SPRIM '90
MARIBOR JUGOSLAVIJA
WORLD FRESH WATER FISHING CHAMPIQNSHIPS INDIVIDUAL
MARIBOR LENT
30.8.1990
MyFirst Gold

As I began my preparations for my 20th successive World Championships in Slovakia, my mind wandered back to the scene of my first success in another of Eastern Europe's former Communist j countries. The 1990tournamentin Yugoslavia took place a year before the terrible Balkan war which eventually split the country into four began. These days, the atlases will tell you thé River Drava at Maribor is in Slovenia, the northernmost former Yugoslav country and the one which escaped with the least war damage. But thé fishing there was terrible back then, and I only hope it's better these days! Stan Smith was thé first England manager to select me, for 1983's Home International. It was on a loch in Scotland and I won my section with 20lb of roach. But when Dick Clegg took over later that year, I have to confess that I thought, as a Southerner, I would be out of thé reckoning. So I was dumbfounded when I got thé call-up for thé 1984 World Champs in Switzerland. Getting picked for thé first time is an excitement which remains unequalled today. In the intervening years i'd won team golds, those stories I'd tell you another month. But now, as I tackled up for day one on the banks of the Drava, my mind was solely focused on doing my best for Steade-fast Team England (as we were back then) in the first World Championships of a new decade. We'd put in a week's practise on the venue. That's less than we do nowadays, but something which even fewer teams did back then.
We soon sussed how hard it was, with a strong flow over 10 to 15 feet of water but very few fish down below. The team plan we'd developed was to ease large round bodied pole floats taking between 5 and 10 grams with bunches of bloodworm on size 18 or 20 hooks over a bed of jokers in leam. Our main target was a species we dubbed 'cigars' - a type of bottom-dwelling-super-gudgeon with a pointed snout like a starlet! Running up to about 6oz, they were backed by a few - and I mean a few - roach, skimmers and perch.
Day One
Day one found me in B section, which we knew would be rock hard. Below thé town bridge in A we had Mark Downes, in C was Steve Gardener, D Tom Pickering and my main influence in my early England years - Big Kevin Ashurst - was drawn in E at the upstream end. The pre-baiting hooter sounded and out went the feed. Then came the second hooter for the ail in. In those days there was no limit to pole length in the World Championships. Practise had taught us that fishing as far as possible out was worth a few extra bites so the line I started on was 14 metres, and later on I moved out to 17. If you can remember what even top quality poles were like in 1990, you'll appreciate this was back-breaking stuff.
Within five minutes l'd caught a cigar, then three more in the first hour. When that line dried up I put on another section and caught two more, and in thé final hour I fished at 17 metres to add another cigar plus a perch. My total was eight fish for 620 grams - less than 1lb 8oz - but it was enough to win thé 25 peg section. Isaid itwashard! Team-wise, Kev had done the business with 3 points in E. Mark Downes in A did well to score 6, Stevie finished mid-section in C with 15 but Tom Pickering, individual World Champion the previous year, blanked in D. It meant we were equal third on 51 points, already a long way behind France who scored just 22 from the peg downstream of us. As Dick Clegg pointed out at the time, it's far harder to draw fish from a good team so them being downstream was really critical. Still, on such a hard river we knew anything was possible.
Day Two
When Dick told me I was drawn in E, my first reaction was that it was the most unfair section of ail. But then he told me I was peg 24, one off the upstream end, and suddenly I knew that was thé place to be. I had a much easier day's fishing, wlth a clean run through at 14 metres and more proper fish to be caught. I had skimmers and roach plus a 2lb bream, and despite losing something unstoppable plus a similar sized bream at the net, it was to be my day. I weighed 2.045 kg - still only around 5lb but the entire event's top weight - but none of thé previous day's four other section winners came close to repeating thé feat. I was thé 1990 Individual World Champion! My first reaction was disappointment for the team and for Tommy in particular. Kev had won C section to pull himself up into the individual silver medal position, Stevie had fished a blinder below the bridge for second in section and Mark was solid again with 8 points, but Tommy found himself back in the same section with the same awful outcome. We knew we were close to the medals, and it turned out we'd
points apiece. Austria had the same, but were three points behind us from day one. But Italy had corne through with a brilliant score of 24 and day one runners-up Holland weren'tfar off the pace.
When everything was totted up, we'd tied for second on 89 with Italy but more than doubled their total weight, while the Dutch and Austrians missed out on 91 and 92. Wales, World Champions in 1989 and with Clive Branson in their ranks a very strong side indeed back then, were sixth on 96.