SANACC

Autumn International 2012
Llyn Brenig
7th September 2012

Scottish Team sponsored by Fishers, Lake of Menteith Fisheries,
OES, BVG Airflow, Flyfish Europe, 7 Plus 7 and Lochgilphead & District AC.
(click on sponsors logo to go to their website)

Match Report

Following two silver medals in 2011 and a bronze medal in the 2012 Spring International, the Scottish team put themselves back on the gold medal track by winning the 2012 Autumn International. Llyn Brenig has been a good venue for Scotland in the past having won gold medals there in 2006 and 2002 and with a wealth of experience in the team hopes were high of success again this year. The team included two previous Brown Bowl winners and seven winners of the Phoenix Silver Salver.

The team travelled to Wales on the Monday and had practice sessions on Brenig on the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday which it was hoped would help the anglers form their game plan for the competition day on the Friday. As so often happens the wind and weather conspired to ensure that no two days were the same. On the Tuesday the wind was mainly from the north and there was a fair amount of cloud cover. On the Wednesday the wind turned round more to the south west and to finish off the practice sessions the wind picked up considerably on the Thursday to make fishing uncomfortable in the bright sun.

On competition day the wind dropped back and was mainly from the west and southwest. The light cloud cover quickly cleared and it was apparent from early on that the fishing would be challenging. Reports coming in during the day identified that the England team were doing well with many of their rods having caught three or four fish and it was thought that they were in front. Things changed later in the afternoon when some of the Scottish rods started to put together good baskets and when the managers did their count as their teams came off the water it looked likely that Scotland would win.

The result was confirmed when the teams went to ths scales and Scotland took the the Gold medal with 52 fish for 72lb 3oz. England were second with 38 trout for 52lb 2oz; Ireland were third with 32 trout for 45lb 10oz and Wales were fourth with 18 trout for 23lb 9oz. Scottish rods filled the first three individual places with the Brown Bowl for the top rod going to John Buchanan who had 9 trout for 12lb 7oz. Kevin McCabe was second with 7 trout for 11lb 3oz and Wullie Leach was third with 8 trout for 11lb. Nine of the Scottish team finished in the top twenty.

Top rod for England was Steve Cullen with 4 trout for 5lb 15oz. Niall O'Neill was the top rod for Ireland with 5 trout for 7lb 13oz and Jason Heath was the top rod for Wales with 3 trout for 3lb 15oz.

The trophy for the heaviest fish went to Kevin McCabe for his trout of 2lb 14oz.

The top five Scottish rods of John Buchanan, Kevin McCabe, Wullie Leach, Peter Auchterlonie and Kevin Porteous will be carried forward to the 2013 Internationals.

Back Row: Michael Callaghan(IFFA President) Graeme Connelly John Buchanan Gus Shepherd Allan Gamble Jim McBride Peter Auchterlonie Ewan Clark George MacKenzie(International Secretary) Ian Campbell(IFFA Secretary)
Front Row: Wullie Leach John Simpson Kevin Porteous Jock Kettles Kevin McCabe Nigel Burns(Captain) Derek Pozzi Stan Headley(Manager)

John Buchanan

John, who was the Brown Bowl winner at Brenig in 2000, was drawn with Christopher Micallef of England and lost the toss. After discussing the areas they wanted to cover they headed over to Hafod Lom Woods and started their drift from about half way along. John was into a fish fairly quickly on a booby being fished on 5 sweep line but lost it at the net and didn't pick up his first fish until they reached the coves. They moved from there over to the Yacht Club Bay and with nothing doing there they moved on to Watersports Bay where John got his second fish. From Waterports Bay they moved on to the Brenig Arm where they both picked up a fish. They were getting pulls but couldn't make them stick and when they were joined there by another six boats it went quiet.

Late in the afternoon John moved down to the Centre Shore at the Dam and spent the remaining two hours drifting between the Dam and the jetty. Between 3.45pm and 5pm John picked up six fish there to take his total to 9 with his boat partner on 3. John's 9 trout was the best basket of the day and earned him his second Brown Bowl.

