17th FIPSed Ladies World Angling Championships

The 17th FIPsed Ladies World Angling Championships was marred by a horrific road accident when the Italian team mini bus overturned on its way to Bloemhof, injuring 4 of the team. They were all retained in hospital and although a couple of them were discharged after 2 days, the injuries to the other 2 girls were far more serious. They are now out of danger, but are not expected to be released until next week.

Claudio Matteoli, President of FIPSed and the Italian Federation was understandably very upset about the accident, and it looked likely that his country would not be represented in South Africa. After some consultation with other countries it was decided that if any of the injured girls recovered enough then physical help could be given to help them compete. By Saturday, the Italians had some walking wounded on the bank and by Sunday afternoon they had achieved remarkable success by finishing 3rd in the team event.

The South African Championships created a logistical challenge for Joe Roberts , England Ladies team Manager, and Dick Clegg, OBE, Angling Trust International Events Manager, as they had to organise the transportation of enough equipment to make the journey worthwhile. None of the airlines would make any concessions, even though they were told it was a World Championships, despite the fact that golf clubs are allowed to be transported free of charge. Ten people travelled in the Team England group and with a 300 kilo limit the six anglers were allowed a total tackle weight of 43 kilos each, leaving just enough for a change of clothes.

The squad flew to Johannesburg and from there drove 4 hours to Bloemhof in the North Western Province. It was whilst the England team were en route to the venue that they saw the scene of the accident involving the Italian team. The England team loaded some of the Italian team’s tackle onto their vans and delivered it for them to their lodgings. The dam was situated some 40 kilometres from their accommodation, 28 of which was on a dirt road inside the game park.

This dam at Bloemhof was the venue for the World Carp Angling Championships in 2008 when England finished second to South Africa, so the England Ladies team received some good information from Mitch Smith, Angling Trust England Carp team Manager. South African specialist Adrian van de Heever and his father Jan helped the team tremendously with their knowledge of the venue and supplied the team with the ground bait they used.

Large platforms were erected in the lake some 10mtrs from the bank to bring deeper water within reach since without these the venue would have been almost unfishable. At the 11.5mtr pole limit it was still only between 1.25 and 1.5mts deep. Prior to the event the England team were informed that pole tactics would produce the most carp and that these would average 1.5 kilos in weight and respond to worm or corn over a bed of groundbait.

Monday morning’s first practice was a complete disaster with not one of the England team catching a fish and indeed Tuesday morning was little better when only two anglers caught. The England Ladies team were continually being told that the fish would start to feed and that 30 kilos or more would be needed to win most sections but that was beginning to look very unlikely.

Tactically the team started to develop a plan which involved feeding ground bait at 10mtrs containing a large amount of corn and then loose feeding corn just short of the pole limit. By topping up with ground bait and corn it was hoped that carp would respond to both noise and a regular amount of particles being introduced.

A 10g waggler fished some 5m past with single or double corn on a size 12 hook produced some fish early on with the pole then becoming the best option during the latter stages. Afternoon sessions very rarely show a true reflection of the amount of fish caught during morning match times but they are good for honing fishing skills and this is what the England Ladies team worked on.

By Thursday afternoon the England Management team had developed a plan and by Friday’s last practice they had finalised their attack. They decided that 14 litres of local ground bait which included 4 tins of glugged corn and then a further 3 litres of corn for loose feed would be sufficient for the 3 hour event. Glug as they had decided to call it was a very thick sweet tasting green fluro liquid that was added to the groundbait corn but not to the loose feed. This was supplied by Adrian who assured us that it was his best kept secret but by the end of the week every team was using it. Worms, which were supposed to play a major part, had proved to be very ineffective so were not now part of the plan.  During the week’s practice the wind changed in direction and strength everyday but by the weekend it had lessened to almost nothing. The only thing that didn’t changed was the 35 degree temperature and continuous sunshine.

All the team put 100% effort into their preparation and it was difficult to decide who should be left out for the first day. They were told that since they all had to contribute towards the cost of taking part that no matter what the result was, the reserve would fish on the second day.