SILVER FOR ENGLAND IN MASTERS FEEDER WORLD CHAMPS

Match fishing at international level can be the proverbial game of two halves as World Champs are fished across two days and the Angling Trust England Masters Feeder Team found that out in this year’s event in Hungary, dominating day one only to be overtaken 24 hours later to leave them in an agonising second place!

Fished on Hungary’s Szeged Rowing Course, England stormed day one with a tremendous seven-point score from their four anglers, but some Sunday, it was the turn of hosts Hungary to leave them all shocked, an even better six points moving them from third overnight into the gold medal spot.

England mustered 21.5 points to take them up to 28.5 in total, just 4.5 points behind the winners, Romania taking bronze on 39 points. On the individual front, Hungary dominated too, winning all three medals with Timor Ambrus being crowned World Champion on a perfect two points.

Top performer for England was skipper Tommy Pickering on five points for fifth overall, Richie Hull also scoring five but ending up sixth on total weight. Darren Cox bagged 6.5 points for ninth with outgoing World Champion Simon Fry scoring 12 points for eighteenth, with reserve Eddie Bridon not fishing either day but contributing so much to the team. Also helping on the bank alongside Manager Nigel Franks was Mark Morris, Rob Brennan, Shaun Stenton, and Steve Welford.

“When you go from doing so well to finish second, it’s a bit deflating and frustrating,” said Nigel. “Nonetheless, we’re still proud of silver and if we’d been offered that before we left home, we’d have had your hand off. It’s a long way to travel to come back empty-handed.

“To score seven points on day one surprised us I have to be honest, especially as every team thought Hungary would dominate. We were wary of a comeback from them though, and halfway through day two I think we knew we were going to be second behind them,” Nigel continued. “They know the water that bit better and knew what to do in the second match, which fished a little bit harder. We now know that the fish don’t take a lot of pressure, and we were too aggressive on day two, whereas Hungary eased off the feed a bit and got the results.”

Day one produced section wins for Tommy and Darren, a second for Richie and third for Simon, the plan being to fish two lines with cage, window or rocket feeders crammed with corn, using maggots on the hook for carp. Carassio were no use on a venue where a big weight was needed for good points.

“We got through 30 tins of corn each per match, and the plan was to feed a line with two bait-up feeders of corn and then fish over the top of it, catch a fish and then feed the other line and drop on it, rotating this throughout the match,” he revealed. “It’s a long and costly trip to Hungary, and on behalf of the team I’d like to give my sincere thanks to Stephen Freeman CEO of Freeman’s Event Partners, Nick Larkin of Nisa Feeders, DFDS Shipping Company and Sensas for support with all of our groundbait needs.”