Thomastown National Fly Fishing Competition 2017

This was the second year Thomastown Anglers held their National Fly Fishing tournament. From last year it has grown in to Ireland's first ever two day river competition and it was held on the fabulous River Nore in Kilkenny last weekend. Eighteen teams of two anglers from all over the country took part in the event.

The river was in great condition following a good wash out over the last couple of weeks and there was plenty of fish to be had, but like any other venue they were not going to give themselves up to easy at all. I do often think that the fish know when there is a competition on the water.

The Irish Hookers was the name of my team with my good friend, David O Donovan. We had an ok draw on the Friday night with some good teams in our group C. We had some potentially good beats depending on how we fished them and if of course the fish played the game with us.
Begining our competition on C6, an ok beat by the hurling field it has the potential of producing a good score on a good day. I set up my dry dropper, nymphing rod and a straight dry fly rod and went to work. We got off to a cracking start in the flats and settled down quickly. We kept the score board ticking over throughout the 3 hour session and ended up with a great total of 41 fish, earning us first place for the session. A dream start.
For the afternoon session on A3 the fishing was a bit slower and with a result of 20 fish we only managed a third leaving us in fourth overall for the day. Still in touch with the medals places. With good teams right behind us and great teams in front, it was all to play for on the Sunday.  We drew B6 for the final session and we knew a win would be the only result to push us up the leader board to the medals. We fished our hearts out in deep water and ended up with 28 fish. 

It wasn't enough as Damien Walsh and John Wills won the session with 32 fish and went on to win the overall team event. They were well deserved winners over the weekend with a total catch of 99 fish. With other results going our way in other groups we managed to grab the sliver medals with the superb team of Joe Winder and Peter Doherty picking up the bronze place over all. Mark Driver collect the longest fish prize for a great fish of 44 cm. 

I managed to land the top individual spot with a total of 67 fish for the three sessions, with the help of my team mate Dave who persevered the more difficult water for the three sessions. The method that produced the majority of fish for me,

was the dry dropper. I had my 12 foot aggressive dry fly leader on to a large kink on a short dropper. From here I had 4 to 5 feet of Shogun tippet 0.08 or 0.06 to a Dohiku size 20 jig hook, pheasant tail nymph with a 2.5 mm copper bead on it. The majority of the fish took the fly just as I was slowly lifting the nymph off the bottom after a long drift down river. It was the spring that I put in my leaders and the tippet protection which my syndicate rod offers, allowed me to fish these fine tippets and not crack off when I am hooking fish in the deeper water. 

Here is the fly I used for the weekend:

This competition is something we have been looking for in Ireland for a long time now. Where competitive river anglers get to fish off against each other over two days and multiple sessions. It not only offers us a high level of competition, but it is also a great social event. Where we all can learn and develop as anglers. As a part of a great organisation team I must say the competition went off really well and there was great feed back from all the teams. Our main sponsors for the weekend was Syndicate. They put up some of there cracking rods to the winning teams. These rods have been my first choice of sticks for the last year and if you are looking to develop your nymphing and dry fly fishing then these 10 foot 2 weights and 11 foot two weight rods are the right way forward. They offer great tippet protection, are very responsive and are ultra light in the hand. Truly outstanding rods

and at an affordable price which is always good. You can check them out here: http://syndicateff.com/ and on my website: http://www.piscari-fly.com/store/c8/Rods_.html

What a weekend at this tournament, it was great to meet so many good anglers and friends enjoying the event. A huge thanks to Thomastown Anglers, Thomastown Scouts, all the sponsors and the organizers.  Also stewards were supplied for the competition by the club, which adds to the social aspect of the competition which is highly important and they ensure the fish are looked after and returned safely to the river.
Probably the most important aspect about this comp for me is getting to fish with my good friend Dave, we push each other to fish harder, pick each other up when needed and strive for perfection as a team, this for me is what's it's all about team work and learning,  thanks Dave next year you can have the easy water.
If you are interested in this competition for next year you can give me a shout on my contact details here and I'll pass you on the information required. 

Also if you are interested in the shogun tippet or  Syndicate rods give me a shout here in my opinion they are the best nymphing rods and tippet on the market at the moment.

Thanks for reading and keep an eye out on

the Competitions face book page for lots more pics and information: https://www.facebook.com/Thomastownflyfishingcompetition/

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