Competitions
18 March 2026
YOUNG LIONS IMPRESS AT ANGLING TRUST ENGLAND U20 ASSESSMENT DAY
Saturday saw Lindholme’s Loco Lake play host to this year’s Beechfield England U20s assessment day, where 20 of the country’s top young anglers lined up under the watchful eyes of Manager Jason Kirk.
Fishing for four hours to full international rules, the anglers each put on a fantastic display of long and short pole fishing – with bites a plenty for everyone involved.
Such was the level of talent on show, that Jason has opted to take an initial eight anglers to practice on the World Championship venue in France, after which a final selection will be made.
“It’s always incredibly tough to select a team when the standard is this high,” said Jason. “The reality is that I could probably pick multiple teams from this current crop of anglers, and they’d all be equally capable of competing for gold!
“With this year’s World Championships taking place in place in France, we’re in the fortunate position to be able to travel over in advance to practice on the venue and fish a competition there. Getting to know it under match conditions will be a great help, and I can also use this opportunity to name the final team of five after seeing how they perform in this event.
“We expect some of the fishing to be quite alien – with small catfish potentially playing a significant part.”
In addition to the eight anglers travelling out to practice, a further four have been invited to join the squad on the bank for the main event – with former Guru England U15 anglers Will Day, Kai Hurley, Charlie Issacs, and Ethan Wexler attending to gain further experience for the future.
The 2026 World Championships will take place on the Réservoir de Montchanin in Eastern France between the 7th and 8th of August.
The team would like to thank Beechfield and Sensas UK for their continued support.
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