The inaugural F.I.P.S.ed organised Veterans World Championships is taking place next weekend (12th and 13th July 2008) on the River Tamega in northern Portugal, where the NFA England Veterans team will aspire to bring home our first gold medals of the summer.
The England Ladies team has fished the venue near Chaves twice before back in 2004 and 2006, which will provide a good insight to how the water may fish this summer. The area where the team will be fishing is a dammed section of the River Tamega, which has a steady flow and has been especially prepared as a match fishing venue.
The team will be mainly looking for barbel next weekend in the 3lbs or 4lbs region, and will generally be fishing maggots either on the bottom or shallow. However, with the team set for departure on Monday 7th, no decision will be taken on their definitive style of fishing until the team arrives in Portugal and has a chance to get some practice in.
The team which will compete in Portugal consists of Denis White, who has been a member of the Nations (senior) team 11 times and won four team golds as well as an individual gold won in Portugal. Ken Giles has also been selected, who has fished for England on three separate occasions in France, Bulgaria and Belgium.
Current joint Drennan Team Manager, Mark Addy has also been selected and will add his wealth of international experience, both in a managerial capacity and having fished twice himself in Finland and Hungary to the team. The final member of the team is Dicky Carr, who has fished twice at international level in Luxembourg and Holland.
The team manager Joe Roberts and NFA International Events Director Dick Clegg selected the team from the array of talent that we have in this country. The team was selected based on the team selectors’ knowledge of anglers across the country that have fished at international level before and are still actively fishing in the top class events that take place in the UK.
NFA International Events Director Dick Clegg commented, “I am glad to say that all the main teams will be there at the championships so there will be some tough competition for us. However, the team selected is well qualified and has enough experience to get a medal.”
