World Freestyle Feeder and Street Fishing matches set for autumn
TWO brand new fishing competitions are set to be launched this year to capitalise on rapidly growing arms within the sport… and England are hoping to send teams to both!
The inaugural Freestyle Feeder Championships, which is scheduled to take place in Hungary in September, will break new ground as competitors will be allowed to use just about any combination of feeder, hooklink and loosefeed, unlike the more established traditional feeder fishing competitions.
The new feeder event will take an ‘anything goes’ approach
Also set to debut in 2021 is the Street Fishing World Championships, an urban lure fishing contest that’s sure to be popular with the nation’s army of predator fanatics.
England Manager Mark Downes is on the FIPS committee organising the Freestyle Feeder Champs and is hopeful that England will competing come the autumn.
“While we still have to wait for everything to be finalised and for the Angling Trust to grant us permission to enter, this new event is an exciting prospect” he told us.
“As the name suggests, there will be fewer restrictions on competitors, meaning that short hooklengths, Method feeders and pellets can be used, unlike in the classic feeder champs, where rules force competitors to use more traditional tactics.”
Meanwhile, the Street Fishing World Champs is scheduled to be hosted in Amsterdam later this year, and will bring a new dimension to the international match angling circuit.
“There was a trial event in 2020 in which 600 pairs entered,” Mark told us,
“so this event has the potential to be something really special. Lure fishing is incredibly popular on the Continent, and while England still need permission from the Trust to enter, it’s one to look forward to.”
The Street Fishing World Champs is scheduled to be hosted in Amsterdam later this year
World Champs cancelled!
Match fishing has been struck the ultimate blow with the cancellation of the Men’s World Championships, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.
It was scheduled to be held in Italy in September, but world match fishing governing body FIPSED has had to pull the plug, consigning the event to the same fate as the World Feeder, Ladies, Youth, Disabled, Veterans, Masters and European Champs. The likely outcome seems a full postponement of all these until 2021.
“I think there are plans to have the Veterans and Feeder events fished in October, but as for everything else, it’s been scrubbed,” said England boss Mark Downes.
“I’ve pressed for things to be carried over a year, so that we are fishing the venue in Italy that we’re supposed to be on in a few months’ time when we return in 2021.
“Everything is still a bit up in the air at the moment, but at least we have clarification and can begin to plan for next year. It’ll feel odd come September, not getting ready for a World Champs!”
Action from a previous fishing World Champs
Licence 'levy' could send our boys to the World Champs
THE COUNTRY’S top anglers face the prospect of missing out altogether on this year’s World Championships unless a solution can be found to the ongoing funding crisis.
Twelve months on from the furore that saw former sponsor Drennan cut ties with the national set-up, England’s Men’s Float Team are still without financial support and will have to dig into their own pockets and find around £2,000 each if they are to make it to the event, which is being held on Italy’s River Mincio in September.
However, one possible answer could lie in the adoption of a funding model that is common in the rest of Europe, as England regular Des Shipp revealed:
“In France and Italy, anglers pay a small premium on top of their licence to support international match fishing. It’s a simple solution yet in England we don’t do this.
“Imagine what we could do with an added 50p on the rod licence fee. All of our teams would be sorted – not just the Men’s Float Team, but the Ladies, the Disables, Veterans and Youth Teams as well – with money to spare!” he said.
And it’s not just the England team who are struggling for cash, as Welsh ace Lee Edwards explained:
“To be honest, we’re in a dire situation. Not only are we short of sponsorship, but our manager also stepped down a year ago and hasn’t been replaced yet.”
“Fishing in the UK has gone down a commercial route, and individual events are far more popular than team ones. I just can’t see anglers donating as it doesn’t suit their personal fishing, unlike in Europe where team fishing is the focus.”