Team England Shore Masters
FIPS-M 3rd World Masters Shore Angling Championship
Langebaan
SOUTH AFRICA (World Games)
8th – 15th February 2019
England Masters Shore Team return from Sport Fishing World Games
This is the first time the Angling Trust have decided to enter a team into the FIPS-M 3rd World Championship for Shore Angling Masters. This year it was held in Langebaan, South Africa from 8th – 15th February.
Team England consisted of;
Bernard Westgarth
Keith Mills
Dave Andrews
Roger Cunnington
Jurgen Schedler
Richard Hipperson (Manager/Reserve)
Barbara Metcalfe (Assistant)
Information gained from local sources confirmed that the team should expect large numbers of relatively large fish, principally comprising of Guitar Fish (Sandys) with the odd bonus ray and the tactics were relatively simple using heavy three hook rigs very close in with mullet as the favoured bait. The new rule introduced in relation to the hook type meant Team England undertook lengthy testing of various hooks to help them get an advantage.
Team England had three days to practice prior to the main competition and this confirmed that their tactics and methods worked with all catching fish, but not in the numbers and size that they had expected.
It was clear from the official practice day that both the numbers and size of fish expected were not there with the fishing being much harder than expected. Many of the other teams had arrived weeks before the games and had been practising which gave them an advantage to adapt their tactics. Unfortunately only Team England and one other team did not have sponsorship and financial support which was going to make this a hard-fought match.
Keith put in an excellent performance being consistent on every day and should be commended for his efforts and Jurgen at the end of day two was holding onto the bronze medal position which was also an excellent effort. Individually it was Keith who just missed out on the podium position finishing in 5th place overall for England.
Team England finished in eighth place out of ten which was a little disappointing as they felt they all worked very hard. Italy came out as Champions with Namibia runner ups and Portugal in third place.
Top 4 team results;
1st Italy
2nd Namibia
3rd Portugal
4th Spain B Team
Top 4 individual results;
1st Thys Basson, South Africa
2nd Antonio Serafini, Italy
3rd Jorg Walter, Namibia
4th Vitale Lino, Italy
Richard Hipperson, England Masters Shore Manager said “In addition to the team we had Ian Golds who acted as a mentor/advisor to our planning and preparation who we would like to thank for all his time and effort. We would also like to thank and acknowledge the support we received from Leeder Icon who sold us the hooks with a substantial discount for the World Championship.”
“As a team we worked really hard this year and I’m very grateful to everyone’s dedication. Unfortunately I was ill for seven days over the main competition and a number of people came down with food poisoning which left me feeling quite debilitated so to have Barbara as my assistant helped so much and we could not have done it without her so we would like to thank her for all her help and support.”