There were some surprises in the results this year for all the teams taking part in the European Coarse Angling Championships in Opole, Poland from 25th – 26th June 2011.
Drennan Team England consisted of; Mark Downes and Mark Addy (Joint Managers), Alan Scotthorne, Steve Gardener, Will Raison, Sean Ashby, Darren Cox and Steve Hemmingray.
Drennan Team England averaged around 250gm per angler per day on practice with some perch to be caught so the team targeted them and the bleak that averaged around 180 to the kilo. There were tiny fish to be caught around 0.07gm to 1.5gm (20 to the ounce) but the team thought with a target weight of 400gms these would not be big enough.
Day 1
The wind was horrendous and severely cutting England’s chances of a decent perch or two on the 6-7m and the 13m line, and the bleak were closer than the team expected at 4-5m but few in numbers. Spain ran out clear winners on 11pts fishing 4m for small fish, and catching a few small perch, France came in second with 16.5pts and England finished in 7th position with 27 Pts.
Day 2
A much calmer day, Drennan Team England were able to present their bait. The bleak completely disappeared, and the team all caught bonus fish (perch of 3oz to 8oz ), with six being caught between them. Spain and France maintained a tiny fish approach and consolidated their positions with France just taking the Gold medal for 2011. Individually Steve's late bream on A section for 3rd in his section added to his end peg 2 chub, which gave him 4 points just out of the medals.
Mark Downes, Drennan Team England Manager said “Tactically France did it right, we underestimated the strength of these "bits", but we had 4 pegs over the two days with zero "inside" cover that meant we would not have caught bits as inside cover was essential. I expected Italy to do well but their similar tactics to the England team saw them amass 35 pts on day one.
Controversy reigned as the Polish officials said they would stock, then they weren't , and this continued , but evidently they did stock it on the Friday evening. We knew nothing about it and Italian angler, Jacopo Falsini caught 4 tench, plus other odd second day fish which confirmed some stocking had taken place.”
Angling Trust and Drennan Team England would like to offer their appreciation and thanks to Peter Drennan of Drennan International for his continued sponsorship and support of Drennan Team England.
Final team classification Total Points:
1st - France 35,5 points
2nd - Spain 38,5 points
3rd - Belgium 41,0 points
4th - England 49,0 points
5th - Italy 50,0 points
Final Individual classification Points:
2nd Paul-Louis – France – 3,5 points
3rd Hans Slegers – Belgium – 4,0 points
4th Steve Gardner – England – 4,0 points
5th Roger Stranen – Luxembourg – 4,0 points
Source: Angling Trust Fishing News
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