17th-23rd September 2018, Trentino, Italian Alps 
30 nations representing four continents battled it out on the waters of Rivers Sarca and Noce in Trentino (Northern Italy).
FIPD-Mouche chose Italy, and more precisely Trentino for the 38th edition of the World Fly Fishing Championships, organised by the Italian FIPSAS in close collaboration with the Trentini section and scheduled from 17th to 23rd September 2018. In the heart of the Alps, in an exceptional natural setting, with a good 2000 km of watercourses, almost 300 lakes, and over 800 square kilometres of natural parks, Trentino is ready to welcome anglers from all over the world.
The river Sarca , the river Noce and the Lake of Cornisello – in western Trentino – were the competition sectors of the international competition. The Terme di Comano were the headquarters of the Championship, a renowned spa resort overlooking the river Sarca, kingdom of the marble trout as well as that of many other fish species.
Countries entered: Australia, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Canada, Channel Islands, Croatia, Finland, France, Japan, England, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Mongolia, New Zealand, Norway, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, Hungary, U.S.A.
Programme
Monday 17th September: Arrival of teams and registration at Grand Hotel Terme – 1st Captains’ Meeting & Draw – Parade and Opening Ceremony in Piazza Duomo in Trento
Tuesday 18th September: 1st & 2nd Official Practice Sessions
Wednesday 19th September: 1st & 2nd Competition Sessions
Thursday 20th September: 3rd Competition Session
Friday 21st September: 4th & 5th Competition Sessions
Saturday 22nd September: Closing Ceremony in Thermal park
FIPS-Mouche Press Release: CS_camp_mondiale_pesca_intern EN-1
You can find more details at the Championship website here>> and also on their Facebook page here>>
Angling Trust’s Team England Fly Fishing squad was led by Paul Page as Captain and Manager with Team Members Andrew Scott, Simon Robinson, Phil Dixon, Howard Croston and Scott Nellins.
Team England FF pre-competition practice sessions
Here are a few pics from Team England Fly Fishing’s pre-c0mpetition practice sessions.
Howard Croston
Phil Dixon
Scott Nellins
Simon Robinson
Andrew Scott
Manager Paul Page
Press Release: 2018 World Team press release
Opening Ceremony
Session 1
Andrew Scott scored a 6th place with 16 fish in his section on the River Sarca – Tione, with Phil Dixon coming 7th on the River Noce, and Howard Croston 15th on the River Sarca – Pinzolo. On Lake Cornisello, fishing from the bank, Simon Robinson came 16th, with Scott Nellins 19th on the River Sarca – Arco. Out of 27 teams, England were currently lying in 9th place with 63 placing points. Italy were in 1st place with 13 points, followed by Spain 2nd with 25 points, France in 3rd with 26 points, Poland 4th with 31 points, and the Czech Republic 5th with 34 points. Ireland were 17th with 82 points session_1_teams
Session 2
Simon Robinson came 3rd with 14 fish on the River Sarca – Pinzolo, with Howard Croston 9th on the River Noce, and Scott Nellins 10th on the River Sarca – Tione. Phil Dixon came 12th on the River Sarca – Arco, with Andrew Scott saving a blank on Lake Cornisello to finish 25th. England slipped one place to 10th with 121 placing points. Spain were currently in 1st place with 56 points, ahead of France on 59 points, with Italy 3rd on 60 points, the Czech Republic 4th with 75 points, and the Slovak Republic moving up to 5th with 76 points, thanks to a couple of section wins session_2_teams_cumul Individually, Jordi Oliveras Cortina (Spain) led the field with 4 placing points, which included a 1st place on the lake, in front of Carlo Sciaguri (Italy) on 5 points, and Sebastien Vidal (France) and Frantisek Kouba (Czech Republic), both on 6 points session_2_indiv_cumul
Session 3
A better session for England saw Howard Croston winning his section on the River Sarca – Arco with 13 fish, plus a 5th place for Andrew Scott on the River Sarca – Pinzolo, and 6th for Phil Dixon on the River Sarca – Tione. Although Simon Robinson came 23rd on the River Noce and Scott Nellins was one of the 50% of the field who blanked on an increasingly difficult lake sector, England still moved up to 8th place. Spain held onto their first place with 94 points, ahead of Italy on 115 points, with France and the Czech Republic both on 123 points session_3_teams_cumul The leading individuals changed, with Vojtech Ungr (Czech Republic) in 1st place with 9 points, ahead of Igor Lukasik (Slovak Republic), Jyrki Hiltunen (Finland), Carlo Sciaguri (Italy) and Jure Osolin (Slovenia) all on 12 points session_3_indiv_cumul
