To highlight the importance of the competition, and to show support for Korda Carp Team England, the trials were visited by Angling Trust Competitions Chairman David Kent, England Manager Dick Clegg and National Campaigns Co-ordinator Martin Salter.
The event was staged to allow the Korda Carp Team England Management duo, Ian Huntington and Pete Holehouse, to begin to make their selections for September’s FIPSed Carp World Championships and featured 11 of the best carp-match pairs on the scene. The field boasted four previous British Young Carp Angling Champions, highlighting the bright future for the team.
The match kicked off at 12pm on Friday 23 March and ran for 48 hours and the Drayton fish quickly responded to the zig tactics that all of the pairs initially adopted. When the final whistle sounded southwest duo, Mark Bartlett and Kev Hewitt, had smashed the British 48-hour pairs Carp enduro match record posting a 2310lb total and in total there had been 846 carp caught between all 11 pairs for a weight of 9418lb.
As well as the overall winners the field was split into sections with the winners as follows:
Section 1 – Andy and Tom Maker 555lb
Section 2 – Kia Sanger and Jack Stamp 1,099lb
Section 3 – Kev Hewitt and Mark Bartlett 2,310lb.
Joint team manager Ian Huntington commented:
“The anglers were judged not only on the section results but also the level of preparation each pair had put into the trial, which was clearly evident to me and Pete and reflected in some of the key section battles in the individual sections.
Full details and stats are still to be analysed and our decision on who moves forward to the next trial will be made in a week or so. The venue for the next trial, which will be held in May, is Wyreside fisheries in Lancashire. This is a venue that should be completely new to the guys as they will not have fished it previously. The trial will be more of a technical challenge, with the focus on catching bigger carp alongside a few practical tests that we have designed to further test the guys.”
Dick Clegg OBE, International Events Director for the Angling Trust said:
“Although England’s Carp team are ranked second to South Africa in the FIPSed World Carp Championships they have never won the event and to beat the South Africans will take something very special. Maybe I saw this special something in the latest trials at Drayton…
When I saw the very professional approach by the management team and the obvious talent of the trialists it filled me with a great deal of confidence. 2012 could be the year when England are crowned champions when they compete in Lake Corbu, Romania on the 29/30 September.
My thanks to British Waterways for allowing us to use their water FOC and of course many thanks to Korda for their team sponsorship.”
Martin Salter added:
“It was impossible not to be impressed by the skill and stamina on display at these trials. It was also great to see how many youngsters were prepared to put in the time and effort to fish for their country at the very highest level.”
