Only the Italians and English were fishing that day and the contrast of styles was already evident: The Italians have a very regimented style, as they all fished at 13 metres and took their fishing rather seriously. I almost got the feeling that not winning a World Championships for several years was taking its toll on them as a squad. This approach was surely going to increase the pressure as the week progressed.

Italian Umberto Ballabeni had a very poor championships by his standards and posted scores of 13 and 11 for days one and two respectively. Italy, along with Belgium, were the only teams in the top five not to drop their worse points scorer from day one!

The English lads, on the other hand, seemed relaxed while they fished and you could clearly see that they were enjoying the moment while still maintaining a professional structure to their approach. The guys were not as regimented as the Italians and so were able to fish in a way that reflected each of their individual styles. They tried different methods and fished in a more searching and eliminating manner, for example, some fished long at 13 metres and some short. The guys were quick to sort out possible methods, from those that were clearly not going to work.

Above left: 4 X World Champ Alan Scotthorne swings in a small perch, which would be the basis of all the catches during the week. Above right: A slightly over-cooked Sean Ashby spares time for the cameraman.

Above: Stu Conroy takes no chances with one of the canals small fish, while Will and Des Shipp (below) start to get to grips with the venue.

Above: Stevie Gardner concentrates on practicing rather than his tan. Steve once more came so close to that coveted title with an incredible performance with ANOTHER bream... deja vous!

What I’m trying to say is that some teams are striving through individual creativity to achieve a real chance of success, while others are smothering individual style, hence reducing that all important creative input when making decisions and formulating team plans. The majority of anglers at this level are all highly talented and capable of achieving individual glory and it makes no sense to ignore that reservoir of knowledge at the expense of the teams’ success.

All systems go!
Monday and Tuesday’s practice went reasonably well and although temperatures were far from ideal, catch rates were fairly good, varying between 1 and 3 kilos and consisting of perch, ruff, bleak, roach and the odd skimmer. The lines being targeted at this stage were 7, 9, 11 and 13 metres with 11 and 13 metres proving the main catching areas.

Wednesday was a really good day for the Finns and they clearly out-caught the other teams. Under difficult conditions they returned weights of 3kgs, two 2.5kgs and two 2kgs with the lowest angler weighing in 1.2kgs when other top teams had maybe just one angler with over 2kgs and the rest following with less than one! This would be the pinnacle the venues returns’ and from now on the canals’ form would take a nose dive!

Left: A German support team member sees if he can help one of his lads during practice. Germany finished in 8th place behind Finland and also Luxembourg who had one of their better Championships in recent times.

Below: A large logging boat glides past one of Finland's rising stars... Lasse Laukkarinen, just before the off on day one.

As expected, Thursday and Friday were clearly much more difficult and the pressure was now focused on the Finns with opposition clearly paying them more attention and respect. This undoubtedly unnerved them and you could sense this added pressure affected their fishing, especially when it came to settling on Friday evenings team plan. Up to this point the top teams, like France, England, Belgium and Hungary, had all kept low profiles and not out-shone the rest of the teams, as some might have expected. One couldn’t help wondering whether this was a calculated approach, or was it that these teams were genuinely finding it difficult? By now three lines were working, but clearly 13 metre would be the mainstay of any assault. The fish were no longer responding to topping up by hand and it was looking like the cupping kit was going to be the essential ‘must have’ accessory!

They’re Off!
Day one saw conditions very hot with a cool wind blowing from right to left, this would help ease the angler’s suffering a little, but on the other hand was somewhat likely to hamper presentation.

The 5 minute pre-baiting whistle sounded and the general approach from all on the bank was 10 balls of leam, with little joker, and then 4 to 5 balls of a 50/50 mix of lake and leam groundbait on top of that at 13 metres. The 9 and 7 metre lines were also fed with a slightly lesser mix. As expected, the fishing was slow and it was apparent the fish, especially the roach, had all but disappeared, possibly into deeper water. This would be borne out by nearly everyone catching most of their fish at 13 metres. Predictably, this was going to be a very tight contest.

