SANACC

2013 Scottish National River Championship

Final - Sunday 28th July - River Tummel

Paul Buchanan of Forth Area Federation of Anglers is the 2013 Scottish National River Champion following the final of the River Championship on Sunday 28th July. Paul won three of the four sessions to give him 9 place points which was 12 points clear of the field. Although conditions changed throughout the day Paul stuck with his sedge pupae and partridge spider on a floating line and his consistency won him the Championship. Not content with winning the event he also had the largest trout of the day which measured at 52cm.

He was drawn on the upper sector in the morning and took 5 fish in the first session and another 5 fish in the second session to win both of the morning rounds. He moved to the lower sector in the afternoon where 2 fish in session three earned him a sixth place in that round but it was back to the top in session 4 when another four fish won him the final round. He had a total of 16 fish throughout the day and his nine place points was twelve points clear of second placed man Jim Fairgrieve of Coldstream & District AA who had a total of 9 fish. Kenny Riddell of Aberdeen and District AA was third with 28 place points and 11 fish.

These three anglers will be joined Calum Crosbie of Newton Stewart & District (4th), Derick Logan of Coldstream & District AA (5th) and Simon Cocker of D & B Fly Fishing (6th) to represent Scotland at the 2014 Home International in England

Photo:
Paul being congratulated
by the SANACC Rivers Secretary
David Chalmers

photo:
the 2014 International Team
Simon Cocker, Kenny Riddell
Paul Buchanan, Calum Crosbie
and Jim Fairgrieve

photo on left:
Jim Fairgrieve being
congratulated by SANACC
River Secretary
David Chalmers

photo on right:
Kenny Riddell being congratulated
by David Chalmers

2013 Scottish National River Championship
Result

Heat 1 - Sunday 28th April

The 2013 Scottish National River Championship got under way with the first heat on the River Tummell on Sunday 28th April. The top four competitors, Simon Cocker (D&B FF), Mike Cordiner (D&B FF), James Litster (Neilston FF) and Jim Fairgrieve (Coldstream & District AA) qualified for the final. Ten competitors took part in the heat.

Conditions on the day were variable with heavy showers, wind and sunshine throughout the day. The river level was 8in above summer level and fish were caught on dry fly and wet fly methods.

photo: James Litster, Simon Cocker
Mike Cordiner and Jim Fairgrieve.

Heat 2 - 5th May

The Rivers Championship continued on Sunday 5th May with Heat 2. Eleven competitors took part with the top five going through to the final. It needed fish in at least 3 of the 4 sessions to qualify and the top three had fish in all four sessions.

Top on the day was David Downie of D & B Flyfishing who had 3 fish in session 1; 3 fish in session 2; 5 fish in session 3 and 7 fish in session 4 to give him two 1st places. David also had the best fish of the day which measured at 50cm. He used a slime line with a 14' cast of 5lb Sightfree on which he had three tungsten beaded nymphs including Hares Ear Copper Bead size 10 on point, size 12 jig hook pheasant tail in middle and size 18 pheasant tail nymph on top dropper. Fish were taken on all of these flies. The winning method was to cast the nymphs upstream and along the drop off and high stick them back to allow them to drop down to the right depth. He fished at Green Bank in the morning and Peg Legs and Croys above Pegs in afternoon.

Calum Crosbie of Newton Stewart & District AC was second and with 9 place points he tied with David Downie but with with fewer points overall he was just pipped at the post. Kenny Galt of St Boswells Newtown and District AA was third with 15 place points; Ernie Mackay of Aberdeen and District AA was fourth with 20 place points and Derrick Logan of Coldstream & District AA was fifth with 21 place points. These five go through to the final.

There is a break for a week with the next heat on 19th May.

photo on left: The five qualifiers
Derrick Logan, Calum Crosbie, David Downie, Kenny Galt and Ernie Mackay

photo on right:
David Downie with his 50cm trout

Heat 3 - 19th May 2013

The day started with a morning mist, calm conditions and a comfortable temperature of 14c, with the river running at 8in above summer level providing good fishing conditions for the competitors.

Fish catches were variable throughout the day with a mixture of wets, dries and nymph below the dry fly catching steady for some anglers with a lot depending on the type of water being fished.

The latter part of the day seen the sun finally break through the mist sending temperatures to 20c making it extremely uncomfortable for the anglers and extremely difficult for fishing with blue skies, bright sun and little or no wind.

A total of 43 trout with the best measuring 43cm along with 4 grayling best being 41cm were caught and returned providing a rod average of 3.5 fish. Robert Irvine from Crown FF was the best of the top six rods who will now progress to the final in July.

photo:
Robert Irvine, Chris McAllister, Kenny Riddell,
Donald Forbes, Ian Jones and Keith Dickson

Heat 4 - 26th May

There were 9 competitors in heat 4 with the top three only separated by 1 place point. The top four go through to the final. The conditions were ideal with cloud, a light breeze and fish rising throughout the day. A total of 66 browns and 1 grayling were caught. The longest fish was one of 38cm caught by Robert Murray.

With 5 fish in session one; 4 in session two; 2 in session three and 2 in session four, Andy Foggin was first with 11 place points. Andy caught predominantly on dries as did a lot of the others.

Douglas Graham was second on 12 place points. Robert Murray also had 12 place point and finished in third with Grant Gibson fourth with 18 place points.

This was the last of the heats.

photo: top four
Robert Murray, Grant Gibson
Andy Foggin and Douglas Graham

Heats



Heat 1 - 28th April

Paul Buchanan - Forth Area Federation of Anglers
Simon Cocker - D&B Flyfishing
Mike Cordiner - D&B Flyfishing
David Deane - Pentland FF
Jim Fairgrieve - Coldstream & District AA
James Litster - Neilston FF
Rab Maxwell - Clatto & Stratheden AC
Stewart McCabe - Port Glasgow AC
John McCallum - Stanley & District AC
Craig Osborne - Crown FF
Mark Tweedie - Strathleven FF


Heat 2 - 5th May

Gillies Breckenridge - Stanecastle AC
Ron Chesney - Crown FF
Calum Crosbie - Newton Stewart & District AA
David Downie - D&B Flyfishing
Kenny Galt - St Boswells Newtown & District AA
Rae Harrison - Lothian & Borders Police AC
Derick Logan - Coldstream & District AA
Ernie Mackay - Aberdeen & District AA
Fred McDonald - Dunkeld & Birnam AA
Richard McHattie - Aberdeen & District AA
Mick Tait - Kelso AA
Ian Wilson - Clatto & Stratheden AC


Heat 3 - 19th May

Derek Brown - Kelso AA
Keith Dickson - Kelso AA
Donald Forbes - Strathleven FF
Jake Harvey - St Boswells Newtown & District AA
Robert Irvine - Crown FF
Ian Jones - Dunkeld & Birnam AA
James Mackie - Dalzell AC
Chris McAllister - Raemoir TF
Robert Murray - Strathgryfe AA
Kenny Riddell - Aberdeen & District AA
Ian Runcie - Brechin AC
Martin Stewart - Ormiston AC
Steven Stuart - Lochgelly SRC AS
John Watson - Rainbow Warriors
Cammie Wylie - Ormiston AC


Heat 4 - 26th May

David Chalmers - Lochgelly SRC AS
Derek Cowan - Lochgelly SRC AS
Andrew Foggin - Earlston AA
Douglas Graham - West Of Scotland AC
Bob Robertson - Strathclyde Police RAAS
Hugh Skeoch - Dreghorn AC
Dave Wright - St Boswells Newtown & District AA