Thursday 6th July the registration and opening ceremony for the 2023 EFSA European Species was held at Weymouth Angling Society Clubhouse. During proceedings there was time to have a complimentary drink, and a chat with other anglers from the other Sections attending. There was a total of 53 anglers from 10 Sections fishing, besides England, Belgium, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, South Africa and Wales were represented.
Friday 7th July and the 53 anglers boarded their boats for the first day of the two day Championship. Six boats took part and the bait for the day was squid and mackerel, though it would be squid that would be the main bait for the target species of bream.
The weather was set fair for the day, so hopes were high as the boats made for their favourite fishing spot for bream. Initially, several of the boats went different ways but all ended up at the same ground known as “Lights and 1”. Also, while most boats anchored, some found good numbers of bream on the drift.
At the end of day one all boats had good numbers of bream, though individual catches varied greatly! Of the six boat winners four were from France, with the other two English. Matt Osborne was in first place on countback. Best bream of the day was one of 45cm.
Saturday 8th July, day two, and the wind stayed light but there was a lot of rain forecast for the day, wet weather gear was the order of the day. All boats headed for the “Lights and 1” ground which proved the better option on day one. Again, some boats favoured anchoring while most started the day on the drift. The catches were similar to the first day, with most boats catching more bream. I am not sure if the reason for better catches was the skippers finding more fish or some of the chat after day one on what worked, made the anglers improve!
After the fishing, there was time for most to rest a while before the presentation which was held at The Belvedere public house function room There was a good buffet which the anglers helped themselves to before the presentation. Our England Chairman, Neil Bryant announced the results with The EFSA Chairman, Marcus Wuest, presenting the medals and prizes.
The top three longest bream were caught by D P Berger 45cm, Paul Hart 43cm and Wayne Gerber with a 42cm fish.
In the National Teams event and with their three boat wins on day one and another on day two contributing to their well-earned 1st place it was the France A team of Jean Pierre Coutauchaud, David Corday, Francis Couzinet, Simon Elgrishi and Cyrille Bardin. England A were 2nd and the 4-man team of Norway in 3rd.
The Individual event was close with three anglers with the perfect score of 200%. On countback it was Didier Marest of France who was who cam eout on top tp take the gold pin, Mark Smith of England was 2ndto take the silver pin, with another French man David Corday in 3rdreceiving the bronze pin. Marcus Wuest presented the pins to the anglers.
Top boat was Flamer skippered by Luke Pettis with the greatest number of fish per angler. Luke’s usual boat is Snapper.
Full results are below.
Marcus Wuest on behalf of EFSA Germany made a short presentation on the 2024 European Species Championship to be run on 4 man boats out of Spodsbjerg, Langeland on the 6th to 11th October, fishing for flat fish. He said the final brochure and entry form should be available later this year
Allen Ford of South Africa said a few words on the EFSA Game 2024 to be run out of Simon’s Town, South Africa on 6th to 10th May.
Neil Bryant then made the closing address, firstly thanking the anglers for attending and making the event a success, The Belvedere for hosting us and the staff for doing a great job of looking after us and putting on a good buffet. The Crown Hotel, where most of the anglers stayed, looked after us well, including an early breakfast. Special thanks to the EFSA England committee who work behind the scenes in making sure the event is well run. Neil then officially closed the Championship.
The 2022 European Boat Championship was held at Helsingor, Denmark from 6th to 12th August. Fishing was over four days from Monday 8th. There were 63 anglers from 9 countries competing. The fishing grounds were in the Oresund overlooked by the impressive Kronberg Castle.
Sunday was a practice day followed by registration and the welcome reception. A chance to catch up with old friends and make some anew.
Day One
Three boats with each side being treated as a separate boat, in effect six boats, set off in breezy conditions. Supplied bait was king ragworm which was excellent. The boats mostly fished the same areas, initially for Herring and Mackerel followed by a move for mini species, mainly Goldsinney Wrasse with the occasional Corkwing and Goby. The boats then had several moves hunting for Codling, Whiting, Plaice and Dabs. Midway through the day the heavens opened and heavy cold rain, almost hail, soaked everyone.
Day Two
Had similar fishing to Day One. Other species caught were Coalfish, Ling, Gurnards and Garfish. Most of the top ten places were occupied by Scandinavian anglers, as was to be expected.
Day Three
Again, the fishing was like the previous days and Danish anglers continued in the top spots.
Day Four
More of the same but with less fish around. Vernon Allen from England had a significant boat win boat preventing Denmark’s Cees Vadar from getting his fourth boat win, which would have assured him of the gold pin.
Martin Hubert of Denmark was the gold pin winner with 396.12%. Cees Vadar of Denmark was second with 395.81% and in third place was Michael Lorenzen also of Denmark with 392.11%.
The awards ceremony took place at championship headquarters, The Marienlyst Hotel.
Denmark ‘A’ won the National Team event with Denmark ‘B’ second and England third to take the bronze medals.