Session 4
This session saw some more good performances from England, with Andrew Scott coming 3rd on the River Noce, and Phil Dixon saving a blank on Lake Cornisello to finish 7th, where again, half the field failed to catch. Scott Nellins came 10th on the River Sarca – Ponzolo, Simon Robinson 11th on the Sarca – Arco and Howard Croston 16th on the Sarca – Tione. Even so, England slipped to 9th place overall with 230 placing points, as it got increasingly tight at the top. With one session to go, Spain and Italy both had 164 points, with the Czechs just 4 points behind on 168, ahead of Poland on 192 and France on 194 session_4teams_cumul Individually, Jyrki Hiltunen (Finland) was currently 1st with 16 points, one point ahead of Igor Lukasik (Slovak Republic), David Garcia Ferreras (Spain), and Jure Osolin (Slovenia) session_4indiv_cumul
Session 5
The final session saw Andrew Scott get a 5th place on the River Sarca – Arco, with Simon Robinson coming 10th on the Sarca – Tione, and Phil Dixon 19th on the Sarca – Pinzolo. On the River Noce Scott Nellins came 19th, but Lake Cornisello continued to prove difficult, with Howard Croston one of the 10 who failed to catch. England finished the Championships at 9th place on 310 placing points, with Ireland 13th on 369 points. There was little to split the top three teams, but a good performance by Spain saw them become the 2018 World Champions with 182 points, with the Czech Republic taking silver with 187 points, and Italy bronze with 194 points. A good performance by the USA in this final session saw them finish 4th with 224 points, with Finland 5th on 230 points, and France 6th with 243 points session_5_teams_cumul David Garcia Ferreras (Spain) is the new individual World Champion, with 19 placing points, ahead of Jyrki Hiltunen (Finland) on 21 points, with Andrea Pirone (Italy) 3rd with 24 points. England’s best performer was Andrew Scott, who came 20th, with Phil Dixon 31st session_5_indiv_cumul
Captain/Manager Paul Page reports: “This year the Team’s practice accommodation was at one of the Championship Hotels which was situated adjacent to the main practice beat on the River Sarca between Competition Sectors I & III. This gave Team members continuous access for practice throughout the 8 days prior to the start of Championship Session 1.
The Team had 5 days of guided practice on all of the practice waters (with Italian guide Roberto Spiritelli); these were generally sections of rivers between the Championship Sectors and a Lake which was, unfortunately, nothing like the Championship Lake. During the 3 unguided days immediately before the start of Session 1, Team members had the opportunity to refresh their fly boxes, rest after 5 days continuous practice, prepare kit for the start of the Championship and undertake any last minute practice that they felt they needed.
Fips Mouche’s new software programme for the Draw was used for the first time at a World Championship, and to all intents and purposes provided the Team with a fair draw and distribution of pegs. The peg arrangements on Lake Cornisello were disappointing due to the inaccessibility of large portions of the bank of this high altitude Alpine lake. As a result, groups of competitors were confined to isolated stretches of the bank with no peg rotation into other competition stretches.
The Team were in 9th position after session 1, improving to 8th and then falling back to 9th at the finish. The Team’s overall performance was let down by their results on the lake – this included 2 blanks, which at World level is very difficult to carry on one sector. This resulted in a total of 106 placing points for the Lake Sector, accounting for a third of the Team’s final total of 310 placing points for all 5 Sectors and Sessions.
Had the Team managed to perform to their potential on the lake and done as well as the 5th place team on the lake they could have had a total of 44 Lake Sector placing points and finished 7th overall (just behind France).”
Full Report: 2018 World Championship Report 2018 World Championship Report
Angling Trust Team England Fly Fishing 