An Cosantóir

sport | 35 World Float Fishing Championships By Cpl Danny Quinn (IWW, Mil Col) I n September I was with the Irish team that travelled to the Czech Republic to compete in the 59th World Float Fishing Championships. There were 38 teams in this year's competition on the Morava River. The first week was practice week and was designed so that by the end of the week each team would have fished in all of the areas to be used in the competition. There were two four-hour practice sessions on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and single four-hour sessions on Thursday and Friday. However, with a storm hitting the venue on Wednesday night, only four teams - Ireland, England, Scotland and the Channel Islands - braved the high winds and heavy rains to practice on Thursday. For the first day of the competition we decided to use 11m and 13m lines on the pole for big fish and to go for small fish at a depth of between 4m and 7m. As this was the same plan most teams were going with a lot depended on the luck of the team captain in getting the best area from the draw bag. I was drawn on an out-and-out pole section with deep water on the inside. With a Portuguese angler on my left and a South African on my right, my main goal in a high-profile match like this was to first beat the anglers on either side. I finished the first day in 13th place in the section with 96 fish, comprising 1.85kg, which turned out to be the best Irish result on the day. I received 13 points and managed to beat the South African but the Portuguese angler had beaten me by 20 grams. The next day I was sandwiched between Didier Delannoy (France) and Steve Gardiner (England), two well known international anglers. The French angler won the section, but I managed to beat Steve and this gave me another 13th position; the second best Irish result of the day as Bob Hulme had won his section. While the team had a poor result overall it was still an excellent experience, especially for me as I was the best placed Irish angler and this in my first year competing at world level. I am also delighted to have been asked to represent Ireland again next year. The Irish squad consisted of Mark Theedom (team manager), Jack Tisdall (asst manager), and anglers Tommy Dowd (Cavan), David Burleigh (Erne Anglers), Dave Herron (Erne Anglers), Vincent Walsh (Erne Anglers), Danny Quinn (Daingen CAC), and Bob Hulme (Erne Anglers). www.military.ie the defence forces magazine

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