The impressive River Seine in the centre of Paris was the spectacular setting for the biggest ever World Freshwater Angling Championships.  36 teams were spread over 5 completely separate sections.  Though the venue had potential and the spectators were there in numbers the fishing was very poor due to clear water conditions.  

Big fish or bleak were the only options available.  Big roach, bream and eels were very rare though and even the bleak were hard to catch in most areas.  There were many blanks each day and without the bleak the match would have been a disaster.

England were the team who unlocked a key method to catch eels in certain sections and this helped them to a tremendous victory over the home team France.  Umberto Ballabeni of Italy took the individual title catching the biggest fish of the match (a 6lb bream) on day 2 to edge out Piotr Lorenc of Poland.

Scotland struggled to end up in 24th place.  Although they managed to minimise the blanks they took very few bonus fish and paid the penalty.  

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Article by Davie Corcoran

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