F.I.P.S World Championship Big Game 9th - 16th February 2019

Our very own Nik and Bob represented England as part of the Big Game fishing team in the F.I.P.S World Championship. This world-class championship event was held at the Sodwana Bay area of South Africa.

England sent two teams of three to compete, they consisted of; Andy Atkins, Jonathan Patten, Peter Bailey, Jack Challis, Nik Teal, Bob McKee and Steven Walder who was the manager.

They finished second overall and therefore returned home with silver medals.

The final results were Spain 1st taking the gold medal, England 2nd taking the silver medal and Mexico came third taking the bronze medal.

Andy Atkins, England Big Game Team stated “It was fantastic to see our two teams pull together and work superbly to find fish in an incredibly tough fishery with Marlin and other gamefish all hard to find. We set our stall out early and some excellent work on the boats secured a well-deserved silver medal.

This was a first cap for two of the team and to secure such a good result shows all the hard work and preparation put in by everyone months before had paid off. Special thanks would have to go to the organizers of the tournament who worked tirelessly to ensure that everyone were well catered for and the tournament was a success. We look forward to going forward to trying for Gold next year in Senegal.

Here are a few photos, click on any image to open up the gallery…