SANACC

2011 Scottish National River Championship

Heat 1 - 24th April

The 2011 National River Championship got underway on Sunday 24th April and on what proved to be a difficult day the nine competitors brought 26 fish to the net. The first session caused the most problems with many of the anglers reporting that they never saw any fish moving. Others found that the fish they did hit didn't stick and by the end of session one only two competitors, Alan Hill (Grizzlecats) and Mike Cordiner (Aberdeen & District AA) had taken fish. Things improved slightly in session two when four competitors, Alan Hill, Mike Cordiner, Jim Mackie (Dalzell Steel AC) and John McCallum (Stanley & District AC) managed to bring fish to the net.

In session three the fish were a touch more co-operative and only two competitors failed to catch fish. Mark Tweedie (Strathleven FF) had a real purple patch in this session and had five trout that measured.

photo - Alan Hill

Things started to get harder again in session four and only Alan Hill, Mike Cordiner, Mark Tweedie and Chris Langton (Dunkeld & Birnam AA) had trout that made the measure.

Alan Hill and Mike Cordiner were the only competitors to score in all four sessions and their consistency earned them a place in the final. They were joined by Mark Tweedie who scored in sessions three and four.



photo - Mike Cordiner

Alan Hill was the top rod on the day with Mike Cordiner second. In the morning Alan took fish on bugs and dries. In the afternoon sessions he changed to wet flies.

Small wet flies were also the ones working for Mark Tweedie and they took him into the third spot.

photo - Mark Tweedie with a
trout in session four

Result of Heat 1

Photographs from heat 1

Heat 2 - 8th May

Heat 2 of the Scottish National River Championship was on Sunday 8th May on the River Tummel. The water level had risen considerably over the previous 24 hours and continued to rise through the morning sessions and as a result the fishing was hard. 11 Anglers were in the heat and the top four went through to the final.

Richard McHattie (Aberdeen & District AA) was the top rod with 8 fish and 12 place points. Richard was the only competitor to take fish in all four sessions and was on the lower section in the morning and the upper section in the afternoon. His fish were taken on a floating line and fell to spiders and a tungsten bead hairs ear.

In second place was Ronnie Glass (Kelso AA) who had 5 fish and 19 place points. Ronnie was also in the lower section in the morning and the upper section in the afternoon and had fish to dries and wets.

photo: the four qualifiers

Campbell Morgan (Strathleven FF) was in third with 6 fish and 24 place points. He took his fish on bugs and wets and was in the upper section in the morning and the lower section in the afternoon.

The fourth qualifier was Jim Fairgrieve (Edinburgh Breadalbane AC) who had 4 fish and 24 place points. Jim was in the lower section in the morning and the upper section in the afternoon. Jim had fish to spiders and an olive CDC.

Full Result

Heat 3 - 15th May

Thirteen anglers contested heat 3 with the top 5 progressing to the final. The top three anglers all took fish in all four sessions and were the only ones to do so. Jason Henry (Pitlochry AC) was the top rod with 10 place points. All of his 9 fish were taken on a comparadun and all of them came blind. Jake Harvey (St Bowells & Newtown District AA) was a very close second. He also had 10 place points and 9 fish but had 7 points less than the winner. Jake also took his fish on dries.

In third place was Simon Cocker (D & B Flyfishing) with 20 place points and 6 fish. Simon took three fish on dries, two on bugs and 1 on a nymph. Fourth and fifth were hard to separate with Donald Forbes just beating David Downie by 1 point.

photo: top four

Heat 3 Result

Heat 4 - 10th July

The rescheduled heat 4 went ahead on 10th July but due to torrential rain it was touch and go. The Tummel was running on the high side with not a lot of fly life being seen but still produced trout. With some competitors withdrawing there were only 10 in this heat and between them they caught 66 trout. With competitor numbers reduced, 50% will go on to the final and the top 5 from this heat qualified. An additional one from each of heats two and three will also go through to the final.

The top rod with 12 fish was Robert Irvine of Crown FF. Robert took most of his fish on dries. In second place was Grant Gibson of Coldstream & Distict AA who had 10 trout and again most of them were taken on dries. Kenny Riddell of Aberdeen & District AA was third with 8 fish most of which were taken on spiders. Hugh Skeoch of Crown FF was fourth with 8 trout and the fifth qualifier was Andrew Foggin of Earlston AA who had 7 trout.

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