2023 National - SANACC

The final of the 2023 National was at the Lake of Menteith on Saturday 23rd September and the 2023 National Champion is Derek Pozzi of Thalassa AC.  Derek has been incredibly consistent over the last few years and having been the National Champion in 2018 and again in 2021 he is now the National Champion for the third time.  Derek was presented with the National Trophy and a £200 voucher for Angus Angling by Quint Glen, fishery manager.

James Charters, who boated for Sean McCaffrey and Kevin Neri, was the best boatman of the day and he received a bottle of Dalwhinnie Gold malt.

The heaviest fish of the day that was brought to the scales weighed 4lb 15.8oz and was caught by George Gall of Rescobie Loch DA.

The top 20 anglers are qualified for the 2024 international teams that will be going to Ireland in the spring and Wales in the autumn.  

The SANACC committee wish to thank the 33 boatmen who gave up their time to assist with the management of the final.  They also wish to thank 7plus7 for sponsoring the fly measures; R & E Hygiene for sponsoring the waterproof paper; OTFA and Dounreay FFA for running the heats at Harray and Watten; and the management and staff at all of the fisheries for their assistance at all stages of the Championship.

The last of the semi-finals was hosted by the Lake of Menteith on 29th June and the competitors had an overcast day with a north west wind that varied from light to strong.  48% of the 30 competitors (14) qualified for the final.

Top rod was Gil Farid of Central Belters with 24 fish for 47lb 8.8oz.  Ben Robertson of Sunburst AC was second with 23 fish for 46lb 3.2oz and Michael Ward of Jonhstone FF was third with 23 fish for 46lb 2.8oz.  These anglers took their fish on a mix of dries, fabs, boobies, cormorants and diawl bachs at Cages Bay and the Malling Shore.

The hard conditions that have been endured during the first three sem-finals continued at Harelaw which hosted sem-final No 4 on 23rd June.  Conditions were ovecast with a southely breeze that varied from light to strong during the day.  40 anglers took part and the top 19 (48%) progress to the final.  The top thee competitors managed to winkle out 5 fish each whilst the last four qualifiers got through with two fish.

Top rod was Keith Renton of Tweed Valley Tanglers with 5 fish for 11lb 2oz.  Campbell Cree of Firecats was second with 5 fish for 10lb 8.1oz and David Wright of St Boswells Newtown and District AA was third with 5 fish for 10lb 6.2oz.   

The blue sky and light breeze returned for our third semi-final which was held at Lintrathen on 22nd June.  Fast sinking lines and boobies were once again the order of the day and with 10 anglers taking part the top 5 progress to the final.

Top rod was the Defending Champion, Tyler Hay, who had 8 fish for 12lb 6.9oz.  In second was Robbie Gibson of Balfron Piscatorials with 7 fish for 11lb 14.8oz and Bob Mitchell of Stanley & District AC was third with 4 fish for 7lb 5.2oz.

The second of the 2023 semi-finals was held at the Lake of Menteith on 20th June and with 36 anglers taking part the top 17 qualified for the final.  The competition was fished to a two fish kill followed by a maximum of ten fish released and thereafter it was on a time bonus with one fish to be awarded for each complete 30 minutes of the session time remaining.  The competitors set off with overcast skies and a light breeze with almost all of them heading for the deeper waters in the Cages Bay area.  In the afternoon there was heavy rain and thunder with the competitors having to leave the water for a period due to the thunder.

The semi-finals got underway under cloudless skies at Lintrathen on 13th June.  Probably best described as charachter building conditions the 21 competitors caught 41 trout.  Top rod was David Mateer of SPRA FFS North who had 5 fish for 9lb 1.7oz.  Kevin McCabe of Change FF AC was second with 6 fish for 8lb 8.6oz and Scott Robertson of NCR AC was third with 6 fish for 8lb 3.5oz.  The top rods took their fish in various areas of the sawmill end on fast glass to di3 lines using boobies, fabs and standards.

The top ten qualify for the finals.

Heat 9 of the National was at the Lake of Menteith and with 28 anglers taking part the top 14 go through to the semi-finals.  Top rod with 20 fish for 39lb 9oz was Keith Logan of Heriot AC.  Tony Li of GFFC was second with 19 fish for 37lb 15.6oz and Stuart Lindsay of Select FF was third with 17 fish for 33lb 14.4oz

Heat 8 of the National was at Loch Leven and with 13 anglers taking part the top 7 go through to the semi-finals.  Top rod with 6 trout for 8lb 2.25oz was Mick Tait of Kelso AA.  David Wales of Dalry Garnock AC was secod with 7 trout for 7lb 5.375oz and Sean McCaffrey of orth Shetland FF was third with 2 trout for 3lb 1.25oz.

