Due to the lifting of a publicity embargo by Reuters, the winners of the Chalybeate Pairs Challenge competition can now be revealed

The 2013 winners of the new prestigious Chalybeate Pairs Challenge shield held at Chalybeate Springs are the highly acclaimed pairing of: Gary "Buff" Collins and Richard "Little legs" Lovett with a fantastic and incredible total of 70 points! It was one huge effort and needed them to both fish at the same on one occasion to achieve such immortal fame

The trophy was fished for over 3 separate rounds with the winners overcoming the strong challenge of young upstarts Andy "Gonad" Sawyer and Reg "Pocket Rocket" Littlechild who achieved 67 points which was a real feather in the cap for our Youth Development scheme!

Late entrants Mick "Minnow" Priest and Russell "Ding Dong" Bell achieved a creditable 3rd place with 63 points much to the surprise of everyone

The wooden spoon winners and in bottom position (ooo-er) with a dismal and embarrassing total of 21.5 points were Scott "Mr Leaky" Benton and Chris "The Sting" Ball

Congratulations to you all (except Mr Leaky and The Sting)

Places are filling fast for the 2014 Pairs Challenge shield so get your entries in to avoid any disappointment

An early winter fishing event is always keenly anticipated as there is always the chance of some good fishing and our visit to Chalybeate Springs on November the 24th didn't fail us

We were all greeted by Jim Streeter (Fishery Owner) who kindly cooked us all an egg and bacon roll for breakfast. The fishery is always maintained to a high standard and it is always a pleasure to fish there. Jim also keeps a good stock of fish in the lake with regular stocking of quality Rainbows and recently he has introduced more Brownies

There were 14 members taking part in the penultimate Still Water event of our fishing year and the last of our Championship points events. Everyone was eager to get started and were given free reign where they fished on the 14 pegged swims. We were fishing to a 3 fish limit then catch and release 4 further fish. People would be awarded 1lb 8oz per fish released. The only other stipulation was our customary "catch 2 and move" rule thus giving other an opportunity to fish any hot spots

Andy "Gonad" Sawyer shot into an early lead and was the first person to catch his 3 fish to weigh-in. However it wasn't long before fish were being caught regularly all around the lake. John "Sooty" Hancock caught a superb Brownie which he estimated to be in the region of 6 - 7lb. The fish was returned alive and well. Others were now catching Andy up and Reg Littlechild put the pressure on by catching a very good Rainbow. Keith Nicholson set the pace being the only one to catch his 7 fish before lunch

The successful method in the morning was to fish a slow intermediate using mainly black based lures dressed in the "Gonad" style. Some caught fish on green and white Cat's Whisker style lures amongst other things

The afternoon saw the fishing slow a little but Andy Sawyer quickly took his 7th fish. Sooty was doing a fantastic job imitating a Gnome while fishing from his seat but was the only other person to catch his 7 fish. Reg Littlechild and Russell Bell both ended the day with a creditable 6 fish and were clearly in the frame for Championship points

The weigh-in clearly put Andy Sawyer into the lead followed by Sooty and Keith Nicholson. The only one who could realistically overtake him was Reg Littlechild as all disepended on how much his big fish actually weighed. As Reg put his fish onto the scales it was obvious that the result would be close even though he had one fish less that Andy. Andy was desperate for Reg to win as it would save him buying a round in the pub afterwards. Unfortunately Andy wasn't that lucky as you can see from the following results:

• 1 Andy "Gonad" Sawyer 7 13lb 11oz (Including bonus)
• 2 Reg Littlechild 6 fish 13lb 6oz
• 3 John "Sooty" Hancock 7 fish 12lb 9oz
• 4 Keith Nicholson 7 fish 12lb 1oz
• 5 Russell Bell 6 fish 11lb 2oz

We caught 35 fish and 20 more returned to fight another day which included at least 5 Browns that were all returned and not included in the results. The average for the day was 3.9 fish per angler which represents a very good days fishing

The Society organised day at Farmoor Reservoir near Oxford was eagerly anticipated as the news from the fishery was that the reservoir was fishing well with the fish on or near the surface

Members Micky Heasman, Reg Littlechild, Andy Sawyer, Chris Ball and Keith Nicholson travelled up from Kent and met up with member John Lewis and his guest Mike Perrin who both live near Tewksbury

