Drennan Team England’s amazing unbeaten record in the Fish ‘O’ Mania International continues after an exemplary display of angling by Des Shipp and William Raison at the weekend.
The prestigious pairs competition saw eight nations battling for the £10,000 top prize over five intense hours on Arena Pool at Cudmore Fisheries.
Will Raison won the match comfortably from Peg 7 with a faultless display of angling to bag 17.15kg of carp, tench and silverfish. It was arguably Des Shipp who was the crowd’s man of the match, however, as he worked tirelessly to amass 13.7kg for equal 3rd place from unfancied Peg 15.
Co-manager Mark Downes commented, “Des has been exemplary today as it’s a notoriously bad area. He has slowly built his peg and by being totally negative he’s put a great weight on the scales.”
On his performance, Des explained, “I was worried about my peg before the start but all I really wanted was the odd bite as that’s when I know I can try and make things happen. They’ve been very difficult to catch – little F1s, little carp, three tench – but it’s been a brilliant day.
“I have had to mess around with different mixes during the day, feeding a little ball of groundbait one minute then a little bit of soft groundbait. All day I’ve just tried to get the fish to come in the peg and get them competing. If you can’t get the fish to compete you can’t catch.”
Will Raison also commented, “It’s been tricky as they’ve changed the stocking and the water’s been really coloured. The fishing’s been very difficult, very technical with very small bites. It’s not just me and Des, the whole team have been invaluable, coming back with valuable information to keep us catching.”
“Although we’ve fished to international rules this is quite close to the ‘commercial style’ of fishing that I grew up doing and Des is renowned as probably the best in the country at, so we are a little bit fortunate. The England team does very well at any venue we go to but this does suit us.”
This is now England’s fifth consecutive win at Fish ‘O’ Mania, broadcast live in England for Sky Sports as well as on several other European television channels.
Team Result:
- 1st England – 30.850kg
- 2nd Holland – 22.775kg
- 3rd Belgium – 19.900kg
- 4th Wales – 19.675kg
- 5th Ireland – 18.250kg
- 6th Italy – 16.975kg
- 7th France – 15.350kg
- 8th Scotland – 11.250kg
Individuals:
- 1st Will Raison (England) – 17.150kg
- 2nd Eric De Venti (Belgium) – 14.750kg
- =3rd Des Shipp (England) – 13.700kg
- =3rd Dieter Friederichs (Holland) – 13.700kg
- 5th John Harvey (Wales) – 11.500kg
- 6th Jean Desque (France) – 10.125kg