Sep 21 2010 by Moc Morgan, Western Mail
THERE are times in life when one feels that Lady Luck has forsaken one. For me last Thursday was one of those occasions.
It was the day of the Four Nations’ International Fly-Fishing Championship, which was held this year on Llyn Trawsfynydd in North Wales where I – in addition to helping to organise the event – was manager of the Welsh fly-fishing team.
The championship was held at the same venue two years ago on a day which proved to be one of the wettest days of 2008. On that occasion the Welsh team lost to England on a technicality. Despite having the top weight, the paperwork presented at the weigh-in had inconsistencies which cost Wales the match. This year we were determined to right the wrong.
We were all looking forward to a good match – and as the old adage goes, revenge can be a good tonic – especially as we still rankled after our mistake of 2008. I was very confident that Wales would win this year – especially as we were on home territory and had a team full of stars – a team that was well led by its captain and coach and top performers who had been “on song” throughout this season.
It was wet on Llyn Trawsfynydd two years ago. This year it was worse – especially during the days preceding the match. It was so bad that one practice day had to be cancelled because of the persistent heavy rain and gusting wind. I believe that lost day cost us dearly.
By match day the weather had improved and weather-wise it was quite a good fishing day for the four 14-man teams from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The fish count at the end of the day showed 60, 60, 58 and 38. Unfortunately it was Wales that had the 58 – hence coming in third out of the four, with Scotland taking the gold spot with five ounces more fish weight than England. Wales was two pounds astray and Ireland – whose important practice days had been greatly diminished by the weather – had to make do with the wooden spoon.
There was no sweet revenge – and when one has set one’s heart on achieving something, one gets a shock on realising that Lady Luck has deserted.
The top angler in this year’s event was Paul Shaw, a new cap from England who had 10 fish, but the runner-up was Welsh team member Marco Orsi from Pontypridd who, with nine fish, won the Gillie Farr Cup for the top Welsh angler. At least Lady Luck smiled on him – and she could not have smiled on a nicer or a more popular lad.
Llyn Trawsfynydd is no longer a fodder lake for the nuclear power station which when in operation drew in the waters from the lake to cool its reactors. The power station is now being decommissioned, but such is the magnitude of the work involved that it still employs some 600 people to get the task completed – and which will take a few decades. I can scarcely believe it!
Today Llyn Trawsfynydd is very much like any other Welsh lake – although regularly stocked with rainbow trout, it still produces great wild brown trout. Some of those quality trout gave me and my boat partner Padraic Kelly from Ireland some memorable sport – with Padraic taking a brown which must have been in excess of two pounds. With a wry smile he said it was as good as any Lough Corrib trout. I knew it was better than those – but as I was the host, I kept mum!
At every international match the organisers have to rely on the support of boatmen to ensure that the boats drift correctly and that the competition is fair with competing anglers having equal opportunities to catch fish.
This year some of our volunteer boatmen travelled well over a hundred miles in order to support our anglers – such is their devotion to the sport of angling – and the gratitude of the organisers and the competitors go to them for the wonderful service they gave.
The three men in the boat act as a team and despite there being razor-thin competition between the two anglers, there is also a camaraderie that develops between the three which comes from being in each other’s company for eight hours.
In what other sport would you get three strangers stepping into a boat at 10 o’clock in the morning and stepping off at six pm as friends for life!
Long may that practice survive!
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