Disappointment for Drennan Team England
Posted: September 27th, 2014, 9:20 am
Disappointment for Drennan Team England at the FIPSed World Nations Championship
This was always going to be a difficult FIPSed World Nations Championship, even 12 months ago the team were told that they had to try to catch 5 fish per angler on this venue Drava Canal, Prelog, Croatia from 13th – 14th September, a far cry from Poland in 2013.
The canal was very fast, impossible to stop a flat float, so running flat floats of 30-50 grams became the only way to fish. Early practise saw the team do well with catches up to 6 kilo, with "Nase" a local species the main target.
Sadly as the week progressed these got more difficult to catch and torrential rains non-stop for 36 hours saw the surrounding area totally flooded and the venue rise a further 5 feet.
Day one was hard although Team England hit their target of fish per angler and were second on fish count with 34 fish, but it soon became apparent that the Nase were playing second fiddle to big barbel. Teams that really attacked the venue early in the match brought more barbel into their swims and late in the match made them count.
Day two - Although Team England stepped up their initial feed, the river which rose another 2 feet overnight was tougher than ever. They only recorded 12 fish on day two and failed to improve on their overall position. Congratulations must go to young debutant Callum Dicks, who was England's top scorer with 14 points.
Mark Downes, Drennan Team England Joint Manager said "This was tough , the lads did great on practise beating all around us including the French, Polish and Croatians……but it fell apart at the seams on match day, the river just "turned" on us and our tactics were nullified."
Joint Manager Mark Addy added "You cant win them all, we were given a lesson this weekend and we will all learn from it. When you see the best teams in the world falling down the list like they have this week you realise how difficult it is to compete on such varied waters. Italy 26th , us 16th, and the other home nations all falling short will be a lesson to us all."
Dick Clegg, OBE, International Events Manager, Angling Trust stated "Mark Addy summed it up by saying 'You can't win them all' and it's certainly true especially in this case. It's not the first time that England has fished in this area as the team did fish a World Championships in Maribor on the same river Drava and there were plenty of dry nets then too. Indeed Mark Downes was included in the team as England finished second and Bob Nudd won the individual. Back in those days the river was extremely quick without any of the extra water that this team experienced and the England team had dry nets then."
"When a natural venue is chosen for the World Championships these kind of weather conditions can have a devastating effect on the venue just as England had in Luddington on the river Avon and then we experienced the same in Portugal on the river Mondego in Coimbra. England's management and team will be very disappointed after finishing down the field, but they are still the best in the world and should not be too disheartened by this result."
"Next year in Slovenia I expect them to bounce back and regain their rightful place on the podium. My congratulations go to both Callum Dicks for a great result on his England debut and I must also say well done to Holland in becoming World Champions and to my mate Jan van Schendall their manager who has worked so hard since taking over the Dutch team a few years ago."
Team Final Results Top 5
1st Netherlands 38 points
2nd Czech Republic 44 points
3rd Serbia 45 points
4th Spain 63 points
5th Poland 66 points
16th England 91 points
Individual Results Top 5
1st Goran Radovic, Serbia
2nd Stefan Altena, Netherlands
3rd Arjan Klop, Netherlands
4th Hakan Svedlund, Sweden
5th Radek Hron, Czech Republic
This was always going to be a difficult FIPSed World Nations Championship, even 12 months ago the team were told that they had to try to catch 5 fish per angler on this venue Drava Canal, Prelog, Croatia from 13th – 14th September, a far cry from Poland in 2013.
The canal was very fast, impossible to stop a flat float, so running flat floats of 30-50 grams became the only way to fish. Early practise saw the team do well with catches up to 6 kilo, with "Nase" a local species the main target.
Sadly as the week progressed these got more difficult to catch and torrential rains non-stop for 36 hours saw the surrounding area totally flooded and the venue rise a further 5 feet.
Day one was hard although Team England hit their target of fish per angler and were second on fish count with 34 fish, but it soon became apparent that the Nase were playing second fiddle to big barbel. Teams that really attacked the venue early in the match brought more barbel into their swims and late in the match made them count.
Day two - Although Team England stepped up their initial feed, the river which rose another 2 feet overnight was tougher than ever. They only recorded 12 fish on day two and failed to improve on their overall position. Congratulations must go to young debutant Callum Dicks, who was England's top scorer with 14 points.
Mark Downes, Drennan Team England Joint Manager said "This was tough , the lads did great on practise beating all around us including the French, Polish and Croatians……but it fell apart at the seams on match day, the river just "turned" on us and our tactics were nullified."
Joint Manager Mark Addy added "You cant win them all, we were given a lesson this weekend and we will all learn from it. When you see the best teams in the world falling down the list like they have this week you realise how difficult it is to compete on such varied waters. Italy 26th , us 16th, and the other home nations all falling short will be a lesson to us all."
Dick Clegg, OBE, International Events Manager, Angling Trust stated "Mark Addy summed it up by saying 'You can't win them all' and it's certainly true especially in this case. It's not the first time that England has fished in this area as the team did fish a World Championships in Maribor on the same river Drava and there were plenty of dry nets then too. Indeed Mark Downes was included in the team as England finished second and Bob Nudd won the individual. Back in those days the river was extremely quick without any of the extra water that this team experienced and the England team had dry nets then."
"When a natural venue is chosen for the World Championships these kind of weather conditions can have a devastating effect on the venue just as England had in Luddington on the river Avon and then we experienced the same in Portugal on the river Mondego in Coimbra. England's management and team will be very disappointed after finishing down the field, but they are still the best in the world and should not be too disheartened by this result."
"Next year in Slovenia I expect them to bounce back and regain their rightful place on the podium. My congratulations go to both Callum Dicks for a great result on his England debut and I must also say well done to Holland in becoming World Champions and to my mate Jan van Schendall their manager who has worked so hard since taking over the Dutch team a few years ago."
Team Final Results Top 5
1st Netherlands 38 points
2nd Czech Republic 44 points
3rd Serbia 45 points
4th Spain 63 points
5th Poland 66 points
16th England 91 points
Individual Results Top 5
1st Goran Radovic, Serbia
2nd Stefan Altena, Netherlands
3rd Arjan Klop, Netherlands
4th Hakan Svedlund, Sweden
5th Radek Hron, Czech Republic