For those who are unfamiliar with Farmoor - it is a 400 acre man-made reservoir that is split in two by a long causeway. The two parts of the reservoir are known as Farmoor I and Farmoor II. Both are well known for their rich insect life where fish grow on quickly. As they are man-made, deep water is in easy reach from the banks and are both ideal for boat and bank fishing. We chose to fish Farmoor I as usual, which is about a third of the reservoirs surface area, where catch and release is allowed and one fish can be killed and taken. This part of the reservoir contains some very large fish and an average weight of around 4lb. It is ideal for all types of fishing from dry fly and nymphs to Minkies depending on the time of year. Often the fish are right in the margins so long casting isn't necessary

In previous visits we have managed to extract fish in up to 9lb and regularly taking hard fighting fish in the 4 to 5lb region. This trip was no exception. We had heard that the fish were feeding on fry as well as daddies and snails and some were feeding on daphnia in the open water. As we were bank fishing our main line of attack was to use fry patterns or daddies. The choice of flies proved to be correct as fish were taken on Gonads and Minkies. The problem of fishing these long tailed flies is that fish often nip at the tail without taking the hook of if they do then sometimes only just being hooked and consequently lost during play. Fortunately, a fair number were intent on taking the fly properly and provided some excellent sport. Not all the fish were caught using lures as Micky Heasman caught using a gold head Daddy and a pearl Damsel Nymph. In fact it was these flies that accounted for the seven fish Micky caught which included four Rainbows, two Blues and an excellent 6lb 4oz Brownie which I believe is the largest caught this season in one of our events

Andy Sawyer also caught seven fish on variations of his favourite Gonad style lures. Reg Littlechild and Chris Ball also had good bags on Minkies and Chris had the largest Rainbow of the day at 5lb 8oz. There were several instances of lost fish and break off's but that is expected when targeting larger specimens. The party caught a total of 27 hard fighting and well-conditioned fish

An excellent day out was completed with a few apre-fishing beers by the Kent contingent when we arrived back in the principality

We are all eagerly awaiting for our trips to Farmoor in 2014

Fifteen members attended the Nigel Turner Memorial Cup at Bewl Water Reservoir on Sunday 29th September - This is a floating line only competition

The weather was a day of two halves with sunshine and a light breeze coming off the dam in the morning and after lunch cloudier with stronger and cooling winds

Out of the 15 that fished 9 caught their 8 bag limit. A few members caught on the dry and successful patterns were Daddies, Hoppers, Boobies and Minkies. Fish were showing in pods around the cages and the dam

The six who received points were:

• 1 Brian Beeney 8 fish 15lb 15oz
• 2 Peter Thomason 8 fish 15lb 12oz
• 3 Ray Burt 8 fish 14lb 2oz
• 4 James Dench 8 fish 13lb 8.5oz
• 5 Richard Denney 8 fish 13lb 7oz
• 6 Joel Beeney 8 fish 12lb 14oz

Best fish went to Peter Thomason with a Rainbow of 2lb 12oz

Congratulations to Brian Beeney on winning the Nigel Turner Cup and my thanks to all the members that turned out and also helped raise some funds towards TWFFS

The competition was held at Bewl with twelve members participating. Pairs were drawn and where possible, inexperienced anglers were partnered with more experienced competitors

Warm water temperatures after weeks of sunshine resulted in challenging fishing. On the day, plenty of fish could be found in in the top few feet of water of the main bowl of the reservoir. They could be attracted by pulled Boobies and Blobs but were frustrating in following and not taking. Members who persisted or experimented by fishing static were rewarded with a few fish

As the fishery rules require all brown trout to be returned, a new rule was applied to this competition where a nominal 1lb 8oz weight was awarded for each brownie taken and returned by a member. This resulted in four members having their total weight augmented by a returned brownie. This innovation proved popular and can be considered in all future Society competitions at Bewl or other fisheries that require the release of brown trout

The total catch and rod average for the day provide evidence of the difficult conditions: the twelve participants caught a total of 29 rainbows plus 4 brown trout giving a rod average of 2.75 and an average weight of 1lb 12oz

Winners of the Pairs Cup for 2013 were Bob Shaw and Gary Collins with Bob having an excellent catch of 7 rainbows and 1 brownie and Gary landing 1 rainbow and 1 brownie. Bob also landed the biggest fish of the day - a rainbow of 3lb 1oz

Runners-up were John Hancock and Dave Crouch who landed a total of 6 rainbows and 2 brownies

Congratulations to Bob and Gary and to John and Dave!

