English team comes home with silver from hard-fished international competition.

England has taken a silver medal during a World Carp Classic competition filled with records, tension and controversy.

Dan Moorcroft and Colin Gray, sponsored by CC Moore, took second spot in the event which saw them battling 258 other anglers from 27 countries over seven days of fishing at Lac de Madine in France.

Fishing in pairs the first hurdle for the anglers to get over was the draw bag, which saw none of the English competitors pegged in the any of the in-form swims.

On the first day predictions that England’s five-year grip on the competition would be broken looked to be coming true. Romanian entrants Emilian Paraschiv and Nelu Capitanu of team PVTV 16, and Germans Jens Gassen and Thomas Muller of Team Deutschland1 took full advantage of their swims, going head-to-head for the lead, with the Romanians just edging ahead.

The story remained the same until day three when the competition was rocked by the shock disqualification of the Romanian pair following several rule infringements, which left the officials with little alternative but to red card the team.

From then the Germans reigned supreme, and by the end of the final day the pair had set a new record for the competition with a massive 409kg of fish – 208.8kg more than the second placed English duo, Dan and Colin of Team CC Moore. Third placed JRC1 posted a total of 89.4 kg.

“Having fished from the same peg two years ago, we knew the swim well and where the best spots were to place the baits,” said the Germans following their victory. “We are delighted to be the first ever German team to win the World Carp Classic and to set a new record for the biggest ever total weight of carp caught is a real bonus. It is a very proud moment for us and we are looking forward to celebrating our win."

Fishing hard throughout the competition, second placed Dan and Colin were more than happy with what they’d achieved:
“To be up on stage and to hear our national anthem playing is one of the proudest moments of our lives,” they told Total Carp.

During the event 123 fish were caught from the 1100hectare water, with an average weight of over 30lb each. Of that 38 were over 40lb with an impressive six fish breaking the 50lb mark – another record for the World Carp Classic.

For further details of the World Carp Classic 2011 click here.