News

England Feeder Team embark on South African adventure!
England's feeder team are preparing to leave for South Africa, as practice for the third World Feeder Championship gets underway. This Saturday the team - which is made up of Steve Ringer, Phil Ringer, Grant Albutt, Tommy Pickering, Mick Vials, Adam Wakelin and coach Glenn Lawrence fly to Johannesburg, before making the four hour journey by road to the site of this years event, the mighty Bloemhoff Dam. 

Team stalwart Steve Ringer explained: "We are all really looking forward to getting on the bank and having a go at the event, though truth be told we aren't too sure what to expect! In terms of tackle, we have all had to really scale everything down, as obviously transporting everything that we have over there is a very expensive exercise. Our sponsors, Preston Innovations have generously sent a container over there containing boxes, carryalls and ready rod holdalls, but it still leaves us having to take rods, reels hooklengths and feeders as part of our luggage consignment on the plane.

The venue has been moved from where it was planned to be held, and the new stretch is thought to be slightly different to what we were orginially expecting. Carp are the target species, the trick will be working out how far to cast - and keeping in touch with where the fish want to be, as it is possible that they could move in closer as bait goes in and the week progresses.

He added: "Our team is obviously very confident, as we are used to catching carp in the UK. However, the technicalities of international feeder fishing, the 50cm minimum hooklength size for example, will leave us with plenty to work out. It is also important to remember that this venue is in South Africa's back yard, so the home nation will be very hard to beat at a style of fishing they are very familiar with."

Check back on the Match Fishing website over coming days for regular updates on how the team is getting on!