Trials for national carp team see anglers decided for final round.

The finalists for this year’s Korda Carp Team England Trials have been announced following round two of the selection process held at Lancashire’s Wyreside Lakes

Eight pairs contested the second round, with England management pair Ian Huntington and Pete Holehouse watching proceedings carefully to get the measure of the anglers both individually and as a team.

Despite tough conditions on Wyre Lake where the round was fished, and the fact that none of the anglers taking part had ever fished the venue before, the England managers were impressed by what they saw.

“We wanted the trial to be as fair as possible, hence setting it at a venue that none of the anglers had fished,” said Ian Huntington. “I can honestly say that the results were less important in the prevailing conditions, Pete and I really wanted to spend some time with the lads and get to know them a lot better.

“There were solid performances throughout the field and we learned a lot more from this trial about the individual pairs than we did at the first round held at Drayton. Some of the noted performances consisted of more than just catching the most fish; to scratch a few fish from an unfancied swim in the prevailing conditions was also an impressive effort.”

Compared to the first trial at Drayton, which saw huge numbers of carp caught, Wyreside’s syndicate water presented to anglers a very different situation, allowing the England management to see how the trialists approached more technical big fish challenge.

The big surprise though was the fact that following the trial it was announced that all of the competitors would go through to the final round due to five pairs having already dropped out of the competition.


The pairs that will now go forward to the final trial to make up the England squad and take on the world at the World Champs in Romania are: Barry and Ben O’Connor, Jake and Dan Wildbore, Mark Bartlett and Kev Hewitt, Tom and Andy Maker, Tim Fromant and Cliff Kemp, Billy Flowers and Jamie Londors, Kia Sanger and Jack Stamp and Rob Sutton and Harry Charrington.
Barry and Ben O'Connor are also through to the final trial.