By Matt | No Comments
Last updated: Friday, January 4, 2008

To get into the England team, a trial is held in England. Twenty or so of the countries best young anglers will fish against each other, and the 6 people that are most suited to the venue where the world championships is going to be held will be chosen to travel abroad to compete against countries as near as Wales and as far away as South Africa, proudly representing queen and country as they do so!

Competing in an international competition like this requires a focused mind, not only while fishing but in during the weeks running up to the trip, and nothing can be left to chance in terms of preparation. Here I have talked about one of the most interesting world champs I have attended in Portugal, 2006, where we came back with a team bronze medal. The fishing involved different methods and we learned loads about fishing the waggler with stickymag for carp and barble, so it should make some interesting reading.

The Prep…………

Preparation is everything”fail to prepare, prepare to fail”. At this stage, extreme thought, time and effort has to be put into the preparation for such an event. Information about the venue of the world champs will be given to the team, and we will know roughly the species of fish, depths, and methods that we are likely to encounter. A trip to various tackle shops to purchase spare items of tackle to take is imperative, and that’s where dad comes in handy, along with the old faithful credit card. Spare everything has to be taken: hooks, shots, line, elastic, lubricant, hundreds of floats, rubbers, swivels, and everything else that is normally taken for granted. Remember, it might be a long drive to the nearest tackle shop over there! Items such as sun creams, umbrellas, bite and insect sprays also have to be taken, along with a small ‘tool kit’, with some WD40, spare nuts and bolts, screwdriver, tape, superglue, araldite etc included. Also, I had to have a tetanus booster jab before I went out, as the catfish that were in the venue where poisonous! Looking forward to catching one of them then!!!

Obviously the most important part of the preparation involves making up rigs, tying boxes full of varying styles and kinds of hooks to different diameter lines, and threading up all top kits with fresh elastic that we are likely to be using. The first time I went, I was surprised to hear from the manager, Steve Saunders, that we were only to make a dozen rigs up for the first day of practicing. But the reason for this makes sense. There’s no point making up a hundred rigs only to get to the venue to find that they are not right! Therefore I threaded loads of floats onto long lengths of line, along with ollivette rubbers, and when we had found out what rigs worked, all we had to do is make them up over there, only needing to put the shots and ollivettes on. New line is put onto spools, and I like to make sure that all my tackle is packed away as neatly as possible, all cleaned. I like to set my box up on the pond next door to make sure I know where all of the attachments are going, and there is usually great need for these abroad because banks are normally concrete or rocky.

On the Friday before we are set to fly out, we have to take the tackle to a meeting place, where it is loaded onto a van and drove over land. The guys in the van sometimes have a bit of hassle getting over the boarders, and when approached by a 7ft guy with a machine gun, as happened in Serbia 2005, you don’t argue!!!

The team fly out very early on the Sunday morning (Luton airport 4.30am meet) and end the journey with an extremely long drive at the other end, stopping off to collect previously ordered bait on the way. The long, hot journey to the hotel gives the lads (and lasses in some cases) time to do some team bonding, and we have a right laugh on the way, usually telling tales about fishing! It is imperative not to get tired throughout the first few days, as this can make complete mess of the rest of the week, and the best advice is to get as much sleep as possible ahead of the five days solid practicing on the run up to the big one, consisting of a three hour match fished on each day at the weekend.

After getting to the hotel late on the Sunday night, we had a wake up call at 6:30am, and we were told that this was a first day lay in! The whole team met downstairs for a continental breakfast, each with black bags under their eyes, holding a can of red bull. The drive from the hotel to the venue on the first day is always really exciting, and all the lads couldn’t wait to see the place where they would be fishing for the next seven days. After a twenty minute drive we approached the bridge and everyone in the van stood up on their seats to get the first glance of the venue. I can honestly say that I have never seen a more inviting venue for a continental/international style match. The sun was already hot and warmed up our backs, as mist rose from the river.

The venue had been especially managed for the match, and consisted of a channel between 60 and 80 yards wide, with the far bank lined with huge willow trees, thick brambles and grasses. The bank that we were to fish from was like a beach to be honest. Sand, sand and more sand! Trees were also on this bank but further behind the box that we were to fish in. All in all, it was a venue that would make any anglers mouth water.

Monday 12 September, box 5, FIRST PRACTICE…HAVE IT!!!!!

We already knew that the main tactic would be really long range waggler fishing with big wags (between 16 and 25 gram) and sticky mag, for carp, carrasio and barble. I was quite disappointed when told that for the first three hour session to try and catch borga on the pole with bloodworm! I was given a mix that was meant for these fish, that was really ‘nutty’, and balled in 15 balls at the 10m limit. Fishing a half gram rig over the top with a bunch of bloodworm. I lowered the rig in and thought it was over shotted when it just kept going. I caught a small carp first put in, then a barble, a sun perch, and carried on catching them for the remainder of the match, winning the practice with about 7lb, I couldn’t believe it! I hadn’t even seen one of these ‘borga’ things! The other lads also caught well on the wag, and the odd fish on the pole.

