The competition was fished on 22 and 23rd January on the River Dee, Maelor AA waters.

Despite the recent inclement weather a total of 97 grayling of more than 20cm were measured and returned. The largest fish of 43cm was shared by Dick Turpin and Mike Dixon.

The winner was organiser Martin Dixon with 13 fish for 5 place points. The qualifiers for the England National Final, to be fished on the Dee on 15 & 16 August were as follows.

Mike Dixon 10 fish - 5 place points
Terry Phillips 11 fish - 7 place points
Steve Cullen 7 fish - 8 place points
Bob Worts 8 fish - 9 place points
Gavin Walsh 7 fish - 11 place points
Phil Dixon 9 fish - 12 place points
John Emerson 7 fish - 12 place points (federation reserve)

Special praise must go to Gavin Walsh, qualifying on only his second visit to the Dee, and to Brian Greenaway whose car was written off on route to the river but could not be stopped from taking part!

Well done Terry and the other qualifiers! I fished a club stretch of the Dee on Saturday just above Corwen and blanked......

Will be upto speed for next season's river qualifiers though!!

Well done lads.

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Mike,
Thanks for the info and well done to all.

I fished a club beat near the Cross Foxes on Saturday and blanked.

Paul

Is there any chance of one of the qualifiers putting together a little post of just how the fished the river.
What were the conditions; including photographs of flies and successful methods employed etc?

Thanks Mike! don't worry about the blank, we've all been there. Good luck this year, hopefully see you in the CEFF Bank Open at some point.

The river had been unfishable for around 10 days due to the water level, thankfully for the Seven Trent entrants Martin Dixon has an uncanny knack of foreseeing the weather and picking a date just in time for the river to drop (2nd year running he's managed it), the water level was a touch high with a little colour on the Saturday, dropping and clearing throughout the day and into Sunday. I think most of the anglers would agree that the fishing was difficult, in particular the final session each day when the air temp dropped and darkness descended.

As for tactics, heavy nymphs in various forms were the order of the day, either fished underneath a buoyant pattern or short lined.

At least 3 of the entrants in this event were instructors/guides so I'd recommend a day with them where they can demonstrate the techniques, areas, and flies. They've spent a lot of time (and money) on the Dee, learning techniques, tying flies, finding holding areas, and can quickly fasttrack someone to becoming a more effective river angler.

Terry Phillips - Game Fishing Guide
Andy Taylor - Fly Fishing Tuition Cheshire - Homepage
John Emerson - Unique Flies: John Emerson
Gary Hedges - (not sure if he's got a website)
(apologies if I missed any other guides)

The other way to learn some of the techniques is to enter next year, Martin Dixon is an excellent organiser (very ably assisted by Mike and Ken Bathers). I'm sure you'd enjoy it and learn a load.

Regards,
Terry

Look! I know you Dixon's are supposed to be inter-changeable, but who won?

Martin or Mike?



Graham

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Thank you Terry