 When you're hot... you're HOT!
Drennan Team England etched yet another chapter into their incredible career of victories. Not since the 60's and 70's ,when French angling ruled the world and the 90's, when the Italians became the overwhelmingly force, has any other team dominated the world stage so effectively as England, who's stunning accomplishments in Paris and Spinadesco, against incredible opposition, surely places them in the same bracket as those great teams.
This year, Spain also had difficult opposition, but unlike last year's frustrations and disappointments, England made no mistake and in the football terminology of joint team manager Mark Downes, “we controlled the ball throughout the match”. But what set England on the road to gold? We have covered some of the reasons in our video interviews with both the management and Steve Gardener and it's difficult to add much more. I suppose what's more relevant is what those teams behind did, or didn't do, that set England apart. As Mark Downes also added, “technically it was one of the most difficult venues we've fished in a long time, but when we get this type of venue, which needs to be tactically correct, I don't believe we can be beaten”.
 Here you have it... photographic evidence that England's joint manager Mark Downes REALLY can walk on water!England apart, the match was there to be won by a handful of other favoured teams... Spain, Italy, Belgium, France, Portugal or maybe an outsider like last year? One thing was for sure, the tactics and target species were apparent to just about everyone, but the manner in which they were approached and applied, undoubtadly separated the winners from losers.
 JVS looks on, as of one of his team members unhooks another good fish in C section.There is one team though that we failed to mention in our Part One feature of 'Those Who Did', and that was Holland, for which we apologise. It has been quite noticeable that for many years Dutch angling has generally come off 'Second Best' with it's next door neighbour Belgium. But it seems that the tables may be turning since the national side came under the guidance and control of Jan Van Schendel. His vast international experience has had an untold effect on the team's tactics and moral, and this has seen them gain a more competitive place within the world's top ten, rather than their previous and more familiar place out of it!
 Catfish, bigger and heavier than bleak, they were a good fish to keep putting in the net while you waited for those bonus carp and carassio's. The different species were no doubt the root cause of many failings of some team plans, yet the saviour of others. Although there were bleak and catfish present in numbers, it was carp and carassio who were the weight-building species and going for all-out for them was something many teams preferred to do, as they believed their catfish and bleak fishing skills were not up to standard! Although this decision was effectively based around a 'part-gamble' and 'part-knowledge' attitude, it was highly effective when it worked. Take Scotland for example, they almost caused a major upset on day one as they pushed England all the way with their big fish approach. Their single-mindedness saw them record just 2 points less than their neighbours from across the border. Only a poor result in E section denied them of an historic result.
 The remains of abandoned buildings are clearly visible above the river's waterline.But there can be few excuses made for anyone when one looks at the draw. Perhaps Belgium may have been the worse sufferers, but with carp and carassio turning up almost anywhere, everyone had chances of picking them up. It was Gus Brindle of Scotland who put it in a more basic and simplistic term... “fish swim”!!! It could be argued that the nature of the venue may have been instrumental for some poor results. Paco, from Spain, explained to me during day one that because the river's width had been extended by flooding the surrounding land (exposed rooftops from sunken house were clearly visible in parts), this had left some areas with rocky mounds, rough patches or sections of the natural river, in front of certain pegs which apparently drew in the carp and carassio. Whether or not this factor played a part in any teams poor showing overall seems most unlikely.
There was another factor which I'd noticed may of had some bearing on a competitors final weight. That of playing a fish of around 1kg and upwards. What was distinctly obvious to me was the excessive time taken by some, and the speed of others, to land these fish. I shall be covering this aspect shortly, where I shall put more interesting observations for you to think about.
Feed and its content, although varying according to which species was targeted, also contributed to success or failure, as some of the teams featured in our 'Those Who Did' article showed. England's mix was relatively straightforward, relying on 2kgs of Carp Fine Mouture, 2kgs Giallia (much favoured in Italy for carp and carassio) and 3kgs of Terre de Riviere. The bulk of this, some 15-20 balls, was deposited on the slider line, 30-35 metres out. These contained chopped worm, dead maggot, corn and joker. The distance would depend on the depth, for the team found if it exceeded 12 foot (just over 3m), then it was not good for the carp. The 13 metre pole line was fed at about 12 metres (they would fish past the feed at 13m though!) with 3 to 8 balls, deposited on the pre-baiting signal, containing chopped worm, dead maggot, corn and some joker and then 2 balls of stickymag. Top-up's would contain no joker. The bleak line would be fed using 2kgs of Sensas Surface coloured with Red Tracix.
England's plan was best described by joint manager Mark Addy, “We set our gameplan to fish three disciplines (fishing skills) and in the end it proved very effective”. This consisted of first 15 minutes spent at 13m looking for a big fish, before switching over to the 8/9m bleak line. If no bleak were present in any numbers, then the slider would be employed for either carp, carassio or catfish. The last hour was set aside for bonus fish at 13m, as the team knew they would probably turn up. Rigs were geared to big fish and not losing them! Mainline would be 1 to 1.75gr floats to 0.22mm with 0.18mm hooklengths to size 16 or 14 Drennan Animal hooks. Elastics were very important as they needed to be strong, yet soft enough absorb a fishes' initial run, without the risk of the hook pulling hook out, especially the carassio's. These consisted of either Daiwa White Hydro or Drennan Yellow Hollow. Bleak rigs were 4x14 to 0.10mm mainline and 0.12mm hooklengths to a size 20 hook with threaded maggot.
 Des also demonstrated that he could catch carassio as well as catfish!Nowhere was this gameplan so aptly demonstrated than during the final days competition in B section, where Des Shipp was up against Italy's Stefano Defendi. The Italian's had Des down in about 8th position, but unfortunately had not taken into account that Des' weight was built around catfish and these were double the weight of bleak... and he had around 4-5 kilos of them, eventually finishing fourth! Another example was that of Sean Ashby in C section for with just a few minutes left on the clock, Sean was still without a carp. The final 5-minutes sounded and his float disappeared.... the rest was history as they say. While the principle of optimising three disciplines may have caught some out, it proved instrumental in England's success. This team would not be affected by the 'Spectre' of Almere again!
 It may look misleading to the naked eye, but Des Shipp's mixed catch of 'cats' and carassio on Sunday was less than a kilo away from Stefano Defendi's catch of much bigger fish, and kept him within 2 points of his Italian opponent!
There are surely many factors which assisted some teams, as well as though's that didn't... from species, disciplines, feeding strategies, landing, elastics and of course that little bit of luck. You need most of these combining at some point to reap any reward... to produce these rewards consistently over a period of time, like the French and Italians of old did, required something else, or could it be that England are simply becoming 'TOO HOT TO HANDLE' ?
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