SANACC

Autumn International 2015
Lake of Menteith, Scotland
18th September 2015

Jim Youngman Carpets

Scottish Team sponsored by Fishers, Lake of Menteith Fisheries,
Albert Bartlett, Principal And Prosper, CEF, Jim Youngman Carpets, Glencorse Reservoir, Newey & Eyre, 7 Plus 7 Construction, Jewson, BVG Airflo and Flyfish Europe
(click on sponsors logo to go to their website)

Autumn International
Lake of Menteith - 18th September 2015





England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales travelled to the Lake of the Menteith for the 2015 Autumn International which was held on 18th September and having won the gold medal on the last two occasions that the International had been held there Scotland were hopeful of being successful once again. However it was not until their last two anglers reached the scales that they knew that their weight of trout was enough to clinch the gold medal over England who had caught one more fish than them.

All four countries had been on Menteith on the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with some also having boats out on the Sunday and Monday. During the official practice days the weather had been mainly bright with the wind varying from a light breeze down to none at all. For a change the weather held the same through to competition day on the Friday when it was sunny for most of the day with the occasional light cloud encouraging the trout to be higher in the water. There was a mix of flat calm and light ripple throughout the match.

As piper Stuart Marshall played the competitors off for the 10am start it was apparent that a few areas of Menteith were going to be busy with boats. Most of the boats turned left and headed straight for Lochend with a couple of them stopping along the Road Shore while another made for the Butts area. The rest of the boats made a bee line for Cages Bay with a couple continuing on to the Malling Shore.

It was a mixed day's fishing and while a few of the competitors found the methods required to be successful in the conditions fairly quickly there were others who struggled throughout the day. The top 10 individual competitors each managed to net nine or more trout with the top rod taking 14 followed by a 13, 12 and 11. Four managed to net 10 trout and a further two had 9. Other competitors struggled in the conditions with fourteen rods taking three or fewer fish.

photo:
Scottish Captain Campbell Morgan
receiving the team trophy and the
captains trophy from IFFA President
Tom MacTaggart

The competitors returned to the beach at 6pm and once the managers had spoken to their teams to find out how they had done the competitors made their way to the scales. The teams knew that England had caught 92 fish which was one more than Scotland who had 91. Ireland had 84 trout and Wales had 63. The competition was fished on a partial catch and release basis with each competitor retaining the first three trout that they caught and thereafter being awarded 2lb for each trout that they returned. The weight of an individual trout was not capped.

The international competitions are decided on the weight of fish caught and over the last 10 years the country with the most fish has not always taken the gold medal. In 2009 at Chew, Wales took the Gold medal by just over 1lb despite having three fish fewer than England. In 2008 at Melvin, Wales had one fish less than Ireland but took the Gold medal by just under 1lb and in 2005 at Menteith, Scotland won the Gold medal by just under 5lbs despite having two trout less than England. It was a nail biting end to the day.

photo:
Craig Smith of England
receiving the Brown Bowl
from IFFA President Tom MacTaggart

England were first to go to the scales and the 14 trout for 30lbs 0.2ozs caught by their Craig Smith proved to be the best individual bag of the match. With seven of their anglers having bags of three retained fish averaging over 2lbs 8ozs they were setting a hard target of 201lbs 0.6ozs for Scotland.

Ireland were next to the scales and with two of their first three competitors coming forward with fish over 3lbs and their Robert Crichton having 11 fish for 24lbs 5.2ozs, which earned him an individual fourth place, the weight of their fish climbed steadily but they couldn't overhaul England. Their total weight of 182lbs 10ozs put them in third place.

photo below
Robert Crichton receiving the trophy
as top rod for Ireland

photo below
Allan Smith being presented with the
Silver Salver as top rod for Scotland

Scotland's Captain, Campbell Morgan, lead his team to the weigh-in and with his heaviest fish hitting the scales at 3lbs 10oz Scottish hopes were raised that they might be able to do it. Campbell had 12 trout for 26lbs 0.8ozs which put him third in the individual lists. Andy Dunn was fourth to weigh-in and when the weight of his biggest fish was called as being the heaviest trout of the day at 5lbs 7.8ozs the atmosphere was electric. Allan Smith was 10th to the scales and his bag of 13 trout for 27lbs 8.2ozs proved to be the top bag for Scotland and earned him second individual position overall. Mick Tait was second last to weigh-in and when the weight of his three trout was called at 10lbs 7.2ozs the writing was on the wall. With only George Whyte to weigh-in Scotland needed 2lbs 4ozs to win and when he was called as having 4 trout for 8lbs 12.2ozs it put Scotland 6lb 8oz clear of England and the Gold medal was theirs.

photo:
Andy Dunn being presented with the
trophy for the heaviest fish

This was Gus Shepherd's second international as the Scotland team manager and having taken the Gold medal at the Spring International at Rutland the Gold medal at Menteith is some beginning.

Wales followed Scotland to the scales and their Tim Llewellyn proved to be their top rod with 10 trout for 23lbs 3.4ozs which included a fish of 5lb 1.2oz. Their total of 63 trout for 139lbs 8.2ozs put them in fourth.

photo:
Tim Llewllyn being presented
with the trophy as the top rod
for Wales

Captain Campbell Morgan
celebrates with
Manager Gus Shepherd

Allan Smith (Kinross AC) Phoenix Silver Salver - 2nd Overall

I was drawn with Denis Goulding of Ireland and although he won the toss he opted to give me the first two hours. I chose to go to the Lochend/Kates Brae/Gravel Pits area and set up with a snowbee buzzer line with 2 pearly cormorants and a fab on the tail. Fish were moving everywhere in the flat calm and Denis was into a fish straight away and I got my first shortly after that.

