The Irish team are now back on home shores after a very intense two weeks or so in Croatia, where they competed in the FIPS-M World Boat Championships, representing the island of Ireland. The Mediterranean teams were all heavily favoured, being more used to the species, venue and type of fishing, but the Irish team had high hopes of a 6th place finish, which would put them just behind the favoured teams but ahead of the rest. They worked hard in practice, putting in long hours and honing their tactics and bait presentation. Bait provided every day consisted of 4kg mussels and 0.5kg of sardines, very different to what Irish boat anglers are used to.

The first two days of competition saw the Mediterranean teams do predictably well, with the home team Croatia leading the way. The Irish team were 6th place on Day 1, and took a very creditable 5th on Day 2, lying in joint 5th after both days. Fishing was very patchy, with some boats being won with 10 fish, while other boat winners had over 130!
Unfortunately a tough draw for some of the Irish anglers on the last day saw France leapfrog them into 6th, and leave Ireland in 7th place, still ahead of all the other teams. The overall winners were Croatia, followed by Italy, Montenegro, Portugal, Spain and France.
Well done to the Irish lads who represented Irish sea angling extremely well in tough conditions, worked hard and fished very well. We’re sure the experience will stand to them, and some of them will feature more prominently in future editions.

A big thank you to Irish team member Brian Whelan for his updates and entertaining video blogs during the trip!
