Are you up for the Challenge, part of the Midlands match scene sees us take on the might that is TKs Harrisons crew, on the canals around Walsall, having battered them last year on the Curley Wurley, they are taking us back to the scene of their previous lucky win on the Cannock Extension.
The match will be fished on Saturday 7th August 2010 and be followed by an after match get together over a pint and barbeque at Harrisons club. Are you up for the craic if so post up on the Harrisons Silly Challenge thread http://www.talkangling.co.uk/upload/...challenge.html

3rd FIPSed World Championships for Veterans, Watersportbaan, Gent, Belgium

England’s Veterans angling team continued to impress when winning their third consecutive team medal when they were narrowly beaten into silver spot on the podium by host team Belgium in Gent from 10th – 11th July. The rowing course had been the venue for other England angling successes and was where the junior team won gold and later in 2008 Callum Dicks won the individual title.


Manager, Joe Roberts and Dick Clegg were joined on the bank for a couple days by Mark Downes whose knowledge of the venue from his previous visits was invaluable.


At the start of practice small roach and perch provided most of the weights but as the week progressed, quality bream began to make an appearance and team tactics had to be spot on for the weekend match. Eight countries lined the banks in temperatures that reached 36 degrees making bankside fishing almost unbearable. The match tactics were to feed joker in a leam based mix at 11.5m for bream and a groundbait and leam mix targeting small fish at 6m. England started well and after the first hour the team was on course for a good position. Knowing that bream would feed later in the match England fished for roach on 6m at the start and switched later to 11.5m as the match progressed.


The team selected for the first day consisted of: Terry Lancaster, Roger Holmes, Stan Binge, Dicky Carr with Don Slaymaker as the reserve.


At the end of the first day England were in 3rd position with hosts Belgium and Holland jointly in the lead with 11 pts. Both Holland and Belgium had ignored small fish going with an out and out bream approach.
Day 1
1 Holland 11 pts
1 Belgium 11pts
3 England 14pts
4 Italy 16pts
5 France 17pts
6 Hungary 18pts
7 Germany 26pts
8 Portugal 31pts


Don Slaymaker replaced Stan Binge for day 2 which saw little change in team tactics but everyone had to be aware that a switch to bream fishing would come earlier in the match. Again tactics were almost spot on with three of the team landing quality fish, and Don Slaymaker the top weight in the match with 12.900 kilos.
Day 2
1 Italy 11pts
2 Belgium 12pts
3 England 13pts
4 France 15pts
5 Hungary 16pts
6 Holland 23pts
7 Portugal 27pts
8 Germany 27pts


Overall
1 Belgium 23 49.240
2 England 27 42.185
3 Italy 27 38.345
4 France 32 32.005
5 Holland 34 33.155
6 Hungary 34 31.415
7 Germany 53 14.765
8 Portugal 58 12.000


Individuals
1 Gustave Van Extergem Belgium 2pts
2 Roger Santermans Belgium 4pts
3 Roberto Torri Italy 4pts


England team
Roger Marlow 6th 5pts
Terry Lancaster 7th 6pts
Dicky Carr 16th 9pts

Stan Binge and Don Slaymaker fished one day only.


Dick Clegg, OBE, International Events Manager said “The competition site and the organisation was excellent, but the occasion was sadly tinged by the death of my long time friend Jackie Dupuis who has been involved in running both the French Federation and has been Secretary General of FIPSed for many years.”

Anglers Demand Action As Rivers Dry Up

Thousands of angling clubs, fishery owners and anglers are witnessing low river flows and water levels, which are threatening vital invertebrate life in rivers and fish stocks.


Angling Trust is calling on the Government, the Environment Agency and water companies to address the issue by developing long term sustainable management strategies for water resources.


Angling Trust and its legal arm Fish Legal have had reports from their members of problems on many rivers including the Eamont in the North West, the Teme in the West Midlands, the Usk in South Wales and the Teign in Devon. Most of the problems are caused by abstraction of water continuing as normal, in spite of the lowest spring and summer rainfall in a generation. The situation has even seen a hosepipe ban introduced in the North West, which is traditionally one of the wettest areas of the country.


