The Sportfish fund raising weekend was very successful for the BFCC and great fun, so many thanks to all those who supported us: Ally Bremner, Mark Surtees, Nicholas Surtees, Trevor Hayman, Brian Szukala, Sekhar Bahadur, Roger Miles, Paul Brown, Andy Parker, Gilly Bate and Alex Titov. Plus thanks to the Sportfish team, particularly Tom Festing and Jono Tomlinson. We appreciate how hard everyone worked to make it a success, not least Mark for donating two BFCC signs which greatly improved the look of the stand.

Special thanks go to Ally who braved the cold and strong winds who, with James, helped to adjudicate the spey casting competition run by Sportfish on Saturday. She provided advice and tuition to competitors in the event, which was won by James that day. Brian was amazing on the Sunday when he borrowed a kayak from an exhibitor to measure distances on the water, whilst Jono judged safely on dry land. New member Andy Parker was great as he supported me on the stand and also helped with running the competition.

All of us had a great time chatting with old friends, making new ones, promoting the club and providing tuition – Paul, Trevor and Sekhar were enjoying themselves so much on the Saturday on the tuition field, they forgot to take a break – when even the lure of the cakes I bought didn’t encourage them to stop for a while! However, young Nicholas more than made up for their absence! Paul and Trev supported both days, providing lots of tuition and advice. Mark, as always, was brilliant in offering tuition not just to the ‘punters’ but to the other instructors as well – sadly we didn’t have any veg for him to demonstate with. Everyone who took tuition came back with a big grin and an improved cast! Paul was impressed with one of the many young lads that came for tuition who, on his first lesson, was managing great looking loops and aerial mends around cones! With the usual BFCC team splitting resources to cover two events on the same weekend (a first for the club I think), it was lovely to have Roger back supporting the BFCC – he worked hard both days to make sure everyone had a good time and enjoyed themselves. I couldn’t have done without him and I hope to see at more of the Club’s events.

Thanks also to Charles Jardine who kindly lent us some hoops for target practise and to the Wild Trout Trust, who didn’t seem to mind when I used their trout cushions that were hanging from the roof of the marquee, as targets too! It was fun to watch the demos and Trev managed to get us a mention in one of them.

Tracy (& James)

Casting took place in good conditions, with a mixture of sunshine and cloud. The breeze was generally westerly at 13 to 15 mph, with an occasional stronger gust.

All distances are in feet and inches.

#5 – Mike Heritage 120.00; Kei Okamoto 118.00; Steve Parkes 110.00; Andrew Bagshaw 108.01; Mick Copeman 96.06; Nigel Conlon 90.06; David Fisher 89.01; Vernon Wood 87.11; Stephen Lindley 84.10; Angus McLeod 82.10; Leighton McDonnell 79.00; Peter Bainbridge 72.10.

#7 – John Reynolds 129.07; Mike Heritage 123.09; Kei Okamoto 118.05; Andrew Bagshaw 116.00; Steve Parkes 115.06; Mick Copeman 110.01; David Fisher 103.10; Nigel Conlon 101.08; Vernon Wood 100.05; Peter Bainbridge 92.03; Stephen Lindley 88.03; Leighton McDonnell 87.08.

B100 (#5 + #7) – Nigel Conlon 192.02; Vernon Wood 188.04; Stephen Lindley 173.01; Leighton McDonnell 166.08; Peter Bainbridge 165.01.

B110 (#5 + #7) – Andrew Bagshaw 224.01; Mick Copeman 206.07; David Fisher 192.11.

T27 – John Reynolds 177.05; Andrew Bagshaw 141.09; Kei Okamoto 139.00; Steve Parkes 135.05; Mike Heritage 133.05; Mick Copeman 118.10; David Fisher 106.02; Nigel Conlon 97.09; Leighton McDonnell 93.06.

T38 – John Reynolds 188.06; Andrew Bagshaw 158.00; Mike Heritage 152.08; Steve Parkes 152.03; Kei Okamoto 147.03; Nigel Conlon 131.00; Mick Copeman 128.05; David Fisher 117.04; Leighton McDonnell 102.08.

T120 – Steve Parkes 184.07; Mike Heritage 180.07;  Kei Okamoto 180.02; Andrew Bagshaw 172.01; John Reynolds 170.06; Nigel Conlon 143.03; Leighton McDonnell 139.11.

Meeting Championship points – Mike Heritage 13; Andrew Bagshaw 16; Kei Okamoto 16; Steve Parkes 17, John Reynolds 21 (no #5); Mick Copeman 32; Nigel Conlon34; David Fisher 37; Leighton McDonnell 48.

This was a nice spring day of cloud with some sunshine, but the fitful south west breeze made consistent distance casting something of a lottery.

All distances are in feet and inches.

#5F – Mike Heritage 115.01; Toby Merrigan 104.08; Rob Doyle 98.05; Tony King 93.03; John Dawson 92.01; David Fisher 91 07; John Dunmall 85.00; Leighton McDonnell 82.08.