Thanks are also due to Gary who arranged the sale of unwanted fish and donated the resulting £48 to Society funds

Another challenging but enjoyable day for all who participated

Eight members attended this midweek event. After breakfast at the Waterside Restaurant, we set off with high expectations as the conditions were ideal with a gentle NW breeze and overcast skies

From the off fish were moving high in the water but proved hard to tempt as they were preoccupied on Jelly Fry and Green Midge

We lunched at the Chairman's Seat with the main topic of conversation being the "finicky fish" with only John Hancock and Mick Priest finding a few fish

After a hard afternoon session, 23 fish had been caught for a rod average of 2.8. The best bags of the day went to Mick Priest, with 8 fish for 19lb 8oz, and John Hancock coming in with 6 fish for 16lb 8oz. The best fish of the day went to our Chairman, Peter Thomason, with a superb Blue of 3lb 10oz

All in all, a hard but enjoyable day with good company rounded off by a few of us with a few beers in the Brown Trout

The second round of the new Chalybeate Pairs Challenge took place on the 1st of June. The original 7 pairs that attended the first round were joined by 2 more teams for this round

The teams:

• Scott Benton and Chris Ball
• Graham Goddard and Marc George
• Keith Nicholson and Peter Thomason
• Richard Lovett and Gary Collins
• Micky Heasman and Alan Dean
• Andy Sawyer and Reg Littlechild
• Ron Lewis and Keith Lawrence
• Mick Priest and Russell Bell
• Simon Gregory and Alan Martin

The day started as usual with the customary egg and bacon rolls with tea or coffee kindly provided by fishery owner and Society member, Jim Streeter. This was the time for a bit of banter and gentle wind-ups between the teams

Andy Sawyer and Reg Littlechild were the winners of the first round and fancied their chances of a repeat performance. Hot on their heels were the Heasman/Dean and Nicholson/Thomason partnerships. Unfortunately the Nicholson/Thomason team were unable to fish this round

It was a bright day with a gentle breeze across the lake which tended to swirl around at times. There were a few fish rising which gave hope of a good day's fishing. A few early fish were taken on differing techniques as the competitors searched for the successful method of the day. As time went by it became apparent that either a buzzer or shuttlecock dry fly were the two main flies to catch

The competition is a pegged match where each team has 45 minutes in each of the 10 swims. The finish of each session was on the sound of a whistle and each pair headed to their next allocated swim

There was a fair amount of secrecy between the competitors as they battled for the prestigious trophy. Clever tactics were being performed by several teams to ensure maximum "fly in the water" time. Some were leaving their partner to finish their session in one swim while they walked smartly to the next to be ready to fish in their next swim as soon as the whistle was blown

It was becoming a very tight affair, as it was in the first round. The Lovett/Collins combo' enjoyed some success and were seen to be pushing the rules to the boundary. There were suspicions of the pair having both their lines/flies in the water at the same time but this remained unproven

Alan Martin gave a superb exhibition of dry fly fishing by demonstrating his new technique of looking in the opposite direction to where his fly was. Now, as we all know, you are supposed to keep an eye on your fly when fishing dries. Not Alan! As he looked away a fish sipped in his dry and headed for the depths which led to a neat little jig of excitement as he played the fish

Carrying on with the dancing theme, Russell Bell gave us a master class of Scottish country (did I spell that right?) dancing by running backwards up the bank as fast as he could as a fish grabbed his fly while he was fannying around with his tackle

The competition entered a new phase as more cloud appeared and the fish became more willing to take the dry fly. This lasted a hectic 15 min minutes before the sun popped its head out again

It was becoming obvious that the tournament leaders and master lure bashers Sawyer and Littlechild couldn't cope with fishing naturals and were definitely struggling. The dynamic team of Lewis and Lawrence were creeping up on the day's pacesetters Lovett and Collins and new comers Priest and Bell were sneaking up on the rails. The dark horse team of Goddard and George began to make headway and were making a serious challenge. First round contenders Heasman and Dean fell by the wayside and didn't really get over the first hurdle

First to cross the finishing line were bookies favourites Lovett and Collins. Mick Priest caught the heaviest individual bag which gave debutants Priest and Bell a respectable score. The Other notable performance was by the other newcomers Gregory and Martin duo who also scored well to stay in contention

The final round will be held on the new date of the 6th of October where the winners and runners up will be presented with their prizes as will the team that finishes in 5th place