Low flows impact severely on the ecology of rivers and make them much more vulnerable to pollution because there is less dilution of pollutants and warm water holds less oxygen. The reduced wetted area means that there is less space for invertebrates to live in, and therefore less food for fish.


The Trust is also demanding that the new Government takes on board the recommendations contained in the Blueprint for Water, which was developed by the Angling Trust’s predecessors and 15 other organisations nearly four years ago. The Blueprint set out a detailed strategy for tackling low flows and addressing water wastage:
In summary:

• Reduce total consumption of water by 20% and from 180 litres per day per person to European average levels of 125 litres per day through education and metering.
• Tackle leakage in water company supply pipes.
• Introduce mandatory water efficiency standards in existing homes.
• Make all new-build homes water neutral in areas where water is scarce; developers would have to ensure that new water usage is offset by investment in efficiencies elsewhere.
• Amend or revoke damaging abstraction licences which damage river wildlife.
• Set out a plan for installing water meters in every home by 2020 to deter excessive use, with tariffs to protect vulnerable customers.
• Restore wetlands and halt development on floodplains to allow water to soak into the ground rather than disappear out to sea.


These measures would not only protect wildlife in our rivers, but they would also ensure security of supply for our growing population and reduce the significant energy use and carbon footprint involved in providing water.
Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive of the Angling Trust and Fish Legal said: “our members are fed up with seeing wildlife in the rivers they fish suffering as a result of a failure by Government, OFWAT, the Environment Agency and the Water Companies to develop coherent plans to reduce water use and wastage in the context of climate change and population growth. Rivers are vitally important for a whole host of wildlife and millions of anglers.”


More information:
www.anglingtrust.net
0844 7700616
Media enquiries: Mark Lloyd, 07973 468198

Would it be 5 Ways or or would it be 5 Winds, that was the question everyone was posing on the run up to this match, which was on a venue new to most of the anglers taking part, suffice to say that the TA curse worked its normal charm and the winds did blow a bit making presentation almost impossible at any distance, strangely it only seemed to take hold just after the all in and apart from a short spell it did not abate at all. As usual there was plenty of pre match banter along with the regulars from the Midlands, the boys from Bristol, Creepy, Lewisb1990, and coach poach made the long journey to fish this one, would Creepys paste do any damage, Lee Leeds Lad travelled down on Saturday to stop with match organiser Spongebob and help his self to Bobs tackle, beer, food etc, had his casting improved time would tell.


The Black Country guys meet the West Country Boys


Swino gives Lee Leeds Lad some casting advice



Shorts seemed the order of the day as modelled by TA Super Models


With the match under way it seemed that the fish were not really on the feed and with reports filtering through that no one was bagging it was time for a few pictures and a chat or two, clearly no one at the half way stage was taking the venue apart, with many having difficulty with presentation at any distance, hopefully some fish would find the margins later in the match, which in the case of the eventual winner was the case, with le,mo finding a few on pole fished cockles over 2mm red pellet to end up with a creditable net of 77lb 13oz.
Jacko77 fished the pole into his open water peg to bag the runner up slot with 54lb 14oz, third place was taken by Pete Swinson who caught just down the margin shelf on paste, to take 51lb 1oz to the scales.
The mystery pairs was won by le,mo and Mr D who with his fourth placed weight of 48lb 3 oz added to le,mos winning bag comfortably beat Jacko77 and Lewisb1990 into second place.
As with all TA matches it is not really about the winning but the meeting of old friends and putting faces to a name, having the craic and enjoying the day. So if you have not fished one of our matches make it one of the things to do.
Many thanks go to Spongebob for a wel run match and to 5 Ways Fishery for their hospitality on the day.



Le,mo collects his winnings





Mr D
Smiley Miley

Dave1963

Le,mo

Droid

Cornerstone

Kurtis Mo

Pete Swinson

Lewisb1990

Solihull Paul

Darren.cox22

Lee leeds lad

Rive t

Daddy mo

Jacko77

Spongebob

Creepy

Coach poach