#7F – Mike Heritage 119.02; Toby Merrigan 114.09; Rob Doyle 106.00; Tony King 102.00; John Dawson 101.10; David Fisher 99.05; Leighton McDonnell 81.11.

T27 – Toby Merrigan 130.00; Tony King 120.02; Mike Heritage 119.02; Rob Doyle 116 05; David Fisher 115.09; John Dawson 92.05; Leighton McDonnell 81.10.

T38 – Toby Merrigan 156.03; Rob Doyle 144.08; Mike Heritage 143.01; John Dawson 139.01; Tony King 131.10; David Fisher 112.11 Leighton McDonnell 98.11.

T120 – Rob Doyle 196.04; Tony King 169.01; Toby Merrigan 161.00; Leighton McDonnell 149.11; John Dawson145.02; David Fisher 121.06

Well, here goes – this is my first BFCC report as both Mike H and Mike M couldn’t make the trip.

The day started with cloudy, humid weather with little or no breeze – no sign of the predicted 10mph winds, so not a day for records to be set.

Other than a few people from the local area, most people travelled quite far to attend the event! When we turned up at the Sports Ground, the cars overflowed the car park into the rugby pitch and we briefly thought we had one of our best turn-outs ever, until we realised there was also a cycle race happening at Fintry.

It was good to catch up with old friends and make new ones – Joe Roughley came with Angus McLeod and had lessons from several of our instructors during the day and entered her first ever casting competition and won her 20 yard badge, however, in practise she cast 25+ yards. Brian Adam, a local who spotted the event on the web, also joined us  and helped run the competition as well as receiving tuition.

Mike Barrio won the B100 for the last time as his cast over 100ft meant he is promoted to B110. Ally Bremner, this year’s CLA salmon distance winner, joined us and was competitive with the men in the T55 overhead salmon event.

Steve Parkes had a great T120 cast and won – but still the elusive 200ft evades him! It was good to see young James Hek, who is competing with the seniors, hold his own and win the T38 and come 3rd overall – thankfully he brought his dad Jimmy (or should I say his Dad brought him!) who helped out with timing and organising the events. Thanks Jimmy.

Ben Dixon had a great day, winning 7wt, 27g Sea-trout distance, and an event just for Fintry – the 55g overhead salmon event (tackle kindly provided for us to use by Ben); he also came joint first on the 5wt with James Evans with 114ft 10in, but in the shoot-out, Ben beat James. Ben was the overall winner followed by James.

Although we didn’t run the Accuracy event as we ran out of time, we set out the new rings, attempted to get them as round as possible, and some of us cast at them for fun – seemed a good event; took 2-3minutes per person.

Thanks to Alberto Laidlaw for finding the venue and providing tuition early on. Thanks to Brian Szukala for transporting all the gear to the event. Thanks to Fintry Sports Club who have a great venue with good food and drinks and thanks to James, Steve and everyone else for helping me run the event and making it an enjoyable day out.

Next year’s Scottish BFCC will alternate to Aberdeenshire, however, the next BFCC event is in Shenfield on 12th October 2014.

Tracy

We should be very grateful to Tracy Thomas and James Evans for organising our meeting at Aldermaston, because the new venue provides all the facilities and space we need to function really effectively. This was so clearly demonstrated on Sunday, a day when it seemed the Carribean came to Berkshire and the air-conditioned club house was hard to leave! In fact it was by far the hottest casting day I have ever experienced and says much about the BFCC’s tenacity of purpose, that our programme was completed, but how, goodness only knows? The only downside was that the hot weather caused a depleted turn-out.

On the coaching front we were very lucky when Brian Wickens passed on his knowledge of double handed speycasting on grass, which was fascinating to see and for Members to try. Also, on the single handed front, I was kept fairly busy throughout the day.

The competitions started with Accuracy, which was won by Tracy Thomas with 95 points, who showed the men how it should be done! This was followed by other events, of which the following were worthy of special note: James Evans won the #5 distance using a new AtomSix rod built for us by Steve Parkes; David Fisher won the new B110 class with 4 inches more than Mick Copeman; Steve Parkes won the T120 with an excellent 189ft 7ins, considering the conditions.

There is no doubt we will return to Aldermaston in 2014 and it is now time to look forward to Alnwick on Sun. 11 August.

Mike M.

Casting took place in drizzly conditions with a light variable wind, making long casts hard to come by. Distances are in feet and inches.

