Pic: Ben Bangham won ndividual gold at the 5 Nations Fly Fishing event for Team England
The 2nd 5 Nations Fly Fishing Championship took place in the Cork and Killarney regions in Ireland from 16th – 17th July on three venues Loch Lein (East and West), Lake Gougane Barra and the River Allow/Blackwater.
The Championship featured nine teams from the five nations, host nation Ireland were represented by three teams, Scotland and France with two while England and Belgium/Luxembourg a single team.
The match was fished over four sessions and spread over boat, bank and river venues. Scotland A had a fantastic start on day one giving themselves a good lead that would prove difficult to chase down over the remaining sessions.
England were still very much in the match and over the remaining sessions moved from 4th to 3rd and in the final session as traditional pulled wets scored well on the boat and bank, and a combination of dries and nymphs performing well on the river.
However, England were just pipped to the Bronze team medal position by Belgium/Luxembourg with a slender two placing points while hosts Ireland finished second.
Traditional pulled wets scored well on the boat and bank, and a combination of dries and nymphs performing well on the river.
Team England’s Ben Bangham was the competition’s outstanding individual performer and his seven placing points were enough to see him win individual gold and ensure a medal would return to England.
Collectively England fished well throughout the competition and fine margins once again proved to be vital and with a little bit of luck England would have won a team medal.
Stuart Wardle Team Manager said “what a great venue TAFI provided and fantastic hospitality, great venues and great fishing to make this a really fantastic competition.
AT Team England use the 5 Nations as a development opportunity for developing International anglers and the team worked hard together to produce a very credible performance finishing only two placing points off a podium position.
The icing on the cake was Individual Gold for Ben Bangham of Team England. With only seven placing points it illustrates a very consistent performance from Ben and a credit that is shared amongst all the team and brings some reward back to England.”
The Angling Trust and Team England would like to thank the Trout Anglers Federation of Ireland (TAFI) for the organisation, the controllers, the clubs and venues and hosts and also to the Mills Inn for looking after the team very well.
Results: Top 4 Team Results: Gold Scotland A, Silver Ireland, Bronze Belgium/Luxembourg, 4th England Top 4
Individual Results: 1st Ben Bangham (England), 2nd John Buckley (IRELAND), 3rd Dick Logan (Scotland) England team positions: Top Individual and 4th Team
