JERSEY’S Channel Islands float-fishing team returned from Portugal with an encouraging 18th-place finish at the World Championships in Coruche.
Greig Brown, Carl Waye, Shaun Rankin, Anthony Carver and international debutant Gary Boudin represented the Islands at the event, with David Wood acting as manager and Peter Duffin joining the group during the week to provide additional support.
It proved a gruelling competition, with temperatures reaching 47 degrees during one of the practice sessions.
The sandy riverbanks only added to the heat, retaining the high temperatures throughout the day.
Practice was particularly important for the Islanders, who were targeting species such as barbel, carrassio and bleak – fish not found in Jersey or Guernsey.
The team made a promising start during the practice sessions, attracting the attention of some of the leading nations.
However, the Islands were operating with a smaller support team than many of their rivals because of financial restrictions.
While top nations could have managers, coaches and several bank runners monitoring different sections of the venue, Jersey had only five anglers and one manager.
That proved costly on the second day when Brown drew an area that the team had not practised and had not even seen before the competition.
The tactics required there were markedly different to those used elsewhere on the course.
Despite that setback, the team recorded its best World Championship performance in recent years by finishing 18th overall.
Rankin was the Islanders’ leading individual performer, finishing third in his section on day one – just 140 grams from victory – before taking fourth on day two to finish 25th overall.
Brown also enjoyed an impressive opening day, finishing fifth in a section that included former world champion Will Raison.
Brown missed out on a major scalp by just 200g, with Raison taking third and only 300g separating Brown from second place.
A seventh-place finish on day two saw Brown finish 54th overall.
Carver recorded seventh and 10th-place finishes to take 79th overall, while Waye finished eighth and joint ninth for 82nd.
Boudin, making his international debut, recorded 11th place on both days to finish 94th.
The Islanders believe the final standings could have been even stronger with just a little more luck.
“One or two more fish each for the whole team and we felt we could have had a top-10 finish,” said the team. “That would have been a really top performance.”
Attention now turns back to the local scene, with the British Fly Casting Club holding one of its competitions at Quennevais this Saturday, with several Jersey anglers set to take part.