For the second session, I set up four 13ft sentient float waggler rods, with varying sizes of wagglers, and at the far bank there was four feet of water, with around six feet in the middle of the wide channel, where I fished a ‘small’ conventional waggler. Note that international rules say that all kinds of feeder fishing are banned, hence the waggler obsession. All were set well over depth to compensate for the tow, bearing in mind that barble were the main waggler fish caught in the morning. I fired a load of hemp and maggots on the ‘small’ waggler line, and started long, at 70 yards. After firing 5 balls of sticky mag long, I baited the 14 b560 hook, tied to 0.16 line with three white maggots. It was a really long cast, and you had to get the line right sink to stop the tow. I placed the rod on the rest at an angle, and as I bent down to roll a ball of sticky mag, the rod wrapped round and after a healthy scrap a 4lb whisker was in the net. I finished the session with about 9lb, with that barble and some small carrasio. Back at the hotel after we had a team meeting and a few hours to sort out our gear, then it was early to bed, early to rise, for the next day.

Thursday 14 September, last practice day.

This was the last practice session we had to get it sorted. Steve had already picked the team that would be fishing the big match on the Friday, and after a hard decision he decided to drop Jake Marshall, the youngest of everyone who was there. The Portuguese had caught really well all week, in both the carrasio pegs inn the lower part of the section, and also in the much harder pegs, where they were today.

We had already worked out the best approach on the pole was the balling in, with joker and maggots, as this guaranteed a fish for everyone, and in the lower pegs, carrasio could be caught in numbers here too. Therefore today we had to make the wagglers work in these more difficult areas. I set up the short waggler, with a two swan shot KC Carpa wag float, set well over depth, at about ten foot deep, with three number eights and a swivel down the line. The hook on this was an eighteen B560 to 0.11 powerline, and mainline was 3lb maxima. I then set up three ‘big’ wagglers on the other rods, from 14 to 20 grams, again set over depth with the same shotting, but featuring a size 16 of the same hook as before, on 0.13 powerline, and 5lb maxima mainline, to withstand the pressure of the big cast.

I fed the short line with ten big pouches of hemp, and just one of maggots. Then as accurate as possible, fired thee balls of stickymag. Note that these were only the size or fifty pence, and we found you could reach the 60 yard mark more accurately using the normal drennan catty as appose to the ground bait ones. by copying the Portuguese, firing a ball, then slowly dragging your hook bait over it, I caught half decent barble quite regularly, including one about three pound, including four on the small waggler to start with. This tactic was definitely best on these pegs.

We had to finish at lunch today, so that the venue had a session rest for the match tomorrow. Boy, what a week it had been. It had flown by! The team meeting lasted around an hour tonight, and Steve had to make sure everyone was 100% on what they were doing. We overtook the swimming pool area in the afternoon, to make rods and rigs up, and to tie up hook lengths too. It was really important that we all knew how to feed each line at the off, and that when casting, then feeding, and winding technique was clear in our minds. We had a chat amongst our self’s at dinner, and a few jokes and laughs put the team in good spirit for the next day. Portugal looked the favourites by miles, as they were so accurate at distance, with the French, Spanish and Cheque’s not far behind. It was then early to bed for the big day ahead.

Day 1 of the World Championships

All the lads who were all buzzing excited and well up for it, it was a proper spine tingling atmosphere, mint!!!! I thought that we were an extremely confident team, capable of a medal position!

I was really pleased with the draw that I had for the first day, I was on C2, with the Spanish one side and Croatia the other, the Spaniard being a girl! People ask if I was nervous, but having fished (and won) the same match last year, all I wanted to do was kick some ass!!! We had to wait until half past eight before we could start to set up. I made sure that absolutely everything was to hand, set up perfect and as neat as possible. There was still half an hour after the bait check to sort out the ground bait, that had being mixed for us already that morning, and to prepare the sticky mag. Steve walked up before the start to check everyone was alrite, and from 8:30am, there was only me, Steve, and the steward who counted the fish allowed in my box.

I was stood at the back of my box, with 15 big balls of ‘the mix’ loaded with joker and dead maggots, knowing that in 30 seconds I could place them on the end of my pole. I looked up and down the match, and everyone was the same. The balling in hooter echoed the surroundings, and so did the ‘spladoooshing’ of ground bait being thrown in along the length. I fed the pole, and then fired in the hemp and maggots on the short line, followed by ten balls of stickymag on the long waggler line. I baited the pole rig up with double blood, and waited for the all in. everyone else had fed the pole but started on the long waggler line. I missed a bite first put in, and the Spanish girl had a 2lb barble first chuck!!! I then caught a 8oz barble, but nothing followed for the next 5 minutes. The girl had a smaller sample followed by another, and I had to pick up the big wag at this point. I was 20 minutes into the match. I cast to the far bank, fed, and reeled slowly. As I turned the handle the rod slowly went round and I calmly netted a 6oz barble. This was then followed by steady run of similar sized fish and the odd carrasio and bass. After an hour I had 18 fish, to the Spanish girls 21, and that spawney 2lb barbel she had! the next hour was pretty much the same, and approaching the last hour I felt the swim was dying a little, so I fired in 5 balls again and came onto the short waggler line that I had been feeding regularly. This brought me 5 more barble and a sunfish, taking my tally for the second hour to 13 fish. I tried to make sure that I connected with every bite by winding and not striking, and then playing each fish and netting them too. With 45 minutes left I picked the big waggler up again, and was back into the carrasio and barble, catching a further 15 in the last hour. At the end I had 46 fish to the Spanish gals 47, including that one better one she had.

