The Angling Trust England Veterans team had fished a fantastic match losing to the host nation by only 2 points in the torrid heat of the Italian capital city. To beat the Italians on their own territory was always going to be difficult, but the tremendous second day performance by England saw the team fall agonisingly short with only 2 points in separating the two teams at the final whistle.

Unfortunately the England Disabled team although having a good week in practice struggled on the two match days and could only manage 9th out of the 10 teams fishing the event.

FIPSed Veterans World Angling Championship

With temperatures reaching mid to high 30's England had to try and acclimatise in just four days before the actual match started, and at the same time the squad had to sort out a plan of attack for a river they had never seen before. The Tiber river was carrying a lot of pace and colour at the beginning of the week, and although the pace slowed a little it did lose a lot of colour.  Apparently there are a number of dams upstream and the level changed considerably during fishing necessitating a constant plumbing of the depth.  The depth varied along the match length from 1.5metres to 4 metres, but the biggest problem the team encounted was the horribly snaggy bottom which resulted in all the anglers losing up to 40 hook lengths in just four hours of fishing.  Up to 50 grams of flat floats had to be used in some sections when the current was at its strongest, and yet in other areas 6 grams running floats accounted for a lot of fish.

However, the England team devised a plan that worked exceptionally well and it was only an extremely bad peg in section C on the first day that cost them the gold medal. Gravel and sticky magg used in conjunction with joker in a ground bait, gravel and leam mix fed at 11.5 metres was the plan.  Finding a clear spot was the difficult part especially in sections A, B and C, whilst D section was the best area to use a running float. In the bottom three sections the team knew that lots of hook lengths were going to be lost searching the swim to find the best area, and then it was necessary to fish as still a bait as possible to avoid all the snags, hence a 30 to 50 gram flat float.
In sections A, B and C maggots proved to be the best hook bait with bloodworm accounting for a lot of fish in section D.

A first day points total of 22 put England in joint second place some 8 points behind Italy with a number of countries also only a few points adrift so it was imperative that a second day plan was needed to make sure of a podium place.

England’s first day team results.
Manager Dick Clegg
Assistant Danny Sixsmith
Section A.  Terry Lancaster  3 points  3.773kilos
Section B.  Steve Sanders    7  points  2.941  kilos
Section C.  Joe Roberts        11 points  0.725 kilos
Section D.  Roger Marlow    1   point   12.722  kilos
Reserve  Dicky Carr

Top 6 Team Results Day 1;
1. Italy 14 points
2. England  22 points
3. Hungary 22 points
4. Germany 23 points
5. Swiss 23 points
6. Portugal 24 points

Roger Marlow, Veterans Team England put up a sterling performance in section D recording the best weight of the competition as he weighed 12.722 kilos giving him an excellent chance of an individual podium place providing he had a good second day peg.

This ever increasingly popular Veterans competition attracted 14 teams this year double that of a few years ago when England hosted the World Championships in Milton Keynes.  Team England’s second day’s performance was exceptional as the same 4 men almost overturned the first day’s 8 point deficit.  Normally the lowest point’s scorer from the first day would be replaced by the reserve, but Dicky Carr decided that he would prefer it if Joe Roberts took his place and this decision was justified when Joe won section B to register just 1 point.

England’s second day team results.
Section A. Roger Marlow 5 Points 2.388 kilos
Section B. Joe Roberts 1 point 2.491 kilos
Section C. Terry Lancaster 3 points 2.767 kilos
Section D. Steve Sanders 6 points 5.549 kilos

Top 6 Team Results Day 2;
1.  England 15 points
2. France 21 points
3. Italy 21 points
4. Finland 23 points

Final team placings;
1. Italy 35 points
2. England 37 points
3. Hungary 48 points
4. Switzerland 51 points

Unfortunately Roger Marlow’s second day draw left him agonisingly 1 point short of an individual medal.

Top 3 Individuals results;
1. Jacky Belliard Switzerland 3 points
2. Pedro Peralta Portugal 4 points
3. Maurice Meganck Belgium 5 points

England placing’s;

4. Roger Marlow England
7. Terry Lancaster England
20. Joe Roberts England
21. Steve Sanders England

Dick Clegg, OBE, International Events Manager, Angling Trust stated “The venue was a great test of an anglers skill and temperament as some of the snag pit areas would make most people give up in disgust. There were however, methods to catch fish and the team sorted it out in just a few days. Barbel to 2 kilos along with bream of a similar size as well as carrassio, mullet and roach made up the weights and with just a little more luck on day one we could have won gold. It was however, always going to be a struggle to beat Italy on their own patch and I am proud to have been part of a great squad performance.  Danny Sixsmith was an asset and Dicky Carr's decision to step down on the second day was decisive in the result.  I would like to thank Sensas for their continued sponsorship of groundbait and for making sure that it was available on site in Rome.”

FIPSed Disabled World Angling Championship

The Disabled World Angling Championship was held just downstream of the Veterans match length and 10 teams took part in this the 16th running of the event.

Here the river had a little less pace than the area fished by the Veterans and indeed in downstream section A the flow was more upstream near the bank as the river followed a bend.  In practice the team caught well fishing similar tactics to that used by the Veterans, but Mark Eves did land a catfish of 7 kilos caught on a Bolognese rod fished 30 metres out into the current.  Flat floats carrying 30 grams and 4/5 grams round floats for running through were the order of the day again with 2 or 3 maggots, bloodworm or red worm tipped with maggot to tempt carrassio and skimmers. The bulk shotting was best fished about 6 inches off  bottom with a long hook length carrying 2 or 3 BB's.

Day one resulted in England finishing in 9th position with 29 points.

England Disabled squad consisted of; Mark Eves, Alan Chadbone, Mick Cove and Bill Galt, (manager)  John Weeden, (helpers)  Mick Gibbs, Geoff  Lewis, Mark Wells and Tony Troth

Dick Clegg, OBE, International Events Manager, Angling Trust said;  'It was very difficult for the disabled team members to come to terms with using flat floats of such a huge size since none of them had any previous knowledge of their use. The helpers here play a large part in this competition, in landing fish, balling and throwing ground bait etc. so I would like to thank them for their help and a special thanks to Mick Gibbs and Geoff Lewis for driving the van with all the equipment from the UK.”

Final result;

Team
1.  Hungary 31 points
2. Czech Rep. 36 points
3. Croatia  37 points
England finished 9th

Top 3 Individual results;
1. Gyula Gurisatti 4 points  Hungary
2. Alain Schaeffer 5 points  France
3. Bohumil Sedlacek 6 points  Czech Republic

Team England results;
30. Bill Galt 14 points
32. Alan Chadbone 14 points
33. Mick Cove 15 points
35. Mark Eves 16 points

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News