History

Here are a collection of photographs which were taken at the very first competition in August 1985 Youth Fly Fishing Championships between the EYFA and the Welsh team
Bob Church, Alex Ferguson, And Tom Bilson with an unknown Welsh gentleman	Alex Ferguson and Ian Footman, displaying the commemorative plaque given to all competitors
Alex Ferguson receiving an Orvis reel for catching the biggest fish of the competition a Rainbow of 1 3/4 lbs with Tom Bilson	Ian Footman returning to the pontoon on 29th August 1985 at the end of the competition
These photographs are the earliest taken of the EYFA - Unless you know different

With the cost of a days boat fishing on one of our major reservoirs for father and one offspring running at about £ 40.00 and bearing in mind the need for two complete sets of tackle, licences and so on I suppose it is inevitable that youth participation in fly fishing should be less than in other branches of the sport.

On the positive side, however, we have organisations like Anglian water offering “Kids Go Free” (12-17 years old) when accompanied by a full paying adult, a whole days casting and fly fishing instruction for £20.00 (Juniors, £30.00 adults) with professionally qualified instructors of the highest standard. For the first time in '98 the Salmon & Trout Association ran a series of Youth Training days, assisted by Guide Flyfishing and Redington rods. This has proved extremely successful and still continues introducing up to 3,000 youngsters a year to the sport.

Many clubs run active junior sections, Wansbeck Angling Association in Northumberland, who send a large contingent all the way to the Youth National, organise their own junior competition on Kielder Water. The Bristol Water company organises a junior match on Chew Valley lake in May which is regularly attended by more than 50 young anglers mostly from the South West but with several from the national team who do very well.

In 1996 the Scottish Youth team received major sponsorship from the Bank of Scotland which continued for three years. The England team would welcome a similar major sponsor who can contact me.An entry list of more than 70 anglers for the '97 national competition of which 68 actually fished also gave rise to an apparent increase in interest from sponsors and the media. We received extensive coverage on Anglia T.V. sports news and filmed a news feature for East Midlands B.B.C.

For the first time in 1998 the England Youth Flyfishing Association entered a team for the inaugural Youth World Championships, which took place in Wales from the 9th. to the 14th. of August where we won a Bronze Team medal and Silver Individual. In 1999 at the Youth World Championships in Ireland we took team Gold and Silver medals.

The year 2000 World Championship event scheduled to take place in Canada was sadly cancelled by the organisers. Realistically England are unlikely to be able to put together a bid for future Youth World Championships without Lottery (Sports Council) support which is unlikely to be forthcoming without a change of attitude to angling by the Sports Council

The England Youth teams are drawn from a pool of age qualified candidates who have previously represented England at either World or International level. These candidates are currently invited to fish a two stage eliminator to Fips Mouche rules from which the top rods are invited to take part in the World Team.

International Loch-style Results
Year	Venue	First	Second	Third	Fourth
1985	Llandegfedd	Wales	England
1986	Chew	Wales	England
1987	Llyn Brenig	Wales	Scotland	England
1988	Rutland	England	Wales	Scotland
1989	Loch Fitty	Wales	Scotland	England
1990	Trawsfynydd	Wales	England	Scotland
1991	Draycote	Wales	England	Scotland
1992	Menteith	Scotland	Wales	England
1993	Trawsfynydd	England	Scotland	Wales	Ireland
1994	Draycote	England	Ireland	Scotland	Wales
1995	Leven	Scotland	Ireland	England	Wales
1996	Lough Owel	England	Wales	Scotland	Ireland
1997	Trawsfynydd	England	Ireland	Scotland	Wales
1998	Rutland	Scotland	England	Wales	Ireland
1999	Leven	Scotland	Ireland	England	Wales
2000	Lough Owel	Wales	Ireland	England	Scotland
2001	Trawsfynydd	Scotland	Wales	England	Ireland
2002	Rutland	England	Scotland	Ireland	Wales
2003	Carron	England	Ireland	Wales	Scotland
2004	Conn	Ireland	England	Wales	Scotland
2005	Brenig	England	Wales	Scotland	Ireland
2006	Rutland	England	Wales	Scotland	Ireland
2007	Menteith	Scotland	Ireland	England