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FROM THE BRITISH PIKE SQUAD Having never written any articles before and never feeling compelled to I felt that some information regarding the British Pike Squad needed to be made more widely available. I am sure that a lot of the anglers out there are not even aware that there is such a squad. Here is a short history on how the sqaud was formed. About eleven years ago a couple of angling brothers Chris Tingley and brother Dave got together with the Irish Pike Federation and suggested that they hold an international between the two countries. At the time the way of choosing the team was that the top ten anglers from the ACA championships went forward to represent the country. Nowadays there a qualifiers of which the top ten go through to represent their country with two reserves. This year's event was held in Ireland's own back door. Stewards and the team consisted of 24 anglers all of whom had paid for their own flights, accommodation bait etc. We had two days of practice and then to the match on the Saturday and the Sunday. Fishing on the two practice days was very patchy, day one on the lakes was slow with only Owen Finnemore (the team captain) and myself ( steward) breaching the 7 fish barrier. The second day of practice saw the team and stewards on the Suck (miles below the match length). All had a good day except the youngest member of the team 16 year old Adam. Tina (one of the lads' girlfriends) had a 20 pound plus fish and I also weighed a 16.8 fish for Glenn Nieve. He was fishing right next to me (another one missed) DOH!. The first day of the match proper saw the Team on another section of the Suck, if no one has fished the Suck in Ireland then all I can say is that you are missing out on one of the most changeable rivers I have had fortune to fish, shallows, deeps glides you name it the river has it. Plus loads of pike. After the weigh in and calculations on what had been an extremely hot Saturday, I had my neoprenes rolled down, my t-Shirt off and had been zapped on a couple of occasions by the electric fencing and I also ended up sunburnt. The team was over 102 pounds ahead, Ireland historically always wins in the river as the next day was a peg down on the lakes. What a start. Glenn Neive from recollection wa the top British angler on the day with over 30 pounds of fish. Ray Dennet the oldest member of the team had had the first fish and the biggest of the day at 10.8 pounds, and the youngster Adam had 13 pike for over 20 pounds of fish. Just something to think about whilst in Ireland. Fish do not like electric shocks. One of the British stewards, Roy Rushbrooke, who was following Glenn Nieve was holding a small pike that Glenn had landed. Tony, another steward, had his hand on Roy's shoulder, Roy leant forward touched a wire fence that just happened to be live, blew Tony six feet back and stunned the fish which stopped it moving, at which Roy was panicking in case it was dead as Glenn could then not weigh the pike in. Day two was on the lakes of which all the anglers were split equally over the four lakes. Bob Belcher who I had the fortune of being behind managed 4 quick pike in the first hour and then had to endure another 4 hours waiting fruitlessly, Glenn Nieve on the other side of our lake had pike jumping and striking but all out of range he managed one fish. Due to this being a pegged down Glenn could not walk to get near the fish. The Irish lads either side had a few misfortunes of lost fish (hee, hee) and also had one mad pike attacking a red float, I did tell Bob to put a float on the hooks but he ignored me. The British team ended the weekend 100 pounds up on the Irish and returned to these shores with the Cup firmly planted in Chris Tingley's hands. The weekend of the ACA championships was sandwiched in between the latest qualifier which saw over 1.300 pounds of pike landed between 45 anglers across the Friday and the Sunday, to be in the top ten you had to have landed over 40 pounds of pike. The team captain for this year is Frank Scott, thanks to a 48 pound bag on the Friday (I came third thankless to a 49 pound bag on the Sunday). The biggest thanks must go to all the organisation which is now carried out by many of the committee and the sponsors. We are always on the lookout for more sponsors as most of the anglers pay the full whack and lose time off work. Anyone interested in sponsoring next year's team can get hold of me on my e-mail wayne@gorringe9876.fsnet.co.uk. I wrote this because I am fed up with the politics that are increasingly spoiling the sport. Lets get out there and catch fish as this is what the enjoyment is supposed to be about. Wayne Gorringe 23rd October 2002 BACK TO NEWS INDEX

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