Unique competition for local fishermen

THIS Saturday sees the 14th Shimano Loomis one-fly competition at Shimano Loomis Fishery in Felindre.

The rules are very simple and any breach of the rules disqualifies anglers from the competition.

In preparation for the event the fishery will be closed from tomorrow until Saturday, but anyone wishing to go along on the day to watch is very welcome.

The fishery will be open from 6am for coffee. Pegs will be drawn at 8.30am.

Alan Bardell holds the record for only lasting less than one minute before losing his fly. Alan also holds the record for being the first angler out of the competition three years on the trot.

The most fish taken in the one-fly competition by one angler was 18 fish.

The most fishermen to lose their fly in the competition were 14 anglers six years ago.

One angler did not want to be first out although he had lost his fly. He carried on fishing till be was spotted casting with no fly.

He then had to walk the walk of shame with all remaining anglers cheering all the way back to the lodge.

Kevin Hockley is the only angler to win the competition twice.

It is a unique competition and no other fishery has tried to copy it. This is a fun competition and will always remain this way, and the majority of the anglers sign up on the day for the next one.

Once the competition starts you will see some excellent casting skills as no one wants to be first out, but once the first angler falls, casting skills go out the window as the remaining anglers try to catch as many fish as they can.

One thing to remember is that all anglers taking part are experienced anglers and on a normal day would never lose a fly, yet when you tell them they can only use one fly, panic sets in and mistakes are made.

Papermill Trout Fishery

The weather has remained bitterly cold. The best flies of the week have been hothead damsel and buzzers under an indicator.

Mike Davies (pictured above) caught a superb 4lb 8oz rainbow trout on a damsel.

The tagged fish competition is still running and the money in the pot has now reached £330.

Fly: Gary White caught three fish weighing 9lb 7oz in total on a damsel.

Matthew Green caught three fish for 9lb 3oz on a green buzzer, and Nigel Carter landed three for 9lb on a black and green fritz.

Worm: Chris Jones caught three fish for 9lb 2oz, Alan Davies three for 8lb 9oz and Peter Walters three for 8lb 3oz.

White Spring Fishery

Fishing started off well on the new canal, with the midweek Wednesday match doing quite well for the time of year.

Four bags of over the 50lb mark were landed, with first place going to John with 62lb 8oz.

Second on peg 26, the new platform, was Llew Spinks with 58lb 8oz, and close behind was Jim Hutton, peg 30, with 57lb 4oz.

The match and pleasure lakes are also doing well. Jamie Davies, aged 12, fished the pleasure lake using Nash 10mm pop-up bollies to land a 12lb and 14lb carp along with a few around the 8-10lb mark.

Other anglers landed some nice bream up to 4lb 8oz/5lb.

The specimen lake also produced a couple of nice fish, with Matthew Davies fishing on Meg's corner to land a nice 28lb mirror called Split Tail that last came out back in September at 24lb.

Another visiting angler on peg 4 got two just over the 20lb mark — 20lb 8oz and 22lb — both mirrors using White Springs bollies over pellet bed.