Best Lady was Torunn Handeland from Norway.
Top Senior (65+) was Charles Carreras from Gibraltar.
The Gala Dinner at championship HQ was well attended later in the evening. EFSA President Marcus Wuest took the opportunity to relieve some those in attendance of some Euros towards the new EFSA ‘400 club’ fundraising initiative.
He followed with a farewell wish that everyone would have a safe journey home & that he looked forward to seeing many of them in Ireland in 2023.
For this year’s EFSA European Shore Fishing Championship we welcome you to Sardinia. It has been the second time in 4 years that our shore angling community will be traveling to Italy for this prestigious event. I have fond memories from the last time we fished in this beautiful country. One of the reasons why I joined EFSA is that anglers have the opportunity to visit places and fish venues you would normally not venture to on your own. It is always a challenge targeting different species with unusual baits.
For this I am very grateful for our hosts from EFSA Italy to come forward on short notice to host this competition.
It will also be a most welcome break from the autumn weather for most of us northern European anglers.
After 4 years of planning and postponing we finally met up in in The Dokas Restaurant and Bar in Mindelo on Sao Vincente.
54 of the 58 expected participants together with a couple of the skippers and crews, listened to the opening words from the Tournament Director Toine van Ierland, EFSA Netherlands secretary Miranda Koop , a representative from the Mindelo council and the president of the Mindelo Sportfishing Club.
The EFSA European Game Championships was a 3 in 1 combination with The PENN Challenge which is a charity tournament and the Dutch National Championships. Last but not least this event is also a qualifier for the Offshore World Championships in Quepos Costa Rica 2023
2 Charity goals Comunidade Sao Pedro and Operacao Carinho were presented with a €1000,00 donation and a promise of a larger donation dependent on the proceeds from the Charity auction to be held at the end of the tournament.
Hein Hoogduin, the weigh master, explained the rules and called all 18 teams up front to draw their boats. All teams received a bag with competition shirts , rules , daily registration forms, a pen and 25 tokens, per person, for drinks for the rest of the week.
Micau Tavares arranged a lovely buffet with local dishes for all to enjoy accompanied with drinks for everybody. The national tv covered the evening.
Day 1 started off with a sturdy breeze,5 bft, which made the water quite choppy. During the day the wind died down. Some boats stayed in the marlin alley and others crossed the channel and went to the islands. Calls were coming in over the radio throughout the day making it very exciting.
Day winners were Peter Ouwendijk and Frans van Oss from the Dutch team The Untouchables with 5 marlin.
The Finnish team -Tight Faces Eerho Terho , Aarno Holopainen, Matti Sepäiä , Janne Laurila – fishing for the Netherlands came in 2nd with 4 marlin. This team are true novices when it comes to marlin finshing. Catching 4 on their first trip ever.
3rd place was for Ireland A , Warren Doyle , Christy Cloak , George Mc Cullough and Shay Mc Donnel, catching 3 marlin. This too is a team which consists of first timers.
In total 33 marlin were caught on 18 boats. That’s an amazing number, even to the local skippers. Cape Verdi sure lived up to the stories everybody heard.
Day 2 The air was buzzing with good vibes. The wind was up to a 6 bft. Everybody was rearing to go. Just like Monday all boats sailed up to the front of the harbor and waited in line for the 7:30 call. No running allowed to keep the slower boats in the competition. It was an impressionable sight to see 18 Game Boats waiting in line and moving off at the same time.
As soon as the call came in over the radio the boats spread out to their chosen fishing grounds. Once again the radio was alive with chatter. Marlin were being raised all over the place. There were 33 marlin caught by the end of the match. Many more were raised. One team managed to pitch 6 and loose them all, finally blanking after all their effort and hard work
Clube Pesca Nautica a Desportiva,Fernando Nunes , Filipe Bispo , José Amado and Victor Teixeira, Team CPND Albufiera for short hauled in 6 marlin. What an accomplishment. Broadbill team 1, Gert-Jan Oldenboom, Patrick van Lanaken and Arjan Biesheuvel came in second place with 4 self-pitched marlin. 3rd was Gibraltar B Charlie Lara, Lester Chipel , Peter Cosquieri , Dom Currer,with 3 marlin. 33 marlin in total despite 4 boats blanking. Could this tournament go any better??
