Tackle Trade World Fair, Rai Centre, Amsterdam: 9th – 11th August 2008
Tackle & Guns Trade Show, Stoneleigh Park, Worcs: 18th – 20th October 2008
Consumer Shows/Exhibitions:
Sportfish Show, Haywards Farm, Reading: 10th – 11th May 2008
CLA Game Fair, Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire: 25th – 27th July 2008
British Fly Fair, Trentham Gardens, Staffs: 1st – 2nd November 2008
Fishing Events:
Snowbee Innis Spring Cup, Innis Fishery, St.Austell: 29th March 2008
Snowbee BRFFA Competion, Chew Lake: 12th April 2008
Peninsula South West Loch Style Heat, Blagdon Lake: 27th April 2007
Peninsula South West regional Rivers Heat, River Teign: 31st May 2008
Rivers Home International, River Tummel, Pitlochry: 28th June 2008
Snowbee Siblyback Challenge, Sibleyback Reservoir: 29th June 2008
Youth Loch Style National, Grafham: 5th July 2008
Youth Home International, Loch Conn, Ireland: 27th - 30th July 2008
Youth Rivers National, River Wharfe, Yorkshire: 7th September 2008
Rivers National Final, River Tees, Northumberland: 20th – 21st September 2008
event reports
Coming Soon
snowbee news
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 and has 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.
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.
Picture Steve Ebdon with prize Peninsula Perpetual Loch style trophy
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.
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 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)
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
"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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