England Big Game Fishing Team

England Big Game fishing team 2023, despite the exceptionally tough fishing conditions England came within touching distance of Gold but it was not to be this year. Next year we will be travelling to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico to target the abundant striped marlin in the pristine waters.

After a heart breaking day England B lost a fish that could have been the gold medal fish metres from the leader. Final results still not confirmed but huge congratulations to all who competed. Another exceptionally tough day for all involved in the tournament with only 5 fish caught and at least one DQ’d due to an incomplete video

A second slow day produced a good marlin for France and a surprise Italian marlin… tomorrow is the last day so fingers crossed for some good fortunes for England and all the teams competing

Day 2 of the world championships has seen another extremely tough round fore everyone with very few fish seen and even less recorded. Congratulations to the French team who secured a solid blue marlin release

England came home strong releasing a sail and boating three bull dorado. We lost a blue marlin early on in the day in changable weather that saw forked lightening all morning and driving rain with the changing winds. We scored the only billfish release of the day by all boats with a solid 35kg sailfish. We maintained our position in a low scoring comp coming in 3rd overall and received some incredible prizes. Huge thanks to Diani Sport Fishing Club for their efforts organising the event, SCBI - Sportfishing Club of the British Islesfor out constant support Columbia Sportswearfor providing all the England team official kit American Tackle Company for providing the rod blanks that helped us to secure our position overall. Marlin watches who provided some excellent prizes to the well deserved South African team! It has been a brilliant tournament with fantastic hospitality. If you are interested in serious big game fishing this is one not too miss!

Day one complete and a tough day for all teams. We had an early double strike of blue marlin but neither hooked and landed 4 dorado, the South African team scored dorado and a blue marlin and lost a 500lb+ fish. The Azores team managed a striped marlin making up the top three teams. Tomorrow is another day! Diani Sport Fishing ClubMarlin watchesSCBI - Sportfishing Club of the British IslesColumbia SportswearAngling TrustAmerican Tackle Company

Big game fishing is all about bringing on the next generation of anglers. The children’s practice day was a blank but they didn’t care and spent the next morning casting for reef species off the beach American Tackle Company Columbia SportswearMarlin watchesDiani Sport Fishing ClubSCBI - Sportfishing Club of the British IslesAngling Trust

Some of the England Big Game team will be in Diani Beach, Kenya for the upcoming South Coast Blue Marlin open at Diani Sport Fishing Club. This is a fantastic well organised event and a qualifier for the off shore world championships in Costa Rica. None of this would be possible without the help and support of our sponsors American Tackle Company who have generously helped us out with the best rod blanks available for the coming tournaments. Also a big thank you to Marlin watches for their great time pieces and Columbia Sportswear for supplying the latest fishing apparel.
We would also like to thank the Angling Trust and the SCBI - Sportfishing Club of the British Isles for their continued and unquestioning support of England Big Game fishing.

Four of the England Big Game team visited Egypt to fish the Orascom Development International fishing tournament. This is a superb tournament set up in the Red Sea Anglers and Egyptian Angling Federation. We were privileged to be invited to such a prestigious tournament and the quality of anglers and organisation has been exceptional. We fished a mix of tactics over 3 days and 2 nights at sea trolling lures and baits, jigging, popping and deep dropping. The fishing was made considerably more difficult by the weather with strong winds and high seas throughout the event. England finished a credible 6th overall only missing out on a medal place by one fish which just fell short of the minimum 3kg qualifying weight. A huge thank you to the organisers who made this a truly enjoyable and well run tournament with some of the best big game anglers in the world.

Whilst preparations are ongoing for Senegal 2023 the England team are out around the world fishing different waters and techniques. Two of the members have just returned from a successful trip to the Andamans targeting GT and dogtooth tuna. we have trips planned to Kenya to fish some excellent tournaments before flying to Papua New Guinea to keep exploring the monster fishery there. We regularly fish tournaments around the world and will try to keep you all updated on our progress!

With Italy in the past we look forward to next year in Senegal. A huge thank you to our sponsors who helped make it happen for us.
Wally's Shark rigs
Columbia Sportswear
Okuma Fishing USA

Next year we look to improve on a difficult weather shortened tournament in Italy with a new year after the marlin and Tuna in Senegal!

