Another top fly fishing competition held at Siblyback reservoir last weekend (6 th April) produced
another large overwintered rainbow trout.
Eight teams of four anglers including Roche anglers, Innis anglers and one team of three competed
for the prestigious Snowbee team trophy. Siblyback reservoir very easily catered for 35 anglers
around nearly 3 miles of top competition bank fly fishing.
In Typical Siblyback fashion one angler bagged up 5 fish allowed under the competition rules within
30 minutes in the morning session, swapped sides for the afternoon session and first cast landed his
6 th stunning rainbow of the day for his full competition bag. Then other very good anglers blanked.
Each team selected two members to fish side A, whilst the other two fished side B in the morning
session. At lunch time the anglers in each team swapped sides. There is only a brief time when you
can pass each other on the path to swap notes of the best spots and best flies to try in the afternoon
session.
John from Kennick angler’s first team had blanked in the morning, but managed to land 6 in the
afternoon. Another angler, a Siblyback Fly Fishers Association (SFFA) member had managed just one
fish by 2.30pm. With just 1 hour 45mins left he moved around to west bank. Andy noticed there was
plenty of “midges and bugs” on the water, Checking through his fly box Andy selected his foam body
Hawthorne fly which he tied up at one of SFFA’s fly tying evenings a few months ago. This was
promptly tied on the point. (Bit early for Hawthorne flies at Siblyback me thinks!?) Andy landed
another four hard fighting Siblyback rainbows including what must be another large over wintered
Siblyback rainbow weighing in at 3lb 12oz, This won Andy not only the biggest fish of the day but
also the heaviest bag. (Maybe that’s why I only landed 3) At the end of day round up several anglers
had noted the Hawthorne flies were starting to emerge.
On the day 12 anglers that bagged up the competition limit of six Rainbows, and rod average of 3.6,
which again is spot on for a fly fishing competition, – not too easy, challenging but very capable for
any angler / team to win.
Once again Kennick anglers took top spot with all four team members bagging 6 fish for a total
weight of 35lb 2oz. Each winning the new Snowbee Spectre fly line, the other Kennick team took
second place at 29lb 6oz and Andy Fotheringham from Siblyback fly fishers won the biggest fish at
3lb 12oz and the heaviest bag at 9lb 11oz. Very well done everyone.
Many thanks to Leon Fisher SWLT Head of Angling for a very well organised day and the event
sponsors Snowbee.
