A young Highbridge angler is celebrating after she and her England junior shore sea fishing team won bronze at the world championships, raising her individual global ranking.
Lexie Groves, 14, has been fishing for over five years and has been competing in the sport for three years – including in many local matches against adults.
Lexie has now earned an individual world ranking of 17th in her age group — an impressive achievement.
After being selected to fish for England at the age of 12, she won two gold medals at the home nations and this year was selected to fish for England at the FIPS-M worlds shore angling championships in Wrexford Ireland.
This is the first time girls have been selected to fish at under 16 level for England.
She says: “We headed to Ireland on 28th October and had 5 days of practice fishing on the various beaches that we would be fishing. I didn’t take long to find out how to catch the fish there and managed 17 fish on my first day of practice, catching flounder, dabs and wever fish.”
“At the opening ceremony as I was the youngest I had the privilege of leading the team with the flag out which was overwhelming.”
“As a team we were ready and focused for our 5 days of competition. The first day the weather changed and the fish were few and far between but we never gave up and I managed 2nd in my zone.”
“Day 2 we fought back to secure a lead at the top of the leaderboard. The next 2 days were a battle, fishing in wind and rain but we ended up winning a bronze medal which is an amazing achievement.”
“It was such a fantastic experience to fish at world level against the best anglers in the world and to get an individual world ranking of 17th is something I can’t get my head around. To be on the podium holding our flag to the national anthem is a memory I will never forget!”
“I can’t thank enough my manager Paul Driver and assistant manager Joe Plumstead for all their help. Thanks to everyone who has supported and sponsored the team to get us there.”
“Now back again, I will be continuing my training and hopefully will be selected for the home and worlds teams next year which is in Spain.”
