed under fishing conditions and, specifically, how they performed when wading and in the wind. The wind is the enemy on the flats and calm days are rare. For parity, all lines were fished on the same fast-action AFTM 8 bonefish rod. The lines were cast in all directions to assess performance and were fished for a whole day each. I was particularly keen to know how they performed when casting into the wind and how easily they helped to generate distance. Since the lines were to be used for wading rather than fishing from a boat, I wanted to see how well they lifted off the water and whether they tangled when “walked”. For those of you contemplating a bonefishing trip, normal practice is to strip the line from the reel and, keeping the fly in your hand, walk with the line in a loop behind you. This creates ready tension between water and line, enabling you to cast faster when you find fish, and is better than stripping line from the reel. No time was available to assess the lines’ shelf-lives, although from personal experience the average angler fishing one week a year will probably get five years’ shelf-life if his line is cleaned and stored properly. The average temperature during the test was 65-75 deg F."
Snowbee Bonefish - "When this line arrived I was so concerned about its suppleness, being unlike any tropical saltwater line I had handled, that I called Snowbee to ask them if the line was okay. I was assured it was fine and would not become too soft to fish in the tropics."
"They were absolutely right. It floats well, does not tangle when waded, peels off the water well when casting and throws nice tight loops into the wind."
Colour: Ivory
Length: 90 ft
Head Length: 42.5 ft
Range: WF7 & WF8
Price: £37
Performance: 9
Value for money: 9
Overall: 9
Conclusion: Good bonefish line. Supple enough to use in cool weather in the UK.
"No line stands head and shoulders above its peers. Each has its attributes. For example, you may prefer a line that loads your rod more quickly than another line. This highlights the need for your supplier to know what he is doing and to match the line to the rod. Unfortunately, and here’s the rub, no shop owner will want to load three or four £60 fly-lines on to a reel to let you cast and balance your outfit properly. So, for the best advice, you will need to ring around to find someone who has cast the lines and has experience of bonefishing. Be aware that some lines are bulkier than others and you may need to remove backing from the reel. Don’t be frightened to shorten the butt end of the line if you want to keep the backing full (taking off four yards of line and replacing it with 20 yards of backing is not going to worry the average caster by the time he has three yards of tippet), or load your reel with gel spun, which will increase the capacity by around 50 per cent. You will need to find out whether you can whip tippets or backing to the line because they may strip the coating, and you may need to use an Albright knot or loop to prevent this. I don’t like loops on the end of lines as they tend to be splashy. If you have problems turning over a line, don’t be frightened to shorten the tip, but do it in small amounts and test it or tie your own leaders and experiment until you get the right performance. Pushed to choose a winner, if price is not a consideration I would say the Mastery Bonefish is the outstanding line. If price is a factor, then I will go for the Snowbee Bonefish, which pushes the Mastery a very close second on performance and wins on value for money."
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