Nick Hart reports from just over the border at Exe Valley Trout Fishery.
Showing the adults the way is up and coming junior angler Seth Mayhew-Tuson, age 16, who has just won our heat of the Greys Junior Bank National supported by the Angling Trust. Seth has picked up many tips having become part of the England Youth Fly Fishing squad, using this knowledge to great effect to secure top spot with 3 fish weighing exactly 10lb.
Seth Mayhew-Tuson, (Above)
The fish were caught within 2 hours so Seth also gained himself an extra 2lb 8oz time bonus to finish well ahead of the field. His successful tactics included an intermediate line and mixed up retrieve (mainly slow figure eight) with a combination of Blobs and Nymphs fished around the deep water inlet.
In second spot was last year’s third placed angler, Toby Bennett, with two fish weighing 5lb 14oz. He caught these quickly, also in the deep water inlet using a floating line but couldn’t add to his bag before the match finished at 1pm. Toby is studying fisheries management at college and is an incredible caster winning a major tournament earlier this year with a cast of 32 metres!
Meanwhile the youngest angler, Charlie Cooper, couldn’t get the fish to stick and lost 3 before finally netting a 2lb 14oz Trout to collect third prize of a fly line and line snips. This was a fantastic effort and the ten year old will now progress on to the 2017 final to be held next April. Charlie used an intermediate line to catch his fish and it was great to see Seth helping out the younger anglers after he had completed his limit. This is what competition fly fishing is all about, sharing, learning and meeting new people.
(Above)All the boys received something from Greys fly fishing and we threw in a few prizes. These are the fly anglers of tomorrow and need as much encouragement as possible.
