I think it’s safe to say that most expected Sunday to produce more net fish, rather than the hoards of bleak that prevailed on Saturday. That seemed pretty much the consensus of opinion on the bank. The river looked in much better shape and up for the challenge, but would conditions actually have improved sufficiently to allow those in the rear to move up the table. Nations, like England, Holland, Hungary and Italy, were well behind and, in certain respects, some well out of it. It was effectively in the lap of the gods, as to whether they could pull any respectable points back.

In reality what seemed to happen was that the bleak distributed across a wider area, as the river eased back. Or it could have simply meant that more anglers where sitting it out for some better fish and points and ignoring them! In the end, weights where eventually down from the previous day, possibly due to either or both of these points. Only the day one leaders looked to have concentrated fully on bleak. Poland, France and Serbia had set their sights on a continued ‘bleakfest’ and it was clear in many sections that they were starting to consolidate their previous day’s result.
A winning strategy by Poland, France and to some extent Serbia, saw their anglers concentrate on bleak and take overall first, third and fourth team positions on the podium. The Czech home side looked to be keeping their options open and made a late dash to secure a priceless silver medal.Belgium was looking less certain and it seemed like they had left it to each individual to keep assessing their respective pegs, as runners information came through. They were falling away in sections B, C and E. Only in A and D sections were they mounting any sort of a challenge. In particular a new face in the team, a young rising star named Percy Coeck! One to watch for the future I’m sure.
England's Stevie Gardener must be wondering what he needs to do to crown a glittering career in world angling with a gold individual. After some late bream on day one, which secured him two valuable section points, he drew just one peg away from that on day two. Unfortunately, the few bream that were there the previous day, had now vanished and Steve had to resort to bleaking to keep points coming, but that proved useless as he slipped down the section order. Perhaps the 'Fishing Gods' will look down on him kindly soon, many on the bank hope so!England must also have had a similar plan in mind. Sean Ashby however, was holding his own with reports constantly filtering through that he was maintaining a top position in the section. Will Raison, Des Shipp and Alan Scotthorne, who had replaced the unfortunate Stu Conroy from day one, where not doing too bad in their respective sections. Unfortunately, Steve Gardener was struggling in C section, just one peg away from his day one peg. In fact the whole section was fishing poor, in comparison to day one, I really don’t know why! Steve eventually finished down in 14th place, unfamiliar territory for one of the world’s greatest anglers’. Looking back, the whole venue fished poor, which was a major surprise, as the river looked okay first thing in the morning. Even a few bolo’s and sliders had managed to make the odd fleeting appearance!
Looking down sector C early on day two. Because the river conditions improved, a few opted for the bolo and slider.
When you see the final placings, it showed England had moved up three spots into 6th position. Their only consolation, besides eventually winner Sean Ashby, was that they had regained their number one status from Italy, who could only manage to finish in 10th place.

Dark horse moving through the pack!
The Czech’s had had a reasonable first day, tying on 28 points with two others. They had been no doubt spurred on by their ladies team performance in Holland and, being on home ground, would now push the leaders all the way to the podium. They were, after all, only 5 points away! In every section their anglers were doing well, in particular section D, where I was stationed. There was a close battle developing between Ladislav Konopásek and the Russian, Sergey Fedorov. Both Ladislav and Sergey where regularly picking up fish on the slider, but their section was looking tight.
One who made the slider work was Ladislav Konopásek, who drew a large crowd of partisan supporters. Ladislav was neck and neck throughout the whole four hours of competition with Russian Sergey Federov who was 6 pegs away and fished identical tactics. At the end, Sergey beat his Czech adversary by just over 400g to secure a section win and a place on the podium in silver position. Ladislav's side produced a brilliant performance to overtake many fancied teams on the last day and secure the silver team medal. It matches the spectacular performance of their Ladies, just a couple of weeks earlier.It was difficult to know, apart from the four day one leaders, how others were getting on, such was the difficulty and uncertainty of the venue, in what did look to be improving conditions.

As a contest, it was an occasion for Italy and Holland to forget. I mentioned in Part 1 about Italy’s situation, but Holland was a complete surprise. Remember, they finished on the podium here in 2008. Jan Van Schendel’s men can only of suffered from the conditions and their chosen tactics, like many others, proved inadequate under the circumstances. They’ll be back!

During these Championships, there have been some notable performances by individuals and teams. Slovakia’s Pete Baránek and Germany’s Rene Bredereck, on day one, for their carp captures. Sean Ashby for going toe-to-toe with some of Europes finest bleakers, and beating them. Tiny Slovenia for a superb 10th place, a shame they couldn’t maintain that pace on the final day. Austria and Germany showed that given the right approach, luck  and conditions, they too can compete for top honours.

Day two was also notable for several reasons. Sean Ashby’s continued form with bleak, ensuring his rise to individual stardom. Germany’s Gunter Hörler for another great carp capture. Poland, for keeping a tight grip on their day one lead. France for being France, perhaps the most consistent and dangerous team when conditions favour them. The Czech’s for producing an outstanding performance like their Ladies. Germany, for beating yet again, some of the world’s top sides. Finally, tiny Bosnia Herzegovina for a superb 7th place on day two, which rocketed them up to 8th overall.

I can’t remember the last time I saw little Bosnia gain such a high position at world level. It goes to show just how much improvement many of the eastern nations have made in the last decade. Mark Downes has said on more than one occasion, just how competent and well-equipped these nations have become. They have watched intensely and followed the approaches of teams such as England and Italy on many occasions. In deed, to see videos, cameras and binoculars behind England and Italy during practise sessions was always a topic I commented on in past features.

It remains to be seen whether any country, west of the River Elbe, bar France, can challenge the every present danger of the emerging eastern teams. Poznan, in 2013, will prove another hurdle to overcome for many, as Poland will be out to retain their title on home soil. We trust that weather conditions will play less of a part in that result, than this year’s!

My sympathies go to Serbia, I really had them down for a medal and Holland, they are much better than their result here. Drennan Team England showed, yet again that, under pressure, they can rise to the occasion and put in a solid performance. Although the teams’ disappointment of not finishing on the podium was offset by Sean’s victory, there was some further consolation in as much that the Italian team had faired even worse. It therefore seems that Drennan Team England have regained their No.1 status in world angling.

And last but not least… to all those teams who arrived for these Championships with high hopes of a level playing field, only to be disappointed and disillusioned by the conditions! Let’s hope that future events will not be so affected. Having said that, this is fishing and anything’s possible…ask Italy!

There will be some more Galleries coming shortly, of day two and the other previous days, check out the contents page. We have several more videos to be produced, but there is still much work to do to get them ready for you. Watch out for them over the next couple of weeks.