Managers report courtesy of Martyn Reid.
The World Men’s Shore Fishing Championship this year was staged on the beaches of Torremolinos in Spain, and it was the home nation who took home the gold, and posted the top four individuals in a virtually foot perfect victory, as they finished 12 points clear of the field.
However, the home nations can hold their heads up high with Wales and England adapting really well to unfamiliar species and tactics and bringing home silver and gold respectively.
Fourteen nations competed with the The Angling Trust England team cmoprising Ian Golds, Saul Page, Malcom Stote, Richard Yates and Darren Newland. Chris Clark was reserve/manager and myself, Martyn Reid manager.
The Hotel that staged the Championships was The Sol Principe, situated right on the beach. The competitions were held left and right of the Championship Marquee on alternating nights.
We fished four nights for practice and caught fish at all distances, but extreme range fishing with 0.12mm/0.14mm mainline and tapered leaders proved to be the most consistent. Moving the baits worked well but not every cast. Pop up beads were effective but a bait with no pop-up caught as well. Red pop-ups and white pop-ups were successful for spotty bass, boga, scad and besugo.
Fluoro pop-ups and fluoro leads also helped catches but again, not every cast. Hook lengths of 0.20mm-0.25mm and three feet in length were most popular, but shorter lengths still caught. It was important to keep changing and being active as the fish moved around a lot and came and went quickly.
We decided to fish the practice match hard as we still didn’t feel that we had got to grips with the fishing. Only Darren had shone in the days leading up to the champs by fishing at maximum distance and with minimal movement.
A marquee had been erected to conduct the weigh in and distribution of bait and also housed three tackle stands, an excellent idea that worked well, and the weigh in was relatively quick and efficient.
The daily bait per competitor consisted of six containers of arenicola worm, which amounted to about 40 worms depending on size. The good news was the the bait quality was good, the zoning out was clear and defined and the stewards did their best to keep the crowds outside the boxes
A big ‘thankyou’ to Chris Clark for helping run the bank and pass on information – his experience at this level is a great benefit to all. Also many thanks to Bill Morris of Trabucco UK for providing the team with the line they required, and also to George Cunningham of Tronix for donating tackle and various items to give out to the competing countries. Both companies offer a wealth of great fishing tackle for sale and we hope you will support their businesses as thanks for supporting us.
World Beach Fishing Championships 2013
Top 4 Team Results:
1st Spain – 4 points
2nd Wales – 16 points
3rd England – 21 points (beat Italy on countback)
4th Italy – 21 points
Top 4 Individual Results:
1st Carlos Cuesta Barrangquero – Spain
2nd Santiago Santamari Tabernet – Spain
3rd Miguel A Robles Andreu – Spain
4th Fernando Guirro Rubio – Spain
England team positions:
7th Darren Newland
17th Saul Page
26th Ian Golds
34th Richard Yates
44th Malcolm Stote
