ENGLAND KAYAK TEAM WIN SILVER IN CLOSE WORLD CHAMPS

Agonising does not do justice to the feelings of the Angling Trust Team England Kayak Lure team after they missed out on World Championships gold by just a single point following three days of action afloat on Italy’s Lake Bracciano.

Scoring a total of 55.5 points, England just came up short as hosts Italy pipped them on 54.5, Romania earning bronze with 139 points, showing how far ahead the leading teams were. There was also some individual joy as Richard Archer won bronze, tying with silver medallist Mirko Piccioloi of the hosts on 11.5 points but losing out on overall total points. Gold went to Italian Daniele Cittadini on 10 points.

Fielding a squad of Richard, David Jacobs, Dave Goude, Mark Radcliffe, Martin Collinson, Ian Pickering, Tiberiu Nica and the youngest angler ever to be selected in this discipline – 14-year-old Jude Evans – England were leading after day two only to fall desperately short at the end. That left team Manager Steve Collett understandably devastated but at the same time full of excitement for the future of this charges.

“First of all, I want to say how immensely proud I am of the whole team for their incredible effort at the recent Kayak Fishing World Championships. Coming in second place, losing out by just one point, is both agonising and inspiring at the same time,” Steve said. “To be that close to gold shows just how competitive and skilled this squad really is.”

“Every single member of the team gave there all on the water, and the support team of the reserves Tiberiu, Jude and Rob worked seamlessly together, supporting each other both on and off the water, not an easy task when you are not doing the fun part of fishing!” he continued.

“Although a little bit bruised, on reflection a silver medal and an individual bronze is still a huge achievement on the international stage. While it’s tough to come so close and not clinch the win, we’ve learned valuable lessons. There were a few selection choices that, in hindsight, needed to be tweaked, but hindsight is just that, a wonderful thing when it arrives too late, and I will address these things moving forward, It’s all part of the journey.”

England remain ranked the number one team in the world, remarkable given that the venues and species of fish involved are not familiar to the anglers.

“Adapting to those challenges and still performing at such a high level makes me incredibly optimistic about the future. It’s a future I have planned for and worked tirelessly for. It’s become a passion to see these teams progress and no longer be seen as the “also rans” of lure fishing,” Steve added. “The fact I took a 14-year-old to a World Championships shows how far forward we are planning. I was incredibly proud to stick my neck out and take the youngest ever senior international and he performed superbly and took it all in his stride, a real positive from the trip.”

Unlike normal matches, this event has a totally different scoring system across the three days, as Steve explains…

“For example, we had to catch five bass measuring over 28cm and three perch over 25cm to count. That score was then be put against everyone else, so if we had and angler coming first on the day he got one point, fifth place gets five and so on. It’s all to do with overall positions rather than consistency across a card. a full card of five bass and three perch would always trump say a card of five bass and two perch.”