England win team bronze in Bulgaria. Hungary are crowned World Champions!
Drennan Team England can hold their heads up high after a bronze-medal result in this year’s World Championship in Bulgaria. This follows their bronze medal last year in Slovenia and European silver in Holland earlier in the year.
Bulgaria’s Plovdiv Rowing Course proved to be a challenging venue with carp and carassio the key target species. The number one method for most of the nations was the rod and line, using 10g to 15g wagglers or sliders cast up to 40 metres. Each angler fed an initial bombardment of 25 to 50 ‘sausages’ of groundbait, catapulted in during the initial 10-minute pre-baiting period. This was typically a sweet, maize-based mix containing sweetcorn, bloodworm, joker and chopped worms.
England were lying in fourth after the first day and knew they needed to be ultra-positive on Day Two to stand a chance of overtaking the early leaders Hungary, Italy and the Czech Republic. While most other nations also fed long-pole swims, England made a bold gamble to conserve almost all of their 20-litre groundbait allowance for their all-important waggler line. Regular top-up volleys of three or four balls helped to pull in the inquisitive carassio before they characteristically backed off again.
The only other tactic in England’s armoury was a short 1.5m to 2.5m whip swim, fed with small balls of groundbait and maggots. This was merely a back-up in case anyone needed to target the tiny chub, bleak and sun perch living in the margins.
England’s bold gamble seemed to instantly pay off as four of the team were winning their sections at the halfway stage. They had managed to catch more bonus carp than any other nation but, as they feared, these bigger fish switched off in the third and fourth hour. It was a difficult balancing act between feeding enough bait to hold the carp but not too much to put off the cautious carassio. The smaller carassio often responded instantly to the noise of extra bait while the bigger carp seemed to require a slight pause before they would settle and feed.
William Raison had been England’s most consistent performer in practice and another individual gold medal was well within his sights after a Day One section win. He was comfortably leading his section on Day Two for three hours before being overtaken by France and Poland in the final stages. Tragically, he hooked a 2kg carp that kited to one side and interfered with a neighbour’s swim on this tightly pegged venue. This disqualified carp ultimately cost him individual gold! Will ended up with 6.34kg for a third in section with France’s Mickael Boursaud winning with 7.08kg.
Elsewhere, Steve Hemingray and Callum Dicks both had excellent days, comfortably winning their sections with 8.96kg and 8.65kg respectively. These were also the top two weights on the day, proving how effective the team’s carp-based tactics had been. It was nip and tuck all the way in Des Shipp’s section and he ended up with a solid fourth with 4.79kg.
With four great point scores, all eyes were now on Sean Ashby in C Section. He had come in to replace Alan Scotthorne, who was 10th the day before, and sadly found the going equally tough. The former World Champion never caught the early carp he desperately needed and despite trying everything he ended up a disappointing 14th in section.
England matched their Day One 23-point score to finish third on the day, a point behind Hungary and just two points behind Day Two winners France. Pre-match favourites Italy surprised everyone with a disastrous second day that cost them dearly!
Overall, it was Hungary who were crowned very worthy champions after two very consistent team performances gave them a 34-point total. The Czech Republic were next on 42 points and England just four points further adrift on 46 points.
Slovenia’s Jernej Ambrozic is this year’s World Champion and was the only angler to record two section wins. The Czech Republic’s Josef Konopasek took silver and Slovakia’s Rastislav Dudr took bronze, both with three points.
Bulgaria were fine hosts and the Plovdiv Rowing Course proved to be a very fair venue, albeit hot and tightly pegged. Once again, congratulations to all of the teams and individual medal winners! Next year the World Championship is in Belgium.
Day Two Result: (34 teams)
- 1st France 21pts
- 2nd Hungary 22pts
- 3rd England 23pts
- 4th Czech Republic 24pts
- 5th Belgium 27pts
- 6th Bulgaria 28pts
Overall Result: (34 teams)
- 1st Hungary 34pts
- 2nd Czech Republic 42pts
- 3rd England 46pts
- 4th Italy 54pts
- 5th Sweden 58pts
- 6th France 60pts
Individual Result:
- 1st Jernej Ambrozic (Slovenia) 2pts (13.369kg)
- 2nd Josef Konopasek (Czech Republic) 3pts (13.788kg)
- 3rd Rastislav Dudr (Slovakia) 3pts (10.787kg)
- 4th Mitja Kmetec (Slovenia) 4pts (15.556kg)
- 5th William Raison (England) 4pts (14.884kg)
- 6th Tamas Walter (Hungary) 4pts (11.694kg)
England Day One:
- A Section: William Raison 1pt (8.5kg)
- B Section: Alan Scotthorne 10pts (2.9kg)
- C Section: Callum Dicks 4pts (4.4kg)
- D Section: Steve Hemingray 6pts (4.2kg)
- E Section: Des Shipp 2pts (9.8kg)
England Day Two:
- A Section: Callum Dicks 1pt (8.6kg)
- B Section: Des Shipp 4pts (4.7kg)
- C Section: Sean Ashby 14pts (1.0kg)
- D Section: William Raison 3pts (6.3kg)
- E Section: Steve Hemingray 1pt (8.9kg)
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