Day 3 the weather turned for the worse. 7bft made fishing very difficult. The blue water had been pushed out even further towards Sao Antao. Boats and anglers were struggling to find fish and draw them up to the surface. Toine van Ierland called it Rock’n & Roll’n, and that it was. High waves 3 to 4 meters coming from all directions as the skippers maneuvered their boats in a zigzag pattern. A far cry from yesterday. Not much chatter on the radio which didn’t do the moral any good. Once back in the harbor all eyes were towards the skyline to see how many flags were flying. Only 13 caught and released. Ireland A managed to hook a 11.6 kg Wahoo. Unfortunately it was to light for the Non-Pelagic prize. Minimum weight had to be 30kg
Yesterday’s blankers came in as day 3 winners. The Reel Dutch Fishing Team: Toine van Ierland , Hein Hoogduin and Klaas Hoogduin managed to pitch 2 marlin giving them 2200 points. This also meant that Randy Baker on the Dacia was best skipper for a second time. Team Sequoia: Paulus van de Berk and Roland Baks had 3 marlin, unfortunately 2 on 130lbs rods giving them only 1800 points. Team Marlil: Martin Kets de Vries , Bob Hentenaar, Frank and Miranda Koop, caught 2 marlin but didn’t pitch the baits themselves leaving them with 1600 points. The wild weather made it very difficult and to nobody’s surprise 9 boats blanked today.
The 4th and final day. The weather gods were in our favor. Sun bursting through the clouds , wind down to 5 bft again. It was anyone’s game. The skippers were eager to win with 4 boats in line for first place. John Smith and Roel van Orsel, Team The Dutch Anglers on the Sea Quest probably had the best day of their lives. The first time Marlin anglers had a triple hookup. The team ended the day as winning team with 5 marlin. Samir Rahal and Mahmoud Mroueh from team Dakar came in second on the Nha Cretcheu. Ireland A managed yet another second 3rd place with 2 marlin.
Ireland A and The Dutch Anglers were the only 2 teams to have fish every day. Ireland even had the luxury of dropping 1100 points seeing only the 3 best results counted. It didn’t help them much in the end as they ended in 7th position.
EFSA European Big Game Champion – PENN Challenge Champion :
Gold Team Dakar fishing for the Netherlands 7100
Silver Clube Pesca Nautica e Desportiva Portugal 6700
Bronze The Dutch Anglers The Netherlands 6400
The Untouchable and Tight Faces also both had 6400 points. It came dow
n to when the first fish catch time was noted on the score sheets , just 4 minutes difference!
Team Dakar/ the Netherlands also represent EFSA The Netherlands in The Offshore World Championships in Costa Rica 2023. We wish then the best of luck and Tight lines.
Dutch National Champion: Team Dakar
Silver: The Dutch Anglers
The Untouchables received the Dutch National Marlin bronze pins
Best skipper is Zak Conde on the Amelia writing up 14 marlin
Second best skipper Randy Baker on the Dacia 10 marlin
And thanks to the last day win Steve George on the Sea Quest won the prize for third best skipper with 10 marlin, putting him 400 point in front of the La Onda Mila.
All winners received the EFSA medals, Game pins and prizes from PENN- Overseas travel rods and PENN Slammer reels.
A big thank you to PENN Europe , Andy Moyes Big Game Tacticals, Ray Marine, Terruo-Bi, Legitiem, Makaira Adventure , Plain Vanilla, Maasland Vleeswaren for their sponsoring of the skipper day prizes and team prizes and contributing to the Charity auction.
A big thank you also goes out to all the people who bought something in our Charity Auction. The children of Sao Pedro and Mindelo thank you from the bottom of their hearts. We raised an astonishing € 10.150,00 on top of the € 2000,00 already given to the Charity goals. The representative of Operacão Carinho was brought to tears when she heard how much money had been donated.
Micua Tavares from Restaurant DOKAS did a great buffet again with local dishes. Everybody seemed to really be enjoying themselves during the prize presentation and auction.
Judging by all the positive feedback, this was a terrific event definitely worth repeating. Participants and skippers were asking for the new date. South Africa is next in line in 2024 after then we will see.
The Pre-registration into the EFSA Species Championship 2022 (Cod and Coalfish) May 26th to 28th from Olafsvik, Iceland is completed. There are 70 to 75 entries from 11 Sections: Belgium, England, Germany, Gibraltar, Iceland, Ireland, Portugal, Russia, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales.
The final number of anglers will be known after 31st March when the Sections have all sent in their angler’s names and paid the entry fee.
We are proud to announce that in 2022 the EFSA Big game tournament for teams will be held at the Blue marlin capital of the world; the isle of Sao Vicente, Cape Verde. EFSA headquarters in Mindelo will be at The Sportfishing Club, Mindelo The Entry is currently full. If any spaces become available a further announcement will be made.”
Due to travel restrictions in Europe because of the Covid-19 crises The Organizing Committee and the Board of EFSA Iceland decided to cancel the European Species Championship to be held in Olafsvik Iceland May 20th-22nd 2021.
Many EFSA Sections announced that their members will not be able to travel in May due to the crises and therefore very few anglers outside of Iceland can attend the Championship. EFSA Iceland will send to EFSA HQ an application to held the European Species Championship next year (2022) in May in Olafsvik targeting Cod and Coalfish.
EFSA 2021 European Species Championships in Iceland – Interview with the organiser
In this video one member of the organising committee from EFSA Iceland, Thorir Sveinsson, answers a few questions about the event in a Zoom conference call
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