I moved over to the Crannog and was steadily picking up fish. It slowed down a fair bit and as I saw a boat picking up fish inside the Crannog I moved over there and kept picking up fish until about 1pm when I had 8. By 2pm I had 10 but it had slowed right down. We followed moving fish and I picked up another 2 and then got my last one about 4pm. I stuck to the same set up all day and finished with 13 fish.

Campbell Morgan (Strathleven FF) - 3rd Overall

I was drawn with Robert Crichton, Ireland's top rod on the day, and lost the shout. We went to the Cages and set up with a Di3 and 2 boobies. I hit four fish and got one of them but it wasn't really working for us there so we moved to try open water. I changed to a floater with 2 cormorants and a fab and we fished the area between the Butts and International Bay. We stayed there for the rest of the day trying to stay on moving fish. I had a go with dries and by the end of the day I had taken 5 on the fab, 5 on dries, 1 on a cormorant and 1 on a booby. We were the best boat on the day with 23 fish.

Stuart McLean (East Kilbride AC) - 7th Overall

I was drawn with Paul Sharman, captain of Wales. We started at Arnmach and I was into a fish on my first cast. I had set up with a floater with a buscuit and 2 cormorants but after such a good start nothing else happened and we moved to the Cages.

I switched to a bung with buzzers and dropped a fish. I picked up a fish at the Cages but it was slow and we moved to Lochend. At Lochend I went back to my original set up but changed to a 6ft slow tip. We were fishing just off the sluice and I started picking up fish. We never moved from there after that and I finished with 10 fish.

Grant Sutherland (Perth RASC) - 11th Overall

I was drawn with Mark Glass from England. I won the toss so it was my two hours first so I opted to start at the Bogle Knowe / Tods Hole area. My set up was fab , buzzer and Cormorant on a midge tip.

We both picked up a fish in the first ten minutes and we continued to drift this area till around lunch time. My boat partner picked up consistently over this period to my few I think by lunch it was his 7 fish to my 3. After lunch saw me take the boat over to Kate's Brae / Gravel pits area where there were fish moving in the shallows. It paid off as in one drift I picked up four fish to the buzzer and fab.

We spent the rest of the day in this area and we both picked up another fish each and ended up finishing at eight fish each. I Stuck to the same tactic all day and all my fisher came to the buzzer and the fab.

Ray Anderson (Leslie & Glenrothes AC) - 16th Overall

I was drawn with Joe Quinn of Ireland. I won the toss and headed for Cages Bat at the lily pads where I set up with a bung and buzzers. I picked up a fish pretty quick then Joe got one and then he got another. We moved round to Portend Bay where I got 1 on a buzzer and 1 on a dry.

Back to the Cages and on with the bung and buzzers. I picked up four there on the buzzers and Joe got another. We finished our day at the Road Shore and I picked up my last fish there on a black booby on a fast glass line.

Andy Dunn (Change FF AC) - Heaviest Fish of the Day.

I was drawn with Geoff Thomson of Wales and we chose to go to Cages Bay. I started with the bung but it wasn't working. I changed to a fab and diawl bachs and dropped 2. I picked up my fish on the black diawl bachs. I took a fish of 5lb 7.8oz in Cages on a black diawl back on a floating line fished static.

back row: Tom MacTaggart(IFFA President) George MacKenzie(International Secretary) Allan Smith Gus Shepherd(Manager) George Whyte Ray Anderson Stuart McLean Alan Steven Mick Tait Jimmy McBride Ian Campbell(IFFA Secretary)
front row: Grant Sutherland Alan Porteous Andy Dunn Campbell Morgan(Captain) David Mateer Jim Mckinlay Peter Auchterlonie

Team

Captain: Campbell Morgan

Club: Strathleven FF

Previous Caps: 5

Ray Anderson

Club: Leslie & Glenrothes AC

Previous Caps: 4

Brown Bowl and Phoenix Silver Salver 2013

Peter Auchterlonie

Club: St Fillans & Lochearn AC

Previous Caps: 13

Brown Bowl 1999 and 2013, Phoenix Silver Salver 1999, 2013 and 2014

Gold Medal in all four home countries

National Champion 2010

Andy Dunn

Club: Change FF AC

Previous Caps: 4

David Mateer

Club: Newton Mearns FF

Previous Caps: 3

Jim McBride

Club: Lothian & Borders Police AC

Previous caps: 4

Jim Mckinlay

Club: East Kilbride AC

First Cap

Stuart McLean

Club: East Kilbride AC

First Cap

Alan Porteous

Club: Frozen North AC

Previous Caps: 4

Phoenix Silver Salver 2010

Allan Smith

Club: Kinross AC

Previous Caps: 5

Alan Steven

Club: Forth Area Federation of Anglers

First Cap

Grant Sutherland

Club: Perth RASC

First Cap

Mick Tait

Club: Kelso AC

Previous Caps: 1

George Whyte

Club: Crieff FF

Previous Caps: 1

Manager: Gus Shepherd

Club: Saltire FF

Caps: 4

Phoenix Silver Salver 2006