Kevin McCabe

Kevin, who won the Phoenix Silver Salver at Grafham in 2011, was drawn with Andrew Duncan of Ireland and also lost the toss. They started at the lodge and after spending some time there without doing anything they moved on to Yacht Club Bay. Kevin picked up one on dries there. From there they went to the North Arm where Kevin got one on dries and one on a diawl bach at the far side of Barrow Island.

From the North Arm they moved to Hafod Lom Woods where Kevin changed to a DI 5 and took one on a cat and one on a buzzer and they stayed there until the last hour. Kevin took 7 trout to the 5 by his boat partner and had the heaviest fish of the day at 2lb 14oz.

Wullie Leach

Wullie, who had 4 previous caps, was drawn with Niall O'Neill of Ireland and after winning the toss opted to go to Hafod Lom Woods where he took a fish on a blob fished on a five sweep. After being broken he changed to two boobies and they drifted all the way to the Ring of Stones. They came back down to the woods and drifted into the coves and late on the day they moved over to the Brenig Arm.

They finished their day at the jetty where Wullie took one in front of the lodge and another on the far side of the jetty. Wullie finished with 8 fish which put him in third spot while Niall finished with 5 and was the top Irish rod.

Peter Auchterlonie

Peter, who had 9 previous caps, was drawn with Alistair Beaumont of England and after discussing where they wanted go they agreed to start at Tower Bay. Peter started with a five sweep line and 2 boobies and took his first fish at 10.30am. They had a long drift along Hafod Lom Woods where he picked up another one.

Following a long blank spell they went back to Tower Bay and up to the Woods only this time they drifted further out. Peter picked one up straight away and when he repeated the drift he picked up another two. By 6pm Peter had 5 fish and his boat partner had 2.

Kevin Porteous

This was Kevin's second cap and he was drawn with Peter Appleby of England. Kevin won the toss and opted to go Hafod Lom Woods where he fished a booby and two hoppers on a three sweep line. He took his first fish within ten minutes on the booby and followed that ten minutes later with one on a hopper. Peter picked up one there as well.

They moved from the woods to Watersports Bay where Kevin picked up his third fish. They moved back to the woods and after a while there with nothing doing they went baqck to Watersports Bay where Peter picked up 2 and Kevin got his last fish. Kevin finished with 4 and Peter had 3.

Team

Nigel Burns (Captain)

Club: Crieff Flyfishers

Previous Caps: 5

History: Phoenix Silver Salver 2011

Peter Auchterlonie

Club: St Fillans & Lochearn AA

Previous Caps: 9

History: Scottish National Champion 2010, Brown Bowl 1999, Phoenix Silver Salver 1999

John Buchanan

Club: Newton Mearns FF

Previous Caps: 11

History: Brown Bowl 2000, Phoenix Silver Salver 2000. Has had a gold medal in all four countries.

Ewan Clark

Club: Strathtyrum AC

Previous Caps: 2

Graeme Connelly

Club: Kahts Whiskers

Previous Caps: 1

Allan Gamble

Club: RAF Fish Hawks

Previous Caps: First cap

Jock Kettles

Club: Change FF AC

Previous Caps: 12

History: Phoenix Silver Salver 2004 and 2009. Has had a gold medal in all four countries

Wullie Leach

Club: Falkirk Municipal AC

Previous Caps: 4

Jimmy McBride

Club: Lothian & Borders Police AC

Previous Caps: 3

Kevin McCabe

Club: Change FF AC

Previous Caps: 3

History: Phoenix Silver Salver 2011

Kevin Porteous

Club: Dounreay AC

Previous Caps: 1

Derek Pozzi

Club: Rainbow AC

Previous Caps: 1

Gus Shepherd

Club: IBM Freshwater AC

Previous Caps: 3

History: Phoenix Silver Salver 2006

John Simpson

Club: Ardrossan Eglinton AC

Previous Caps: 2

History: Phoenix Silver Salver 2007

Manager:

Stan Headley

Previous Caps: 5