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World Catfish Classic 2011 Press Release
The atmosphere of the event started to build as the first anglers began to arrive from far and wide, for what would be the first event of its kind for this species. Everyone was talking tactics for the days that lay ahead. After a truly spectacular opening ceremony and draw, day one started. At the sound of the horn to start day one of the three day event, we didn’t have to wait long for the first Catfish to be banked; a 20.4kg caught by Chris Locke of England. A total of 36 Catfish were caught on day one with a total weight of 1198.5kg!! The biggest fish on day one was a stonking 73kg Catfish caught by Thierry Lang of France, crowning them king Cat of the day. The Berkley USA team of Phil King and Tim Haynie (having never fished for Wels Catfish) finished day one with a staggering 267.7kg putting them in first place with two days to go. On day two all the competitors had to swap sections and it was the turn of the ladies teams Alina Padurean to catch the first Catfish of the day weighing in at 20.2kg. There was no stopping them from that moment on, having seven Catfish for a total of 145.1kg!! The Berkley France team of Sebastian Francois and Jeremy Josserland broke all expectations with a World Catfish Classic record fish of 91kg(200lbs plus), taking title of King Cat of the day. At the end of day two things were getting close between the top two teams of USA and England. USA were holding first place with 267.7kg closely followed by the England team of Chris and David Locke with 227.6kg. Day three was the day with all to play for. The top five were all one big fish away from first place, and all were keeping an eye on the teams around them in the standings. But, they were looking in the wrong place! The Netherlands team of Ron Beugelink and Arnout Terlouw having blanked on day one and day two were now on the fish and on fire. There was no stopping them, one fish after another. Tim Haynie and Phil King of the Berkley USA team could only hope they could hang on from the onslaught of Ron and Arnout. After all the effort they could possibly put in, the Americans just could not buy a fish and with 90 minutes to go they were knocked off top spot by a meagre 600gramms. Meanwhile, Chris and David Locke of England were also one average fish short of top spot, were giving it their all but also could not land a fish having lost more than one due to snags. After a gruelling 90 minutes the horn sounded to end the event. Ron and Arnout of the Netherlands elevated themselves from zeros to heros in just one day of superb angling, winning overall with an amazing 0.6kg over team Berkley USA. Followed by Chris and David Locke of England in 3rd place and what a result for the ladies team of Alina Padurean and Tracey Lewis-Wilson representing Spain in 4th place. World Catfish Classic Champions World Catfish Classic King Cat World Catfish Classic Team Event Event Stats
For more details or to see photos from the 2011 World Catfish Classic, please click below
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The first world Catfish Classic has just finished and I am delighted to say that it has been a huge success. The whole management and marshal team arrived 25th May to start a monumental clean up of the area of the river Ebro due to be fished in the event, flying the flag of ‘The Friends of the Ebro’. We all got stuck in and cleared an amazing 10 tonnes plus of rubbish from the banks, restoring the area to its natural glory.