Anglers from a total of 9 Sections fished the 2 days Species Championship at Spodsbjerg on the Danish Island of Langeland. Target species were plaice, dab and flounder with a slim chance of other flat fish. This was also the Line Class event for 2017 for those that chose to enter and use the supplied braid.
On the Monday most anglers went out for a practice and were impressed with the large number of the target species caught. Other species caught were small cod and whiting.
Monday evening was registration and opening ceremony at the Hotel Skudehavn, Rudkobing. The organisers provide further information on the fishing program and took questions to clarify the rules It was also a gave plenty of opportunity to catch up with the many friends from the other Sections.
Day 1
Tuesday 31st October and the 57 anglers made their way to this very friendly fishing venue with a large free car park close to the boats. The anglers boarded one of the 5 boats taking part to ready themselves for the days fishing.
With a strong wind blowing it was decided all boats would turn left out of the harbour heading North and fish along that bit of coast were there was some shelter. All anglers started at the same time and it soon became clear it was the locals that fished this water a lot for flatfish certainly had the rigs and technique to catch the them. Each fish scored 1 point and fish over 40cm scoring 10 points. At the end of the day it was the Swedish and Danish anglers ahead with scores of 90 points or greater. On return to port it was time to socialise with a sausage and beer provided by the organisers, a nice end to the day.
Day 2
Wednesday, the second day of the Championship, and the plan was similar to day one, fishing the same ground. Some boats found the fishing was a little slower than day 1 but others saw more fish coming aboard. There were still a lot of flatfish to be caught with the top anglers managing to score in the 70’s. Many of England improved their catch from day 1 with scores around the 50 points but it was still the Swedish and Danish out in front with the top 6 places split between them. The total number of flatfish caught were 4331, most were released with a few being kept for the table.
Day 3
Thursday was a reserve day in case one of the previous days had to be cancelled. However, as this was not needed some of the English anglers took the opportunity to go sightseeing others to chill out or try some shore fishing. The shore fishing only produced one fish a rockling for Kim Bowden.
This well-run Championship finished off on the Thursday evening with a superb gala dinner and the presentation.
In the Teams of Four the team of Neil Cottington, Cliff Newbold, Matt Osborne and Mike Smith took bronze position with a total score of 402 points.
The overall winner was Magnus Landtblom from Sweden, second was Linus Nillson and third Nichlas Elberg Iverson.
EFSA England Positions
15 Billy Cann
17 Neil Cottington
20 Matt Osborne
27 Cliff Newbold
28 Barrie Senior
29 Andy Smith
31 Mike Smith
35 Paul Hart
36 Neil Bryant
45 David Smith
46 Kim Bowden
