Wychwood At The Worlds

By Andy Taylor

When I made my first casts as a thirteen-year-old boy at Patshull Park Trout Fishery, under the guidance of my grandpa, little did I think that I’d be representing my country at the 41st Fips Mouche World Fly Fishing Championships in Spain in the Autumn of 2022.First cap at World Level

Getting Match Fit

Having qualified to fish for England through the Elite Performance Programme (EPP) the previous year, myself and the other four members of the England team flew to Asturias in north Spain to compete against the other 23 nations. Prior to this I’d spent every fly fishing minute I had on the river practicing as much as I could. A long squad weekend on the River Annan, a training day on the gin clear Eamont, competing in the 2022 EPP and Team England river qualifiers, several days on the Welsh Dee and any spare hour on my local river Dove.  All of this was to get me as “match fit” as possible before tackling the clear Spanish rivers- casting, wading, leader construction, netting fish, fishing and flies were all tweaked and fined tuned to get me smoother and more efficient with my river fishing. It also gave me chance to try rods, lines and leaders to get a match that worked for me for dries, the dry duo and double nymphing- the three tactics which were likely to be needed for those Spanish trout.As golden as the river pebbles, a stunning Spanish brownie

Steep Learning Curve

September 15th saw me board a flight from Manchester to Santander with former World Champion and team captain Howard Croston. From here we hired a car and made our way to our self-catering cottage, which was to be base for the next ten days whilst we practiced a mix of rivers. We were fortunate to have local angler and top competition angler Tato Merida as our guide. The first practice day we fished the practice stretch of the River Trubia a clear, fast flowing, tree enclosed gorge and pool river. The fishing was tricky and I felt out of my depth. Tato wasn’t keen on my whole approach “Andy, I no like” was a regular saying as I stumbled up river, putting my flies up the tree’s, casting poorly, fishing badly as I tried to get to grips with this new challenge. I caught- more by luck- but it was the start of one of the steepest learning curves in my fishing career.Home for the first week.

With all the team safely in Spain two days later we practiced together under Tato’s guidance. Dries- the Baron and Ant were our two standout patterns along with small brown nymphs on the dry duo. We fished fine. The dry duo leader for me was 0.14 diameter with either a 0.1 or 0.08 tippet; the dry set up was a long tapered leader and similar tippet.  Rod wise for me the Wychwood Drift 9ft 3-wt was my rod for the dries on the tree lined rivers of the Trubia, Narcea and Pilona with the Drift 10ft 3-wt my rod for the dry duo. These were coupled with the Feather Floater and River Nympher lines spooled onto RS2 reels. By the time we came to our last day of practice I felt I’d developed my dry fly fishing and dry duo. Tato stood on the bank and watched- “ Andy” he called…”Perfect” It was just what I wanted to hear.Spanish guide Tato ties The Baron

The Baron and Ant

Match Week

We moved from our digs to the team hotel in Oviedo and put the final preparations in place before the opening ceremony. We had five days of competition on four rivers and one small stocked lake. Each morning we were bussed out in the early hours with the other 23 competitors in our sector and officials and taken to our beat on the river or to the lake. The sealed beat draw was announced when we arrived at the venue and one by one we got off the bus with our gear and taken to our beat by the local controller.Lunch after 4 hours on the river.

Monday saw me start on peg 5 on the River Narcea. This was a narrow tree-lined river. I walked my beat to find the best bits of water before returning to tackle up with my controller. There were a mix of feelings: excitement and nervousness coupled with confidence as a fish rose in front me and a sense of achievement having made it to my first world championships. An hour and a half into my first four hour session and my net was dry. I’d missed a few and lost a couple. Then I caught on the Ant and this golden brown trout was followed by three more.  My four hours were up and I felt like I’d let the lads down with my score. The bus finally came to pick me up and as I walked up the aisle to sit down I realised four was a good score.Session one complete, Andy with his controller

Day two was Lake Arenero. This was a small six-acre pool stocked to the rafters with 25 to 35cm trout. The previous day cricket score numbers had come off! I drew the end peg. 14, which was tricky. I managed one and dropped a few mainly on pulling tactics. As the day went on I struggled on what should have been ‘bread and butter’ to me as a stillwater regular! I finished with six fish mainly on dries as the angling pressure and poor peg rotation prevented me from finishing in the top ten.Peg 14 on the lakes with pulling tactics ready.

Day three saw me head to the River Caudal an urban river sectioned by man made weirs. I had peg one and was first off the bus. This gave me plenty of time to walk my beat and formulate a plan. I caught well with nine fish being measured the highest number to come off this peg in the five competition days. I should have had more. I rose lots of fish to the Ant and Baron and lost my too many on the dry duo. The fish just wouldn’t stay on.River Caudal - Widest of the four rivers in the championship

On the fourth day I had the River Pilona. The heavens opened and at 10am I was fishing in a monsoon! During the session the river didn’t rise too much but by the time we left it was high and brown. Despite the rain I went out on dries and finished the session with ten fish. My conversion rate was far better than the day before only losing three fish. The ten I caught saw me take fifth place.Evening Meal

The final day saw me fish the top end of the Trubia River. This was the river where I’d started my Spanish journey with our guide. I caught four fish and lost a few. I’d followed French, Spanish and American anglers who had managed double figures in their catches however the angler the day before had blanked so I was pleased with what I had caught.Trubia Trout taken on the Baron

My beat on the River Trubia

Team England finished 13th which we were disappointed with. We had four new caps at this level, probably not ideal for a highly technical competition fishing for wild browns in low, clear rivers. I finished a respectable 56th and I was happy with that in my first world championships. It was probably the best fly fishing experience I have ever had for many reasons: the team spirit, friendliness of the other nations, organisers and controllers, a great guide and the stunning scenery and fishing in this part of Spain for beautiful buttercup brownies. Would I do it again? Most definitely!Team England

Andy Taylor is the Editor of Flyfishing – Find out more information HERE

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