This event was the first bank competition by TWFFS to be held at Bewl Water

Twenty members turned out for the event and most of us met at the clubhouse for breakfast which was provided by the Society

We were taken over to ferry point by Vince Brooks. The fishing was to take place from the nature reserve round to Dunsters bay. The weather in the morning was sunny with a light breeze. In the afternoon the wind picked up and was blowing onto ferry point but round the corner out of the wind was quite pleasant

Out of the 20 who fished 18 caught fish with 7 catching their limit. Fish were caught on various methods and flies

• 1 Nicolas Harrison 8 fish 17lb 14oz
• 2 John Hancock 8 fish 16lb 15oz
• 3 James Dench 8 fish 16lb 11oz
• 4 Andrew Hope 8 fish 16lb 10oz
• 5 Peter Thomason 8 fish 15lb 12oz
• 6 Richard Lovett 8 fish 14lb 14oz

Biggest fish went to Nicolas Harrison with 3lb 3oz

My thanks to all who made this a successful bank competition at Bewl and we hope to make this an annual event

This was the first boat fishing outing of this season's programme. Bewl was at maximum water level but also at minimum temperature level. Cold easterly winds had been blowing for the preceding week and the wind-chill factor dropped air temperature to two or three degrees below freezing! The twelve hardy anglers who participated are to be congratulated on their dedication which fortunately was well rewarded

Due to the extreme cold . and to avoid twin risks of hypothermia and frostbite, the unusual decision was made to abandon any break for lunch and to finish at the early hour of 3.00 p.m. Participants favoured two main areas: Rosemary Lane and around Bramble Bay. Both areas fished well to a variety of methods, most successful being goldhead Tadpoles on floating or intermediate lines, Cormorants on intermediate lines and Boobies on DI3 or DI5 lines. Everyone caught fish and four out of the twelve boated their eight-fish limits

There was a good number of blue trout in the bags and the size and quality of most of the fish was excellent. A total of 67 fish was taken, giving a rod average of 5.6 and an average weight of approximately 2lb. The best fish of the day was landed by Robin Starkie (guest angler) and weighed 3lb 7oz. The best bag of the day was landed by Andrew Martin with eight fish for 18lb 7oz

The event also was the first to count towards the Society's Championship and championship points were awarded to the top five rods

The overall results were:

• 1 Andrew Martin 8 fish 18lb 7oz
• 2 Ian Watts 8 fish 16lb 14oz
• 3 Richard Denney Jnr 8 fish 15lb 4oz
• 4 Bob Shaw (Guest) 6 fish 14lb 4oz
• 5 Andrew Hope 8 fish 13lb 5oz
• 6 Ray French & Peter Thomason 6 fish 12lb 6oz
• 8 Mark Tremain Coker 5 fish 8lb 5oz
• 9 Robin Starkie (guest) 3 fish 7lb 3oz (Best fish of 3lb 7oz)
• 10 Bob Holland 3 fish 6lb 11oz
• 11 Keith Lawrence 4 fish 6lb 6oz
• 12 Richard Denney Snr 2 fish 4lb 12oz

A good but very cold day rounded off by conviviality in the warm recesses of The Brown Trout!

Our first mid-week event of the new season saw nine members visit Chalybeate Springs Trout Fishery near Eridge. We were warmly welcomed by owner, Jim Streeter, who provided us with Egg and bacon Rolls which set us up for the day

It was cold and blustery so expectations of a good fishing day were somewhat tempered to begin with although, there were reports of individuals catching well in the preceding days. Most opted for either a floating line with a 15-18ft leader or an intermediate line with a 12-15ft leader. Almost from the start fish were being caught on both methods

Depth of fly was quite important and generally the fish were deep. A Black Gonad on the intermediate scored well as did a gold head Yellow Dancer on the same line. Those using floating lines opted to fish a black buzzer but very slowly to allow the fly to get down to where the fish were lying. The fish were taking very gently and concentration on watching for any line movement was the key to success with the floater

Fishing slowed after lunch but we ended with a total of 52 fish caught between us giving an average of 5.77 fish per person. Andy Sawyer was top rod with 12 fish with 9 being returned

For those unfamiliar with the Yellow Dancer, here is the recipe:

• Hook: Kamasan B830 size 10
• Head: 3.5mm Gold Bead
• Thread: Yellow Uni-Thread
• Tail: White Marabou
• Rib: Silver wire
• Body: Lureflash Mobile in Mosaic
• Body Hackle: Flourescent Yellow Cock Hackle