Last week Mid Ulster was host to the 25th European Coarse Angling Championships played out on the Lower River Bann; the first FIPSed event in Northern Ireland since the World Championships were held on the River Erne in 1992, and the Newry Canal in 1982.
Seventeen high profile angling teams including former World and European champions commenced training on the venue on Monday 24th June with the competition played out on Saturday & Sunday 29th & 30th June.
Significant investment from Waterways Ireland and Mid Ulster District Council and the generosity of local landowners led to the enhancement of the existing coarse fishing facility providing Ireland with its first world class angling facility on a river. The competition delivered a welcome boost to the local community in the Bann Corridor, which with further planned developments will leave a legacy for angling in this area of outstanding natural beauty.
A warm welcome from the communities of Portglenone and Bellaghy met the teams, which included a number of former World Champions, as they were joined by pupils from St. John Bosco and St. Mary’s primary schools and the Bellaghy Vintage Tractor and Classic Car Club in the ‘Parade of the Nations’ ahead of the official opening of the championships.
Met with unusually high temperatures the fishing proved difficult during training with catches of mostly roach and some perch. It was soon clear that this would be an exciting competition based around technical skills which saw the top five teams all fishing different tactics. The weather broke with an electric storm on the morning of the championships which was played out in humid conditions with heavy rainfall, changing wind directions and sunny intervals. The first day closed with France leading, followed by Poland and home team Ireland in third position. Day two saw more settled weather and a last-minute change in tactics by the Dutch National Angling Team to win the match. But it was Team Lithuania who rose from 4th position to take the championships with a sector win by Tomas Buzas in difficult sector D, complimented by a 3rd, two 4th and a 12th in sector for first position and 49 points. It was the first trip to Ireland for Team Lithuania, yet they got to grips with the river early in the week and after finishing in 4th position after day one, were motivated toward a podium finish.
Team Manager Alvydas Žibas says:- “The performance of our anglers and supporting team (totalling 11) has been incredible; we were surrounded by great local people and organisers, our positive fishing tactics worked really well and we could not have expected more” Aurimas Verbliugevičius adds:- “Although when at home we mostly fish bloodworm and joker on the bottom, we fished positively with the maggot and fed an active groundbait 2 to 3 foot from the bottom”
It wasn’t to be for home Team Ireland whose plan to target big roach from the start using Tubertini sting floats up to 6g proved successful with a third position finish on day one, but a difficult draw on day two saw them miss the Bronze medal finishing 8 points behind the Netherlands. Team Manager, Vincent Walsh says:- “Whilst we would have liked to make the podium it was still a fantastic performance to finish 4th. I am extremely proud of the teams’ achievement finishing 3rd the first day and 6th the second which will see Ireland move up significantly in the European rankings”
Individually Netherlands’ Ramon Ansing took the Gold Medal with 3 points followed by Stephane Linder of France. Lithuania’s Tomas Buzas picked up the Bronze with fellow team member Mindaugas Alekna awarded the certificate for 4th position and Hungary’s Laszlo Csillag 5th.
The week long competition closed with the awards ceremony at Wolfe Tones Baile Eachaidh GAC followed by a gala dinner at the Wild Duck Inn at Portglenone.
The event was brought to the region by the National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland, NCFFI whose volunteers organised the event with support and funding from Mid Ulster Council, The Honorable The Irish Society, Waterways Ireland, DAERA Inland Fisheries and Mid and East Antrim Borough Council. The NCFFI wishes to express their thanks to all parties involved including the expert support from the Community Rescue Service Central team, volunteer stewards from the angling and local communities, the Lower Bann CAA and East Belfast Angling East Belfast Coarse Angling Clubs contributed to the success of the championships.
For more images see the event gallery at https://www.ncffi.ie/portfolio-item/euro25/