I had a feeling that she had piped me, and as soon as the match finished I got up and shook both anglers hand to my left and right. The Spanish girl weighed in 4kilo 410grams, to my3kilo950! I shouldn’t say that in a fishing paper article! She won the section in the end, and I was second, a great result, as I expected to be beat by the Portuguese. I felt that I had done my absolute best, and a headache had set in after concentrating for the match. The BBC crew arrived, and asked Steve if they could interview one of the team on the Saturday, so I had that to look forward too as well! All of the other lads had performed too, finishing between 3rd and 7th their sections; nobody brought back maximum points for last. We was in fourth place after the first day. Portugal were hammering the game, in front of Spain and Cheque. It was back to the hotel to sort out kit, and get some sleep for the next day. Steve didn’t make any team changes, and we were all eager to come back with a medal, the teams moral was higher than before, and I don’t think that the team could have had a better attitude!

Day 2 of the World Championships

I drew the totally opposite end of the match on the second day. E section, the last section in the match, with the match end peg in my section. It had fished really hard on the first day, with the end three pegs doing the best in the section. I was the wrong end of the section. A mere 560grams had come from my peg the day before, so it was looking a little grim. But this is the World Championships were fishing in here, and there’s no time to worry about what has happened, and I focused my mind totally on extracting every fish I could from my peg. I made it my own little box, and concentrated on just that, and nothing was going to stop me getting every last gram from the peg, and I had three hour’s to do so. Let’s go and ave’ ‘em…

After an interview with the BBC sports, and setting up the same as before, I was ready. Steve came to wish me luck, and make sure I knew what I was doing. At the all in I balled in the pole line, and fed both the short and long waggler lines as per usual. I started on the long waggler line, as few carrasio were caught up here and I wanted to catch as many fish as I possibly could, so starting on the long waggler was the best option. I must say, when I cast to the far bank, sank the line and then hooked my first fish in about the first 20 seconds of the match, I was relieved, but even more so when it was in the net! In that first hour, I stayed on the same line, catching another 6 fish, 4 barble, and 2 small carp, between 2 and 8oz. word spread that the anglers on the end three pegs were catching really well, one of which was Portugal.

Never-the-less I kept my head down, concentrating on the task in hand. After an hour I fed three balls of sticky mag long and then came onto the short waggler line, where I had being regularly loose feeding hemp and maggots. It worked a treat, and after half an hour on this line, I netted another 6 small barble. Just like we had worked out in practice, lying on hard, and dragging the hook bait over the feed was the best way to get bites. This line then was bite less for 10 minutes, but I kept feeding it, as it may come good in the last hour again. A quick look on the pole brought me nothing, so it was back on the big waggler, over the three balls I fired out. By the end of the second hour I had ten fish, 9 small barble and a carrasio. I couldn’t see anyone around me catching much, but the end three pegs seemed to be netting fish all the time, the Croatian had a huge crown behind him as he netted a 3lb carp.

The last hour was really slow. I worked my socks off, feeding accurately, then reeling into the feed, and repeating the process over and over again. All that I had for my efforts was three barble, giving me a total of twenty fish over the three hours. At the weigh in I ended up with a surprising 2kilo 820grams, which put me fourth in the section. I was beat by the end three pegs at the far end of the section, with the Portuguese lad winning the section as expected of the end. I feel that I did the best I could of a bad peg at the wrong end of the section, as I beat everyone bar the three on the end.

The wait………

At this stage, all the other sections were still weighing in. me and Adam were both fourth in the section, and Matt Derry put on a stunning performance in A section, catching 7kilo, for a section win. The other two lads, Danny Huxley and Danny Fugler also performed well. Steve was looking really nervous, marching up and down the bank; he had no fingernails left by the presentation! We though that we were fourth, but when it was confirmed that we had won a bronze medal we all went mental. It was a great feeling and reward from all the hard work that we had put in. We all felt for Jake, who hadn’t fished the match, but he made everyone’s week, putting in lots of effort in practice, still performing at a super high level, and he was still part of the team. He played an even more important role, running the bank and spreading word, watching the other teams.

We went to the presentation straight from the bank, all collecting world championship bronze medals. Standing on the podium with the national anthem playing is an amazing feeling, even if you’re not at the very top. The last night is always a great night. A huge banquette is put on for all the under 16’s and under 21’s. Everyone who you have being ‘enemies’ with all week, become as close as friends, and all the teams trade shirts and bits of tackle and trinkets, all shaking hands and congratulating each other in loads of different languages.

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