The Waters of Pennsylvania

I'm in! I'll see your Trico and raise you two Green Weenies

The team settle down to dish out the flies the night before the competition.

Swallow tail

Who said you can't catch suckers on fly?

Fishing Creek Brookie

Photo courtesy of Josh Day (TCO Guide)

Quotes of the Week

Whilst the team were persuaded to try the food at Hooters at State College, an establishment renowned for its Buffalo wings amongst other delights. Coach Jackie McGuire scanned the menu

Jackie (AKA the Cookie King) "What kind of fish is it luv?"
The Hooters waitress not exactly employed for her intellectual prowess perhaps somewhat puzzled thrown by the Geordie accent replied, .
"I think its battered or could be covered in bread crumbs, sir"

Black Bear

Well not the actual one that fell out of a tree in Lisa' beat on Fishing Creek.

Centre County Pennsylvania is famous for it Large Black bears weighing in at 700lb!

Now that's what I call scarey spider!

Groundhog or wood chuck

Groundhog day actually originates in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

In traditional weather lore, if a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day and fails to see its shadow because the weather is cloudy, winter will soon end. If the groundhog sees its shadow because the weather is bright and clear, it will be frightened and run back into its hole, and the winter will continue for six more weeks.

Pennsylvania wildlife we encountered

Copperhead snake commonly known as the death adder

Scott and the Jackie (AKA the Cookie King) No it isn't Chocolate!!!

Ding-Dong Eight Bronze Gongs

The Team with Harry and the TCO guides

England Claim Bronze Medal

On Tuesday night a series of tornado warnings were issued for our area and whilst none actually touched down on the Hotel - well not that we noticed (possibly Jackie's snoring!) 3 inches of rain fell and changed, what had been crystal clear waters into a muddy torrents; testing the Team's skills and versatility to the max.

Scott managed 7 fish in the morning, taking a third place, maintaing his lead in a gold medal position with just the lake to fish.

France and the Czech Republic moved away from England, opening up a 25 point lead. The Americans moved up into 4th with a strong performance and were just 8 points behind.

The rivers started to fine down around midday. and the fish started to feed well.

All the team caught fish in the afternoon, no blanks on the 5th session!
Scott managed just two measurable fish from the lake and from a leading position in the championships from the off, sadly slipped out of the medal contention.

Lisa, Ben and Alex caught the most fish in any of the sessions, on their beats: Joel chipped in with valuable points, taking over the "holding role" that James had done so well in, during the morning.

This folks, was a memorable team performance. One that has seen the culmination of all Dave Mees hard work over the seasons.

At 10:30 there was a dash from the dining room as the results were posted.
1st France
2nd Czech
3rd England
4th USA

We did them just by one point!!

What a performance to stay in contention with the Czechs' and French and beat the USA in their own back yard.

The presentation ceremony is tomorrow and more news in the morning, including funniest quote of the week: "Dave, when should I stop fishing in a thunderstorm?"

Reply: "When you get struck for the second time....."

Adios...or is that...cherio!

The fly exchange

Lisa and Ben receive some advice fron Pennsylvania's Daniel Shields local fishing author

Ben on his way to a section win on the Little J

England keep up with the Pace setters Day two results after 3 of 5sessions

England consolidated our position in Bronze medal position during with excellent performances from Scott, Ben and Alex.
After three sessions the team positions are
1st France 58 points 110 fish
2nd Czech Republic 61 points 99 fish
3rd England 66 points 105 fish
4) Slovakia 82 points 60 fish
5) USA
6) Spain
7)USA 2
8)Portugal
9) Canada
10) Ireland

Scott Nellins continued his awesome form with his third section win on Upper Spring Creek, he currently leads the championships
1) Scott Nellins Eng 3 points 37 fish
2) Vit Pavlaky Cze 4 points 27 fish
3) Petr Drastic Cze 6 points 24 fish

9th Alex Jardine (Fished all three sessions)
15th Ben Harris (Fished 2 sessions)
25th Lisa Isles (Fished All three sessions)
41st Joel Beeney (Fished one session)
49th James Hunt (Fished all three sessions)

We would love a suitable caption for this one...please!

Results after day 1 (2sessions)

1st Czech Republic
2nd France.
3rd England

Scott Nellins leads the field with two maximum scores for his two section wins.
Alex Jardine is ling in seventh place
Section win for Ben harris who gave a great performance on Little J.

Be sure to log in for regular up dates tomorrow - if the team do survive the bears, snakes and hungry trout!

Alex with a nice spring creek 'bow, caught in a pool shared by ducks!

Now you see it

Now you don't

Spot the fish...

Dave discusses lost fish with fellow boat partners, Ben & Scott, whom both agree that Dave's fish was never that big!!

The England team at the opening ceremony for the 6th world youth championships!

Joel powering away on speed boat (oar style) whilst Scott catches some rays (sun style)!

Alex placing a precision cast on Spruce creek.

Joel with one of the notorious brook trout (fish of the state).

BUD...................................................WEIS..................................................ER

The new american beer advert, sneak preview!

After a long day in the sweltering heat, some of the team sit down and spend their time looking at the local entomology. Basically cooling off!

After catching several nice Browns you would of thought he could of managed a bigger smile!

Scott and a nice brown on the Little Juniata, taken on a nymph!

Alex with a Bluegill...the only one in Spring Creek and he just had to catch it!!

Foot bridge at Spring Creek!

During the lunch hour we decided to go up onto the bridge...just to see how many fish were in the pool below us.

Pretty good view??

A fine example of a Spring Creek brown trout! Caught by a member of our team.

Meeting the guide, Josh, for our first days practise fishing on Spring Creek.

First day has gone excellent, plenty of fish and plenty of sun to top up the tan! No bears as of yet...but plenty of snakes!

Good luck Joel from all the World Team

Joel Beeney is the first English Youth to qualify for the National Rivers Final.
The 2007 Snowbee sponsored championships are being fished for the second year on the River Dart in Devon.

Following rains of biblical proportions this week, fishing will be tricky. however with increased flows the fish will be more willing to play.

Friday 20th Official practice
Saturday and Sunday are rest days with no fishing on the Water
Monday 23rd National Championships

Good Luck Joel from all of us

T minus 9 days and counting

With just 9 days left before head off now our Guides at the TCO fly shop
http://www.tcoflyfishing.com/ have suggested an itinerary for our four days with them

Spring Creek the first day
Fishing Creek the second
Little Juniata on the Third
The lake the last day.

It's been suggested that the lake session will be a pulling match, can't wait to hook in to one of these Lunker Bass Yeeeha!

Scott and his Dever brown

Practise on the Dever

Careful approach

10 days and Counting

With just 10 days to go before the squad leave for America preparations are in full swing.

The Squad along with Coach Simon Kidd and Manager Dave Mee completed a training weekend on the Dever and Test where techniques and tactics were practised.

The trout, grayling and occasional roach fel to a variety of tactics as the squad honed their skills.

America hosts the 6th World Championships this year, at Penn State College Pennsylvania, approximately 300 mile west of New York City.

We will be fishing:
Fishing Creek - Lamar, PA
Spring Creek - Bellefonte,
PALittle Juniata - Petersburg, PA

Spring Creek Rises in the mountains about five miles east of State College, Spring Creek is arguably the finest wild trout stream in Pennsylvania. The venues most favored by anglers are the Benner Springs stretch, Fisherman's Paradise, the oldest fly fishing-only water in the US, and Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission water below the Paradise.

We will also be fishing Lake Perez from boats targeting bass, pickerel and a host of other new species.

The Squad