On 21st May, 19 hopeful anglers fished for a semi final place in the Harray heat of the National qualifier. Conditions were far from ideal, with bright sunshine and light winds adding to the fact that there is an algal bloom at present on the loch. The 10am start saw most boats heading north, dropping off at all the quiet corners on the way, with a few making the long run to Decca and Esslemont areas. It was too long before there were anglers prospecting different areas, Plan A clearly not working out, and this continued for the rest of the day as feeding fish were proving very difficult to locate. The 5pm weigh in would show who had caught enough to qualify, and it quickly became apparent that it had been an exceptionally hard day.

The match is fished to a 6 fish kill, then catch and release any subsequent fish, with 12ozs awarded for each returned fish. Top rod on the day was Ken Kennedy with an exceptional 9 fish
for 7lb 10zs, with boat partner Colin Sutherland boating 7 for 6lb 14 ozs and Sandy McConnachie in 3rd with 6 for 5lb 14ozs. The other anglers who join them and now go forward to various semi finals at the Lake of Menteith, in no particular order are as follows, John Munson, Malcolm Russell, Andrew Morgan, Jim Adams, Ian Hutcheon, Alan McConnachie, and Phillipe Avril. A special mention must be made of the visiting anglers from north and south for supporting this heat so well and we hope to see you back in 2024. Ken and Colin had most of their fish in Merkister Bay, as did some other qualifiers, but for others it was a case of a fish here and there. DI3 and Fast Tip lines were the line if choice for the most successful anglers, with flies being mostly small and black Pennel type or bright orange or peach, with Ken taking most of his fish on Tooty Frooty Dabbler and Crafty Devil muddler.

The officials for the day, John Leask and Alan Craigie out checking flies on the loch and Norman Irvine, Leslie Miller and Alan Craigie conducting the weigh in did a great job, overseen by Andrew Morgan who organised the whole affair on behalf of SANACC.
So its a case of all roads leading the Menteith next month, good luck and tight lines to all the semi finalists
KK

Heat 6 of the National was at Loch Watten and with 6 anglers taking part the top 3 go through to the semi-finals.  Top rod with 5 trout for 7lb 5.5oz was Toby Bracey of Dounreay FFA.   In second place with 2 trout for 2lb 7oz was Frank Watt of Shetland AA and in third was Alan Porteous of FNF Falcons with 2 trout for 2lb 4.5oz.

Heat 5 of the National was at Lintrathen on 9th May and with 35 anglers taking part the top 18 go through to the semi-finals.  Top rod with 12 fish for 19lb 3.7oz was the 2021 National Champion, Derek Pozzi of Thalassa AC.  In second place with 8 fish for 12lb 12.6oz was SANACC Chairman Derek Purves  and in third was Peter Auchterlonie of Menteith Ospreys with 8 fish for 12lb 5.7oz.

The next heat is at Watten on the 13th and as the Spring international at Draycote takes place next week there is a two week break in the heats.

Frandy Fishery hosted the 4th heat of the National on 2nd May and with 25 anglers taking part the top 13 go through to the semi-finals.  Top rod with 15 fish for 30lb 8.9oz was Stephen Francis of Househillmuir FF.  In second place with 12 fish for 24lb 3.6oz was Michael Ward of Johnston FF and Ronald Orr of Milngavie AC was third with 8 fish for 16lb 0.2oz.

The next heat will be at Lintrathen on 9th May.

Heat 3 of the National was at the Lake of Menteith on 27th April and the 59 anglers caught a total of 461 fish.  The top 30 rods go through to the semi-finals.  Top rod was Gregor Fleming of Bridge of Weir Loch AC with 22 fish for 43lb 7.8oz.  In second place was Nigel Burns of Crieff AC who also had 22 fish but with a lighter weight of 43lb 6.2oz.  Third place went to Neil Anderson of Monikie AC who had 16 trout for 31lb 8.1oz.

The 2023 National moved to Harelaw on Thursday 20th April for the second heat.  39 competitors took part and between them they caught a total of  44 trout.  Top rod was James Kerr of Albacats with 5 fish for 11lb 13.9oz.  In second place was Alan Lusk of Strathgryfe AA with 5 fish for 11lb 1.6oz and in third was Greig Davie with 4 fish for 8lb 13.9oz.  The top 20 qualified for the semi-finals.

The 2023 National got underway at the Lake of Menteith on Tuesday 18th Apri.  52 competitors took part and between them they caught a total of  208 trout.  Top rod was Ronald Gilbert of Thalassa AC with 12 fish for 23lb 5.6oz.  In second place was Scott Pozzi of Rainbow AC with 11 fish for 20lb 4.3oz and in third was Ally Middlemass of Dalzell AC with 9 fish for 18lb 13.10oz.  The top 26 qualified for the semi-finals.