The England Veterans hopes of retaining their World Championship gold medal won last year in Portugal was dashed when they could only manage sixth place on the river Krupa, Kapljina in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 10th – 11th August 2013.
Fishing the same stretch of river that was last used for the World Club Championships some five years ago the England Veterans team finished joint seventh with Italy on the first day, but only 6 points away from early leaders Hungary.
The England Veterans teams tactics of fishing bolo and maggot for the bigger species was undoubtedly their downfall as Italy proved when they picked up their whips on day two and demolished everybody. Section A was the area to be on day one and Steve Sanders put together a spectacular performance winning his section, and the match fishing bolo with maggot, or corn hookbait to weigh 7.620 kg. His catch was made up of carrassio and scardola, but unfortunately the other three sections failed to respond to these tactics and it was mostly small scardola that made up the weights. The middle sections proved to be extremely difficult and a bad draw in B section ruined the team’s chances.
Italy changed tactics on Sunday and all four anglers fished line to hand whips of 4/5 and 6 metres to record only 10 points, and indeed the second team France, and third team Bosnia Herzegovina both targeted small fish.
Sundays draw did no favours for England when they drew the upstream end peg in section A which was last on day one. The other draws were reasonable and Joe Roberts finished as joint winner of section B. Steve Sanders drew section C and started as though he could win an individual medal, but unfortunately his peg dried up and a joint fourth place cost him an individual bronze by just ½ a point.
The second days match was won by Wolfgang Thones from Germany, who caught 8.960 kg from peg 1 on section A, but the day’s best performance was by Natale Bagarello from Italy, who weighed 7.390 kg consisting of more than 600 fish.
The temperature for all four days of practice and the two match days never dropped below 42 degrees making fishing extremely difficult for all the teams.
Team results:
1st Italy 34 points
2nd Bosnia & Herzegovina 37 points
3rd France 38 points
6th England 47 points
Individual results:
1st Celestino Pagliari (Italy) 2points
2nd Michel Perdriaux ( France) 4 points
3rd Husein Gepo (Bosnia Herzegovina) 5 points
4th Steve Sanders (England) 5.5 points
England squad placings
4th Steve Sanders 5.5 points
12th Joe Roberts 8.5 points
35th Roger Marlow 17 points
42nd Terry Lancaster Day Two 17 points
47th Dicky Carr Day One 21points
The England Disabled team had a series of bad draws which left them finishing the World Championship in 8th out of 9th place.
Fishing the upstream stretch of the river above the bridge expectations were high as the team caught well during practice, but the draw did them no favours at all.
Many of the European teams are experts at bolo and whip fishing and just like the Veterans, the Disabled team could not compete with them. The river was also up 5 metres deep and very clear, with huge banks of lilies growing some 4 metres from the bank. The banks of the river and the many areas of snags and fallen trees made it very difficult conditions for the teams who took part.
The eventual winners the Czech Republic had all four anglers fishing from wheelchairs and recorded an outstanding result by claiming 1st, 2nd and 3rd place individual medals as well as team gold.
Team results
1st Czech Republic 21points
2nd Slovenia 26 points
3rd Italy 29 points
8th England 56 points
Individual results
1st Martin Kovar (Czech Repulic) 3 points
2nd Jiri Havel (Czech Republic) 3 points
3rd Radim Kozlovsky (Czech Republic) 3 points
England squad placings
17th Mark Russell 11 points
20th Mick Cove 11 points
27th Mark Eves 16 points
30th Alan Chadbone 18 points
Mick Cove fishing his first International finished second in his section on day two.
