Team England, comprised of Will Raison and Des Shipp, continued English dominance of the Coral Fish’O’Mania International event as they lead from wire-to-wire to pick up the title for the fifth consecutive year and claim the £10,000 first prize.
It became apparent around the halfway stage that it would be a race to see who could claim second prize as Shipp and Raison proved why they are unstoppable on commercial waters.
Raison netted the biggest individual weight of the match – 17.150 kg – while shipped weighed in with 13.700 kg, the joint third highest weight of the match.
In the end they won by over eight kilos from second placed Holland – a repeat of the first and second from last year. The Dutch pair of Dieter Friederichs and Jurgen Spierings once again picked up the consolation prize of £5,000.
A delighted England team manager Mark Addy said, ”You can’t beat these two at this kind of fishing. They won it in 2013 and last year, and they are just fantastic – they are fishing machines.
“They were a bit nervous as they were expected to be No.1 so I was keeping them in touch with what was happening and any little tweaks between them, I would carry the messages across.
“With half n hour to go I thought nobody could beat us and I told them they were fishing for the individual,”
Will Raison said “It is fantastic, we have won every event here. It is a brilliant event with a nice, big crowd and it is an original event. We do get to fish some big events with big crowds but this is a certain style of fishing that myself and Des have done a lot of and we are good at it is nice to come and fish here.
“The team is the most important thing but to win the individual is nice. The team is the main thing and we have seen that over the years, the team is the priority and anything individual is a bonus. I had two skimmers, three tench and the rest stockies.
“You only have to look at the quality of the other anglers and how keen they are; it is only a matter of time until they get into this style of fishing.”
It was left to Des Shipp to sum up a magnificent day for England, “We drew an area neither of us wanted to be in but the game plan was to get bites, as it has been every time we have come here.
“The big carp have been taken out so it was about getting bites and putting fish in the net and vary the baits during the day to suit. I was catching small carp, some F1s, three tench and I had a skimmer. So the silver fish haven’t really fed.
“We do feel the pressure, massively. Everywhere we go in the world we are under immense pressure because everybody thinks England is no. 1. Wherever we are, we are expected to win.
“I have only concentrated on myself and Mark has been walking around telling us after each weigh-in that we were ahead. It is nice in a way that the big fish haven’t showed because we were six or seven kilos ahead going into the last hour so you think then you just have to keep plodding.”
Full Results
1. England – 30.850kg
2. Holland – 22.775kg
3. Belgium – 19.900kg
4. Wales – 19.675kg
5. Ireland – 18.250kg
6. Italy – 16.975kg
7. France – 15.350kg
8. Scotland – 11.250kg
Individual weights
1. Will Raison (ENG) – 17.150kg
2. Eric De Venti (BEL) – 14.750kg
T3. Des Shipp (ENG) – 13.700kg
T3. Dieter Friederichs (HOL) – 13.700kg
5. John Harvey (WAL) – 11.500kg
6. Jean Desque (FRA) – 10.125kg
T7. Nick Howell (IRE) – 9.125kg
T7. Vincent Walsh (IRE) – 9.125kg
9. Jurgen Spierings (HOL) – 9.075kg
10. Milo Colombo (ITA) – 8.950kg
11. Lee Edwards (WAL) – 8.175kg
12. Claudio Guicciardi (ITA) – 8.025kg
13. Jamie Masson (SCO) – 7.400kg
14. Gilles Caudin (FRA) – 5.225kg
15. Hans Slegers (BEL) – 5.150kg
16. Brian Clark (SCO) – 3.850kg
Biggest Fish:
Tom Edwards (Junior event) – 1.375kg
