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ADAA Team Returns All The More Wiser

The 6-man team returned from the Lexus Championships at Rutland a lot wiser for their experience, but feeling a little disappointed in the fact that they felt the result could have been a lot better.

Looking on the bright side the guys did improve on last years’ performance managing to secure 15th place out of the 22 top teams that qualified for the final. Considering the ADAA team was probably the furthest travelled, with only 8 hours practice, they shouldn’t be too disheartened because they did finish ahead of some well established teams including last years winners.

Their adventure began on the Thursday, picking up a minibus just before lunchtime. Finally getting all the insurance and driver licence fiasco sorted out the excited team got on their way in a vehicle governed to 62 mph – this was going to be an even longer journey than anticipated.

The journey took 10 hours to complete and by the time the team reached their cottage beside Rutland they were in need of a well deserved night cap since they had agreed beforehand that there would be no drinking en-route. A couple of vino’s and it was bedtime but before that there was a toss up to decide the bedroom arrangements which unfortunately Richard McHattie and Paul Toseland lost and found themselves on camp beds in the sitting room. Kenny Riddell found himself in a four poster all to himself but that was one of the perks of being team captain.

Mike Cordiner was first to get up and showered before getting the apron on and rustling up the hearty fry up for the lads, something he did on each of the mornings – healthy options just don’t seem to have the same appeal on a fishing trip.

Practice day was full of expectation and the guys paired up and motored off in their different directions to the locations that they were allocated to try out. Weather conditions were perfect for holidaymakers but certainly not conducive to fly-fishing and sun cream became a crucial addition to the tackle box.
3,100 acres of water is a formidable task to try and suss out but they did manage to catch 22 fish between them and most importantly found some flies that were working in certain areas.

A Chinese take away was picked up on the way back and after a quick team meeting round the Rutland map it was down to some serious fly tying to ensure everyone had the same fly patterns. Paul Toseland, who doesn’t tie, did a great job of supplying the beers from the fridge – after all, tying does make you thirsty!!

The first day of the competition presented similar conditions as the day before and after the customary hand shakes and best wishes between the team they each got all their gear on the boats and introduced themselves to their boat partners for the day.

The team members were well spread out due to the fact that some boat partners won the toss and opted to go to their favoured spot. The best places for catching the easier fish seemed to be in the main basin beside the dam and trickier fish were encountered down the north and south arms of the reservoir, but they could be tempted if using more natural fly patterns.

It was an 8-hour session and hard work due to the conditions and the general effort required at this level of competition.

Once back at the boat jetties the team assembled all the gear together and discussed each other’s fortunes. Just like the practice day a total of 22 fish were caught altogether and individual catches ranged from 1 – 6 fish. There were plenty stories of the ones that got away and the fish that had come to the flies but turned away at the last second.

The team weighed in first and then headed back to the cottage once again picking up some more Chinese grub on the way.

The next day the results were displayed at the lodge and the team, who had thought they might be about middle of the leader board, were slightly disheartened at being in 14th position.

As usual the second day of competition was harder due to fishing pressure but added to this there was a huge amount of the lake affected by brown algae which put the fish right off in those areas. The winds had picked up too and the temperatures were close to the 30 degree mark.

Many of the teams struggled to come to terms with the conditions and our own team had mixed fortunes from what they had caught the day before. Chris McAllister had 6 on the first day and had to accept 1 on the second and only Ernie Mackay matched his catch of the day before with 3 rainbows.

When they got back from the last session it was clear that it had been very hard with almost 20% of the competitors blanking. Our own team had 9 fish and at the presentation dinner they found out that they had finished two places higher than last year, in 15th overall.

Over the three days of fishing the guys picked up lots of valuable experience and fished with anglers from all over the UK, doing an admirable job of informing others about the ADAA. They should be proud of the way they conducted themselves during the trip, representing Aberdeen and the north east as well as Scottish anglers in general.

Hopefully the 2010 team can once again qualify and improve on the result even more.