#5F – James Evans 107.02; Mike Heritage 105.09; Kevin Knight 91.11; David Fisher 82.06;
Brian Szukala 82.04; Mick Copeman 82.01; Alan Bath 76.07; Tracy Thomas 76.00; Wendy Bath 69.00;
Tim Edwards 63.09

#7F – James Evans 117.08; Mike Heritage 106.08; Alan Bath 100.05; David Fisher 99.07;
Mick Copeman 99.06; Tracy Thomas 91.04; Wendy Bath 85.02; Brian Szukala 85.02; Kevin Knight 84.10;
Tim Edwards 76.04

B100 (#5 + #7) – David Fisher 182.01; Mick Copeman 181.07; Kevin Knight 176.09; Brian Szukala 167.06;
Tracy Thomas 167.04; Wendy Bath 154.02; Tim Edwards 140.01

#9F – James Evans 131.02; Mike Heritage 125.03; Alan Bath 112.03; Mick Copeman 110.06;
Tracy Thomas 107.04; David Fisher 104.00; Kevin Knight 91.06; Wendy Bath 86.02

T38 – Mike Heritage 165.05; James Evans 155.06; David Fisher 128.10; Terry Jenner 127.10;
Kevin Knight 117.10; Tracy Thomas 115.09

T120 – Mike Marshall 198.05; Mike Heritage 186.05; James Evans 176.04; Terry Jenner 168.00;
David Fisher 124.03; Tracy Thomas 118.09

Tracy Thomas extends her #9 record as well as claiming the T120 record.

Casting took place on a beautifully sunny day with a light, but frustratingly variable, breeze. Distances are in feet and inches.

#5F – Mike Heritage 113.03; Toby Merigan 109.07; John Reynolds 102.10 ; James Evans 99.01;
Matt Tonkin 94.06; Rob Doyle 94.00; Bryan Martin 88.04; Tony King 87.10; David Fisher 87.06;
Alan Bath 87.04; John Dawson 81.09; Matt Kelly 81.01; Tim Edwards 80.02; Andy Daniels 74.10;
Wendy Bath 72.03; Tracy Thomas 69.00; Alan Barrow 65.04; Ian Barwise 60.07; Chris Tucker 60.07;
Alex Rutherford 59.04; Fiona Smith 49.11

#7F – James Evans 122.09; Matt Tonkin 115.01; Toby Merigan 113.11; Mike Heritage 111.06 ;
Bryan Martin 110.00; Alan Bath 105.00; John Dawson 99.00; David Fisher 97.08; John Reynolds 96.05;
Rob Doyle 92.06; Chris Tucker 92.02; Tony King 86.09; Alex Rutherford 83.05; Tim Edwards 82.06;
Tracy Thomas 79.00; Matt Kelly 74.09; Wendy Bath 72.09; Andy Daniels 70.08; Alan Barrow 69.01;
Ian Barwise 62.09; Fiona Smith 57.11

B100 (#5 + #7) – Alan Bath 192.04; David Fisher 185.02 ; John Dawson 180.09; Tim Edwards 162.08;
Matt Kelly 155.10; Chris Tucker 152.09; Tracy Thomas 148.00; Andy Daniels 145.06; Wendy Bath 145.00;
Alex Rutherford 142.09; Alan Barrow 134.05; Ian Barwise 123.04; Fiona Smith 107.10

#9F – Toby Merigan 123.00; Alan Bath 121.04; Tony King 120.06; Matt Tonkin 120.03;
Mike Heritage 120.03; Rob Doyle 119.03; John Dawson 118.08; Bryan Martin 116.02;
James Evans 115.04; David Fisher 113.02; John Reynolds 112.06; Tracy Thomas 95.00;
Ian Barwise 84.00; Matt Kelly 82.10; Wendy Bath 78.01; Fiona Smith 69.04

T38 – John Reynolds 183.01; Bryan Martin 153.04; Matt Tonkin 152.06; Mike Heritage 151.08;
James Evans 142.07; Toby Merigan 138.04; Rob Doyle 133.06; Tony King 133.00; David Fisher 130.06;
Matt Kelly 99.10; Ian Barwise 93.09

T120 – Matt Tonkin 206.03 ; Toby Merigan 196.04; Rob Doyle 174.09; Bryan Martin 173.07;
Mike Heritage 171.00; James Evans 165.10; Tony King 156.08; John Reynolds 152.03;
David Fisher 135.06; Tracy Thomas 107.02

There were a number of sucesses in the badge scheme also;

20yds Fiona Smith, Ian Barwise, Alan Barrow
25yds Matt Kelly, Alex Rutherford, Ian Barwise, Chris Tucker
30yds Ian Barwise, Chris Tucker
35yds John Dawson
40yds Alan Bath, Toby Merrigan.

Congratulations to one and all!

Badge Success:

Congratulations are due to Doug Devonshire for achieving a 30yd Badge with a cast of 96ft.

At the GAIA meeting in North Wales on the 9th March, Roger who was a GAIC (single handed casting), took another step up the qualification ladder. After a searching three hour examination he achieved APGAI – Advanced Professional Game Angling Instructor (single handed casting), resulting from a great deal of dedicated preparation. Our congratulations and thanks are due to Roger since I know his knowledge will, ultimately, be used for the benefit of all at BFCC Meetings.

At the GAIA meeting in North Wales on the 3rd March, Roger who was a GAIC (single handed casting), took another step up the qualification ladder. After a seaching three hour examination he achieved APGAI – Advanced Professional Game Angling Instructor (single handed casting), resulting from a great deal of dedicated preparation. Our congratulations and thanks are due to Roger since I know that his knowledge will, ultimately, be used for the benefit of all at BFCC Meetings.