By the half-way mark, a realistic achievement for England’s seemed like a top six or seventh placing. It was definitely looking like they would need some help from ‘Lady Luck’ to put them in a stronger position for day two when, as I passed Steve Gardner, he lifted his pole and he looked like he’d snagged bottom, but then the elastic started to move! It was obviously a decent fish and you could instantly feel the excitement and tense pressure because this fish would greatly improve the teams chances the following day. The pressure was mounting and 15 minutes after hooking the fish it still wasn’t in the net. Would Steve land this badly needed bream or would it break free, something others had experienced during the week? The fish came just under the surface within netting range several times only to find more energy and bury itself deeper and then dangerously close to the edge of Steve’s peg on more than one occasion. But Steve remained the calmest of all those present and looked very professional under pressure when he finally brought the fish to bay after an agonising 20-minute battle. That fish rocketed Steve up the section from around a 22nd place to runner-up and as a direct consequence created a solid platform for the team going into the final day.
MA.com caught up with Steve on his return and asked him about that crucial fish, which was nearly a kilo and it's significance was not lost on him. He said “it was touch and go for those 20 minutes because the fish was in 20 foot of water and didn’t want to come to the surface and with just a number 3 elastic and an 0.6mm bottom I couldn’t do much else other than take my time”. Lady Luck was definitely smiling down on Steve and the team that day… perhaps it was in some way repayment for last year!!!

The Finns’ ‘Secret Weapon’ was the 11-metre whip to hand, but they suffered a set back because of the breeze, which hampered presentation. One could argue that had conditions been more favourable, they might have least had a top three finish on day one, but it wasn’t to be.

All to play for
On the final day, I unfortunately missed the off, as the match started at 10.30am and not 11.00am as I had expected so I cannot give you an accurate account of the competitors initial feeding startegies. Needless to say, Sunday turned out to be the most difficult day of all, due partly to the week’s continuing atmospheric pressure and +30° temperatures, combined with clear skies and no wind! What I can say is that after the pre-baiting the leading teams (France, England and Belgium), fed very little if anything, unless absolutely necessary and even then only a ball or two of joker with a little binder to help kick-start the swim again.

Some notable anglers fell by the wayside as well, none more so than France’s Diego da Silva. Drawn on what looked to be the proverbial ‘crap’ peg, even Diego’s magic didn’t work and he effectively dropped France out of a medal winning position. It was a shame to see such a great angler suffer the indignity of appalling result, it’s a lesson to us all that in fishing, nothing’s that easy when dealing with fish! Diego did have one crumb of comfort and that was he improved on the Austrian, Konrad Sonnleitner’s, score from day one who finished in 27th place with over a 150 grams less than Diego!

Above: Diego looks totally relaxed before the start of the final day, completely unawares of the disaster about to befall him.

It goes without saying that England where awesome on day two to peg back 7 points and increase their margin over the Belgians by another 12 points. France, who many had tipped to retain the title they won so closely in Belgium, slipped to a disappointing (by their standards) overall 4th place. Finland however came good on the day with a fantastic performance to push England into the day two, second slot, by two points. Their top performer was the 23-year-old Lasse Laukkarinen, who finished with an individual total of 9 points and a very creditable 12th overall. I personally recommend that you watch out for this very talented young man in the years to come…he could well end up as a future World Champion.

Above: Lasse Laukkarinen nets a nice skimmer (right) from E29 on the final day and sees the reward of 2.210kg (below) at the weigh-in to give him a well deserved second in section and an overall 9 points making him Finland's highest scorer... and he's only 23 years old!

Although I now live and work in Finland, I would like to congratulate Team England for a stunning performance that made me, and no doubt every other Englishman, proud. The likes of Mark Addy, Stuart Conroy and Steve Gardner are superb ambassadors for both their sport and their country…

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