09/09/2026
🇵🇹 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2026 – PORTUGAL 🏴
Apologies for the delay in posting got back really late last night! Been cleaning and putting all my gear away all day!
Well, that’s another World Championship done and dusted, and after a very long, very hot and at times incredibly difficult couple of weeks in Portugal, Wales finished 11th out of 21 nations.
On paper, 11th perhaps doesn’t tell the full story. We finished just nine points off fifth place, and looking back there are definitely points we left behind. That’s international fishing though – the margins are tiny.
As manager, there’s one decision in particular that I have to take responsibility for.
On the first day we didn’t fish for bleak for the opening 30-40 minutes. Looking back at the results, I’m convinced that cost us at least four points – and potentially cost Ty the chance of challenging for an individual medal.
Another couple of hundred grams on Ty’s first-day weight would have put him third in his section. Combined with his section win on day two, that would have left him on four points and potentially right in the mix for a bronze medal.
That’s a big lesson for us going forward.
Historically, we’ve probably had an attitude that because we aren’t as accomplished at bleak fishing as countries such as England and Italy, we’re better concentrating on our other lines. But Andrew Cranston made a very good point: even if you’re only the seventh or eighth best team at catching bleak and you put 240–250g in the net while the very best teams catch 400g, you haven’t lost that much ground.
Meanwhile, your long-pole and waggler lines are settling.
You might as well be putting fish in the net.
That’s something we’ll definitely change going forward. A little bit of naivety on my part perhaps, but that’s what these Championships are about – learning and getting better.
Across the two days we also carried four really low scores, and at this level you simply can’t afford that many. Turn just one or two of those into middle-of-the-section results and suddenly the overall picture looks very different.
The positive is that we felt we got our main tactics – particularly the long pole and waggler – pretty much right.
Practice was incredibly difficult. Monday and Tuesday in particular were virtually write-offs for us. We seemed to continually find ourselves in areas where very little was being caught, and it wasn’t just Wales – the teams around us struggled as well. When nobody is catching, it becomes very difficult to learn anything meaningful.
But there were some brilliant performances when it mattered.
Ty was fourth on day one before producing a fantastic section win on day two, finishing 15th individually overall. This lad has a massive future, 2 world champs - 2 section wins so far! 2 euros and a section win in that as well only fishing one day in one of them! Won’t be long before he puts two together and has a medal round his neck.
I managed to win my section on day one and finish fourth on day two, despite drawing what I felt was the wrong end of the section. Five points over the two days put me 14th individually, with seven or eight anglers all finishing on five points. One point less and it could have been somewhere around the top five.
Nige came in 4th first day and Zac also produced a really good performance on the second day, and there were plenty of positives throughout the team that we can build on.
So although 11th is where the record books will show Wales finished, we came away feeling that we really weren’t very far away.
Most importantly, we’ve come away with lessons that will make us better.
👏 A massive congratulations to all the medal winners.
England were crowned World Champions, producing a fantastic performance to take team gold. Congratulations to the Czech Republic on silver and Hungary on bronze – three brilliant performances at an incredibly tough Championship.
Individually, huge congratulations to Sito Pardo of Spain, our 2026 World Champion. Ramon Asling of Holland took a fantastic silver, with England’s Will Raison claiming the bronze. Brilliant performances from all three. 👏
There are also a lot of people who make it possible for Wales to compete at this level.
A massive thank you to Keystone Estate Agents for their continued financial sponsorship of both our European and World Championship campaigns.
Huge thanks to Farnworth Tackle and Taffy’s Bloodworm for putting cold, hard cash into the team. That financial support genuinely makes a massive difference to us.
Thank you to Reel Elite for helping us with our team clothing, and to Sensas for their incredibly generous groundbait support. I believe we’re now approaching 30 years of continued support from Sensas, which is absolutely phenomenal and something we never take for granted.
A big thank you as well to Mark The Garden of Kent Worm Co.for sorting the red worms for us at the last minute, and to Alex at Tackle & Bates, who helped Zac and me out with some hooks just before Zac flew over. Again, hugely appreciated.
From me personally as manager, a massive thank you to all the lads. They were absolutely brilliant all week and a pleasure to manage.
And a special thank you to Iain Swanson and Scott Thomas for all their help on the bank throughout the week. Standing behind anglers for hours in that sweltering Portuguese heat is no easy job, and their contribution was massively appreciated.
Finally, congratulations and thank you to the organisers. A fantastic venue, brilliantly organised throughout, and a World Championship we’ll remember for a long time.
We came for more than 11th place, and we’ll always want more when we pull on a Welsh shirt.
But we leave Portugal knowing we weren’t a million miles away, knowing where we can improve, and with plenty of positives to take forward.
We learn. We improve. And we go again. 🏴🎣
Next stop…Western Ireland for the Celtic Cup!
