In a weekend that saw the 30th Coarse Angling Ladies World Championship 2024 held on the Mondego River, Penacova in Portugal, it was England International Samantha Sim who stormed to victory taking home her first-ever gold medal after being crowned World Champion.
The fishing over the two days was very technical and tricky in areas due to swim depth, tow and weed, which unfortunately took its toll on the team, with Helen Dagnall drawing two of the worst pegs imaginable on both of the days. Despite this, Helen and the rest of the team fished superbly, finishing in a respectable 5th position overall, however both Samantha and Kayleigh Dowd took gold and bronze individually which gave the team something extra to celebrate.
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"The venue in Penacova was a very difficult and technical one. Practice week went well for the team and me, even though conditions changed every day," Samantha told us.
"The main species we were aiming for were borga, and although they didn’t appear in numbers during practice week, the locals kept saying they would come."
Borga are a species not found in UK waters and require a very special approach to catch them in any numbers. These relatively small fish, averaging around 1.5 oz, can only be described as looking like a grayling/dace hybrid.
"On Match Day 1, I drew peg E4. Our team plan was to fish one line at 11.5m with groundbait and joker, topping up with small, hard balls after every fish."
"I caught small borgas from the start, and by sticking to the plan, I slowly kept putting fish in the net. I ended up with 28 fish, mainly borgas, for 1.710kg—enough to comfortably win the section," she added.
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"Rigs were 0.7g and 0.4g floats with 0.06mm hook lengths. Kayleigh and Chloe came 2nd in their sections, with Sarah 7th and Helen 9th."
Despite Helen Dagnall drawing one of the worst pegs in the entire match length, her very respectable 9 points meant England Ladies were in third position after the first day, with a medal looking promising as long as the draw was kinder to them on the second day of the event.
"On Day 2, I drew peg A3, the same peg that Kayleigh had fished the day before. I knew this was a really good peg, but it would be hard to beat A1 and A2."
"Again, we stuck to our team plan, but it was very noticeable that other teams had changed their strategy, stopping the use of groundbait and choosing to pot like us," Samantha recalled.
"I got off to a fantastic start, and it seemed that the borga had finally arrived in the early part of the A section, with the first three pegs catching well."
"I had my son Billy running my section, keeping me updated, and I knew things were going well. I finished with 72 fish, mainly borgas, to weigh 2.735 kg and placed 2nd in the section."
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After day two, and another very poor draw for Helen, the team unfortunately slipped into 5th place overall, missing out on a bronze medal by a mere two points, and silver by three points.
"Kayleigh did amazing and finished second in her section, with Chloe and Sarah finishing 8th and 9th in their sections. We were absolutely gutted that the team was so close to a medal."
"My partner Jason, who is the co-manager of the team, soon appeared to let me know I had won the individual world championships. No words can describe the pride I feel. Kayleigh fished amazingly and ended up winning individual bronze," Samantha exclaimed!
"My whole family are anglers, and our whole life is dedicated to fishing and supporting others fishing at the top level."
"Jason and I are the managers of the U20s England team, with my son Billy being a member who won team gold in Serbia earlier this month at the youth world championships. Now, with my individual gold, it just feels like job done," she concluded.
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