On Friday 6th November a team four intrepid West Waliens, members of the Welsh Section of the European Federation of Sea Anglers, set off for Harwich and then, by ferry, on to Denmark, eventually to Langeland, to represent Wales and compete in the EFSA European Shore Championships taking place the following week.
These championships are in fact an individual and a five man international team event, so, just like their English counterparts, who also only had four anglers going, they were at a disadvantage as in the international section it is the best four scores out of five which count, the lowest score being dropped. However, having only gone thirty or so miles, one member had to turn back, as the angler with whom he was meeting up, so they would travel together, had got the day and date wrong and thought they were leaving the following day, so had gone to work as usual some one hundred miles or more away! Anyway, many frantic phone calls later and at great expense, the two laggards managed to get booked on the ferry two days later and would follow the now advance party, who would have the luxury of settling, fishing the practice day etc. Not an auspicious start.
The weather for the duration of the competition was very soft and Irish, slightly cold, with a bit of wind, so the Welsh team were very grateful to Ammo for sponsoring them with some warm clothing, in the form of fleeces and headgear for the competition.
The Welsh team (headline picture, left to right) of Matthew Lustig, John O’Connor, Philip Lustig, and Steve Lewis are pictured in some of their gear. An awful lot of fish were caught, over the three evenings fishing sessions, forty plus per angler over five hours in some cases. However, the majority were undersize and thus returned to fight another day. The best recorded haul in one five hour stretch, over the three matches was twenty two sizeable fish and that was for Dave Lovelock, one of the English team members on the last night, fishing a known hotspot and on virgin ground, a good effort make no mistake.
Most sizeable fish caught were Flounders, most undersize fish caught were Cod, which should auger well for the next couple of years if the commercial cowboys, yes they exist over there too, don’t mop them all up. A fair number of dabs were also caught along with a few Rockling, which didn’t count, not being one of the target fish on the list, together with the odd Sewin. Yes, they count in Denmark in shore competitions! In fact, a lot of visiting anglers to the region specifically target them.
Come the end, the lack of a fifth team member may have been crucial, especially to the Welsh, as they had managed to get into the Bronze medal position after two days but dropped to a creditable sixth at the end. England managed fourth with the Dutch A team taking Gold from the two German teams in Silver and Bronze. The individual event was won by Dutch Angler Jan Gorissen, who, thus, won the coveted Gold Pin and became the EFSA European Shore Champion for 2009. He will have to defend his title next year in Wales when the Welsh hold the Championships in Pwllheli in November 2010.
Another Dutchman Frank Van Der Zande took the Silver Pin with the aforementioned Dave Lovelock taking the bronze Pin. Wales did Ok individually, though, having two anglers placed in the top ten, John O’Connor in seventh and Philip Lustig in ninth. John took third in the pairs with local angler Thomas Reinhardt and Phil was also third in the life member’s section. Brian Booker, from England, won the senior’s event from another Englishman, Reg Clough. The rest of the top ten individual places were mainly filled by German anglers, this area of Denmark, in fact, being their home shore grounds, as in Germany, due to the influence of the green party on their government, they are not allowed to run angling competitions.
Finally, the Welsh section would like to thank the German EFSA section and, in particular, Marcus Wuest and Thomas Reinhardt, for organising these championships and Ammo for the clothing that helped keep their anglers warm and the cold and rain out. The Welsh section also looks forward to renewing friendly hostilities with their European adversaries, when they host the Championships in Pwllheli in the week of 3rd to 7th November 2010. Further, information about and a brochure, electronic or hard copy, for, the 2010 EFSA European Shore Championships can be obtained from either Phil (philefsa@aol.com) or John (aardvet@tiscali.co.uk)
