Quite close to the date we, Browning Team Austria, were confirmed as being able to compete in this years Feeder Club World Championship in Loreo Italy at the Canale Bianco. With the short notice, the preparations were all the more intensive. Bait had to be ordered, quarters organized and of course the food and additional material had to be ordered. Thanks again to Zebco Europe, who were able to deliver immediately with their great support.

The team consisted of 6 anglers:

  • Litschl Mario
  • Steyrer Andreas
  • Eberl Rafael
  • Füsselberger Harald
  • Arthur Csepei
  • Jürgen Fröschl

Stefan and Kilian Füsselberger joined us as coaches and Ploberger Stefan, Putz Philipp and Günther Adolf as additional bank runners.

 

 

The information that we had about the venue fuelled our anticipation even more. The main fish were skimmers and bream up to 1.5kg. Bonus fish, such as carp and mullet, were to be expected, and spiny catfish were also plentiful.

The Canale Bianco is a tidal canal that runs near the River Po. The water depth varied from 3m to 5m and the average width is about 70m. Steep banks and rock packs don’t exactly make accessibility easy, but overall it’s a fair venue that I had not seen before.

 

Sunday morning we made our way to “sunny” Italy, the road trip turned out to be a six-hour non-stop drive for us. Arriving at our quarters, we set ourselves up as practically as possible. The fridges we had brought with us were set up, the bait cared for, cartons of food stowed away and the grill fired up.

The role of each individual team member was quickly assigned, one tended the bait, the other made the food and the rest took care of the physical well-being. It worked very well for the week. You can only do that as a TEAM. Thanks again to my friends for that.

 

The fishing would be with blockend swimfeeders of 20gr. up to 40 gr. for close range fishing up to 30m. For fishing further out speed feeders and window feeders of 50 gr. up to 70 grams were needed!

The rods used were the same for us all. Jens Koschnick Silverlite and World Champion rods for short range, Sphere and Xenos feeder rods for long range. Sphere and Black Viper reels with thin braided lines, plus standard pass-through rigs with thin Fluoro Carbon leaders completed the rig. Everything from the Browning range.

For me personally, the training days looked very different. I was able to catch weights from 2kg to 8kg. Coordinating with the team, we tested different distances, feeding rhythms and of course we also fished different baits, both in the feed and on the hook. From maggot and pinkie, to worms and bloodworm fishing, we tried a wide range of tactics. The results clearly showed that some tactics were much better than others. So after three days of training we has developed a concrete plan that we wanted to finalise on the Thursday. But it always turns out differently than you think. The strong wind that has been blowing in from the sea for the past few days had brought a lot of salt water into the canal, which the fish didn’t like at all. The training day was therefore useless.

Precise plumbing was the key to success. You had to find the ledge at about 11m to 17m and fish a clean area. More lines at about 25m to 40m were found where the ground was a little harder – you could tell this because  a 30gr. lead skipped across the bottom and didn’t stick in the soft mud when pulled. But everyone has their own tricks to find the best structure for them. A quick tip – take the time to plumb, it pays off.

Saturday, the first day of competition. Our coaches drove to the draw, each individual angler had his or her role, so it was very relaxed to start the first day. I didn’t fish on Saturday, so I took care of Mario with Stefan in sector A, who had drawn the bottom peg – A1. My job as a bank runner was to monitor what was happening in Mario’s sector and, if necessary, to send him this information. In short, the angler can concentrate on his angling, but still have all the necessary information about where he is in the sector and what is happening around him. It can only work that way, as the teams that are at the forefront show us again and again, there are often more supervisors than anglers on the water.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go so well for two of our five anglers, and so we ended Saturday in 29th place out of 43 teams. Not what we had hoped for. But our goal of ending up among the top 15 teams was still possible.

On Sunday I was to fish on peg B27,  in the upper sub-sector B. My tactic was clear, feed three lines at the beginning and gradually work my way out. Unfortunately, I didn’t do well. I lost too many fish, then the line died and my rhythm was gone. After three hours of hard fishing, and after consulting my bank runner, I put everything on one card. With my 3.90m Sphere rod I cast a 70g window feeder to the opposite side of the canal. Strong tackle for big fish was he plan. When, after ten minutes the first carp picked up my bait and my 0.22mm leader cut off on the mussels, my mood hit rock-bottom. Carry on, I heard a voice from behind. The next cast and the next bite. Then I hooked a carp. my pulse was at 180 bpm, but after landing the fish the stress began to fall away. I managed to catch a good bream and a good size catfish before the last ten minutes of the event. I lengthened the cast by a meter, baited with two large pieces of worm and hoped for a last fish.  I tempted a bite shortly afterwards and was able to land the fish three minutes before the end. That was cool.

In the end it was enough for 8th place in the 22nd person sector, but it was even better that everyone in the team had achieved a good place. It turned out that we ended up in 5th place in Sunday’s ranking, which ultimately brought us 13th place in the overall ranking. So we were happy to have reached our goal.

In the evening we all drove together to the award ceremony. The ambiance was amazing and we spent the last evening in Italy with a great vibe, a crowning finish I think. The social component with the international anglers alone made the  trip worthwhile.

 

Jürgen Fröschl

Team Browning Austria