The Champions League of carp fishing

ONE of the biggest prize funds in competition carping has been stumped up for a Champions League-style event to find Europe’s best anglers.

The European Carp Angling Championship, which was announced last week, will take place at Abbey Lakes in France in November and will feature a €20,000 first prize. Second prize will be €3,500 and third is €1,500.

The pairs competition will run for 135 hours across three lakes – Heron, Fox and Wild Boar – with each team fishing one lake for 45 hours before swapping to the next one during a three-hour break period. Each pair will be limited to 15kg of bait per lake.

Organiser Simon Bennie, who also runs the well-established British Carp Angling Championship, told Angling Times: “We wanted to make it accessible for most people in Europe. We already run five events in the UK, and with the increase in other organisations hosting matches too I think the market in this country is at saturation point.

“We’ve seen a huge interest from mainland Europe and we don’t want this competition to be full of British anglers, we want it to be a truly European event.

“I think most anglers in the UK are well aware of European anglers’ capabilities so I’m sure it will be very keenly contested. Because of the format, the winners will have to use a range of tactics and adapt to three very different lakes.”

The event is open to 45 pairs from across Europe, and more than half a dozen have already signed up.

Entry is €1345 per pair. For more details call Simon on  01278 448212 or email simon@anglingmedia.com.