Team England World & Home International Boat

Congratulations on a well-earned set of Silver Medals for Team England during the recent SALC International held in Ireland last week.

The team made up of:

Paul Hart (Team Manger), Dave Cogger, Pete Bailey, Gareth Croft, Kevin Sampson, Richard Day,

Richard Russell (Assistant Manager) & George Fox (Res).

Earlier in the year, Paul Hart told us, the Team had been working together really hard on various ideas to try out both tactically and technically. Paul told us on the 13^th of June:

“The Team have been practicing the last couple of days, it’s been lovely weather out here and lots of fish, we don’t expect to be taken to the marks we’ve already fished but we already feel confident.”

It’s difficult as an NGB to update the progress and news about how a competition is developing without giving to much away in what is for all intents and purposes a live competition scenario.

So the most telling news is the information shared after the event, when the spray has settled and hindsight revisited. In retrospect Paul also told us:

“With research carried out, rigs and tactics prepared. Our team of eight keen anglers headed to Crosshaven, Cork harbour on Sunday 11th June for three days of practice ahead of the two days of competition. Alan our skipper on Lagosta took us to marks on the east and west of the large area known as (The Smiths) and we experienced large catches of Pollack, Dogfish, Gurnard, Whiting, Dabs, Rays, Ling, Cod and for our newest cap George his first Megrim, a species of flatfish rarely found in the UK.

Our preparations seemed to have been perfect as we effortlessly switched between the various species and going into the event, we felt we had most options covered. We saw pods of Dolphins, Seals, flocks of birds and even a Minke Whale during our time at sea practicing in this beautiful corner of Ireland. 

With the event fished exclusively at anchor we were pleased when the zone west of The Smiths was chosen as the fishing area for both days. Unfortunately for us The Smiths is a huge area and the areas we had practiced on bore no resemblance to the small very rocky and snaggy area we fished the competition on both days where fish holding areas seemed to be very localised and often at extreme distance.

Pollack were often the crucial species and although our team battled valiantly to stay on level terms, the well-practiced Irish team were simply too strong taking first and usually even second place on each boat both days. We always knew it was going to be a challenge, but our consolation was that our team beat the Welsh team each day on each boat and since they were defending gold from last year showed that home advantage choosing a very small area of reef not practiced or previously experienced by the visiting anglers was the safest route for victory”.

This is another great Silver for the current England Team, showing that strong communication and a huger to; try, experiment, and learn will always add to the quiver of a strong group of Individuals foundations. Well done guys a great performance.