OUSE VALLEY (SUSSEX) FLYFISHERS

The Partridge for me is probably the most enjoyable competition of the season and being an invitation event I feel privileged to have fished in it from the onset in 1988.

Each team always used to consist of six anglers but due to the popularity of this competition it has recently been reduced to only four team members so that more teams from UK and Europe can be included.

This of course made it very difficult to select a team as it meant that willing members would have to be left out. That does mean however that they will automatically be included in next year’s comp, which is on the 19^th September, so make a note in your diary.

The day was warm, sunny with some occasional cloud cover and a southerly wind. After a hearty breakfast we arrived at Bewl in good stead for the day.

I was paired with Mike Betts who was fishing for the London branch of the Fly Dressers Guild and although I know him, had never fished with him before so I was hoping we would have a good day.

We had had reports from various anglers of so called hot spots but both preferred to stay away from the crowds and so started in the main bowl then into the nose and finished the morning session in Bewl Straight. Mike had an early fish in the bowl area and then two more down the straight all on what looked like a "palmered hares ear shipmans". Choice of fly had been made fairly simple for Mike as Andy Packham had borrowed most of his fly boxes for a match at Grafham I believe. The choice of line was even easier, for both of us, as this match dictates that only floating lines are to be used. I on the other hand, much to Mike’s disgust, had been using a booby and had only managed one fish.

Lunch was at the clubhouse and the drinks, as usual, were waiting at the designated Ouse Valley table all very organised and civilised. Reports of fish being caught down in Tinkers Marsh area persuaded many anglers to head that way for the afternoon period but we again decided to give it a miss and settled to drift from Chingley point down towards the dam. 

My partner was soon into a fish and so I quickly changed to something more to Mikes liking.

Mike finally caught his eighth trout by 5.45pm at the finish I had managed to scramble in six fish, three on a white muddler and three on a green nymph.

I think we all had a good day, as I know I enjoyed myself and had found myself agreeing with a lot of Mikes views on match fishing with things as they are these days!

So we finished in tenth place out of twenty-four teams although the French team didn’t turn up for some reason.

One final thing before the results are listed, congratulations to Richard Larkin on a magnificent bag of 16 fish for 37lb all caught just out from the lodge on dries.

by Martyn Gray

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Last modified: July 17, 2001

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