Here are the final standings of the 30th World Big Game Championship. The tournament was due to run over three days of competition.

Day one saw both England teams fishing the perfect clear blue seas of the Adriatic Sea in search of blue fin tuna, the main target species for the event. Unfortunately things took a terrible turn for the worse for the USA team in their first world championships as their boat took on water rapidly whilst they were fighting a fish. We took the decision to cut our lines and go to rescue them. We arrived at the same time as a support boat and as their boat capsized and was lost.

The competition was temporarily paused allowing them to receive a reserve boat and unfortunately we spent the next couple of hours relocating our anchor and starting fishing again. The first day was extremely tough with only 8 fish caught between 18 crews of boats. The USA took a stunning win on day one with Italy and Croatia doing well. England B did brilliantly catching a little Tunny scoring 20 points whilst England A were bitten off by a large bluefin after about 15 minutes.

The unusual scoring format of the tournament means that consistent scoring is essential to do well. So England B finished with 7 points and England A 15 with all the other boats who didn’t score a fish.

Day 2 was equally as eventful as England A hooked the largest bluefin of the tournament and fought it on 30lb line for over 3 and a half hours. The fish tangling with the anchor lines of England B who selflessly pulled their anchor allowing us to record the capture. Unfortunately England B didn’t record a fish and many fish were lost due to the extremely light lines being used. Fish placement also sees the positions of the day being recorded by time. The first recorded capture scoring higher than the last fish which was recorded by England A with only 5 minutes left of the day!

Our third day was cancelled due to electrical storms and so our reserve day was then used but whilst all the boats waiting on the water to be given the start we were told the jury had decided to cancel the day due to rain being forecast and much to the surprise of all teams. This meant that it was impossible for anyone to change their standings. By cutting it a day short, which could've changed the whole ranking Italy recorded the win with an exceptional Croatian Team coming second and Italy coming third. 

Despite the predictable outcome of the tournament it was once again a great privilege to fish against some of the best anglers in the world at the very highest level. In a technical tournament such as this one, catching Bluefin Tuna using 30 lb is challenging but thankfully we were very well prepared by our sponsors Seagur for the line and fluorocarbon, BKK hooks and okuma for their incredible reels. Without this we would have certainly struggled to land the fish we did.

We would also like to thank Columbia Sportswear for kitting out both England Teams in the best Performance Fishing Gear available.

Being amongst the best anglers is not enough for us as we hoped to improve on our silver medal in South Africa. When we compete we always hope to do so on a level playing field, we went to win but unfortunately some things went completely out of our hands.

All I can say is that I'm extremely proud of both my teams for all their sheer professionalism, work ethic and effort and unmatched spirit and determination.

We would like to thank Angling Trust for picking us to represent England at the highest level. We will take what we have learned and go forward to next year in Senegal.

Our first practice day in Pescara has been tough as the tuna have not been there in numbers but we have still managed to get fish to the boat and some good practice in!

https://www.p20.co.uk, when fishing away in sunny climates, sun safety is key! With that in mind we are taking the best suncare protection to the championships…..The experts in suncare, for the experts in big game fishing!

P20 P20 Sun Cream for Sensitive Skin gives you Triple Protection, but in a lightweight cream formula that is pleasant to the touch and gentle on the skin. This new formula is Vegan friendly, EcoSun Pass approved, dermatologically tested for sensitive skin, and provides up to 10-hour protection, a ‘ver...

With only a few days to go until Italy 2022 we would all like to extend our thanks to the generosity of sponsors Angling Trust and SCBI - Sportfishing Club of the British Isles for their support for both Big Game fishing here in the U.K. and the team as a whole In our worldwide tournament season

All packed and ready to go. A big thank you to Columbia clothing for kitting out the team in the best fishing clothing available!

With less than 4 weeks to go to the world championships in Italy we would like to say a huge thank you to Colombia Clothing for fitting out the team with the best kit possible!

Sodwana Bay, South Africa was a fantastic tournament and superb location and shows the variety of the fishing we do. This tournament was all about marlin, Italy will be about bluefin tuna. We share a passion for all big game species and every style of fishing

600lb+ blue fin for England Team member Jon Patten