Smith: Wisconsin anglers buoy US Street Fishing team to 8th place at World Championship

The pike struck immediately after the lure hit the water, then thrashed briefly at the surface and dived to the bottom.

Patrick Sinnott of Stevens Point held firmly to the rod as line played out, then stopped.

"I thought, 'oh no, not that, anything but that,'" Sinnott said, recalling the moment he realized the fish had lodged itself in underwater structure. The odds of landing it just got longer, much longer.

And never before had Sinnott, 65, cared as much about landing a 30-some-inch pike.

But this wasn't in Wisconsin, where such fish can be common. And Sinnott wasn't on a recreational outing.

Along with three other anglers, a coach and support staff, he was representing the United States at the 2023 FIPSed Street Fishing World Championship in Mantova, Italy.

Twelve nations gathered for the event, held Nov. 11 and 12. The U.S. team was the only one from outside Europe.

Wisconsin residents made up most of the American team at the Street Fishing World Championship

The USAngling team was led by captain and coach Lee Young of Green Bay. The anglers were: Chuck Earls of North Ridgeville, Ohio; Chris Ledvina of Shawano; Adam Schumacher of Sheboygan; and Sinnott.

Rounding out the team were staff members Julia Earls of North Ridgeville, Ohio, Janet Ledvina of Shawano and Patty Young of Green Bay.

The Italian site was chosen in part because of its challenging fishing. And fish such as the one at the end of Sinnott's line were at a premium.

"When they hold a world championship in fishing, they want to make it as tough as possible so the best, most skilled anglers will, more often than not, rise to the top," said Lee Young, a native of England who has captained and competed in several worlds for USAngling since moving to the U.S. in 2000. "It can be grueling."

Exhibit A: the competition allowed fishing only from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., when the sun was highest in the sky and fishing is typically toughest.

The Federation Internationale de la Peche Sportive en Eau Douce (FIPSed) is governing body of about 20 world fishing competitions. Most are hugely popular in Europe, including for carp but receive relatively little notice in North America.

The Street Fishing discipline is relatively new. FIPSed held its first Street Fishing world championship in 2022 in Utrecht, Netherlands. The Netherlands took the gold.

When FIPSed announced plans to hold a 2023 Street Fishing world championship, Young and others affiliated with USAngling decided to mount an effort to participate.

What is Street Fishing?

Street Fishing is a shore fishing competition on an urban waterway. Anglers fish in pairs and are required to use artificial baits. All fish caught are measured, photographed and released. Winners are determined by length of fish caught over two days.

Young, 61, said Street Fishing holds great potential for growth.

"Most people have never heard of it but it's really at the roots of most of our fishing lives," Young said. "Get your gear, head out the door on foot or your bike and fish at a local spot. It's universal."

Young was tabbed by USAngling in early 2023 to start its Street Fishing program. Prior to this role, Young was manager and captain of the USA Carp Fishing Team from 2010 to 2019, captain of the USA Match Fishing Team in 2011 in Italy and served as an official when the Ice Fishing World Championship was held in 2010 in Rhinelander.

USAngling is the brand name of the United States Angling Confederation, a 501(c)3 charitable organization that organizes U.S. fishing teams as they compete worldwide, supports conservation actions and invests in fishing education and youth angling initiatives.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in April profiled Young and his efforts to start a U.S. Street Fishing team. Sinnott, among those who read the article and contacted Young, later qualified at a trials in Wisconsin.

After Earls, Ledvina and Schumacher also made the team Young had the anglers gather almost every weekend through the summer and early fall for training sessions.

"You know you're going to be at a disadvantage because the species you're going to be going after are different than here at home and you're going to be on water you've never fished," Young said. "But we worked on techniques and skills that we thought would be useful in Italy."

The team traveled to Italy with lures, line and reels but, to save space, acquired rods once in Europe.

The Mantova competition was held on lakes built in the 1500s mostly as moats and fortifications. The water was low and had very little flow. It was also fairly clear, Young said.

The only species allowed in the competition were asp, black bass, perch, pike and zander.

Catching unfamiliar fish in Italy is a challenge for US anglers

Teams were allowed to practice fish in the days preceding the competition. Each country in the event had experience on the Mantova waters except the U.S. It rapidly became apparent how challenging the fishing would be, Young said.

Some teams set a strategy of catching as many perch as possible. The U.S. went another direction. In short, "go big or go home."

"We couldn't get any reasonable perch in practice," Young said. "So our game plan was try to get something large. And that's the thing about pike worldwide, sometimes you can get a reaction strike."

The U.S. team also did something quite different: It employed stealth and tried to stay away from other anglers who were actively moving on the shore.

The pike and bass were lying in shallow water around vegetation that was just starting to die off, Young said, and looking to ambush prey.

The key to catching them would be to present a lure without spooking the fish.

Sinnott said since the vast majority of the fishing in the Mantova waters is catch-and-release the fish are "very smart."

Sinnott told the story of a visit the U.S. team made to an Italian lure manufacturer. When a representative of the company was asked why they made so many different types of baits, he took the visitors to a display tank and showed off a recently-released design. The first time he used it, he said he caught four fish. The second time it dropped to two and and third, fourth and fifth time it failed to catch anything.

"They've been caught so many times that they know what's real and what's fake," Sinnott said. "So most of our lures hadn't been seen before and that was a positive."

Interantional Street Fishing features intense competition and even spying

The U.S. anglers learned early about the intensely competitive nature of the event. At the opening bell, most teams sprinted to claim fishing spots on the shore. And each team had "spies" out to watch other anglers, hoping to get helpful intelligence on the most productive tactics, lures and locations.

The teams all fished five straight hours each day with no lunch break; the support staff delivered water and snacks. The goal, Young said, was to "keep lines in the water every minute."

The most productive lure for the U.S. turned out to be a suspending jerk bait. It caught two pike, both about 33 inches in length.

That included the fish that struck Sinnott's cast and then lodged itself under a log. Sinnott was able to get the fish free of the structure and his partner Chuck Earls netted it.

Chris Ledvina caught the other pike.

And Sinnott added an 18-inch-long largemouth bass to the U.S. tally; it hit a soft plastic fished on a non-toxic jig head.

The U.S. also lost two pike, one at the net and another that broke off.

"We had some bad luck, but every team could probably point to some of the same," Young said.

All in all the first American team to compete on the world Street Fishing stage acquitted itself well. The U.S. finished 8th out of 12 nations.

Romania took first, Netherlands took second and Moldova took third.

To get an idea of how difficult the fishing conditions were, the Belgium team didn't land a fish the entire tournament.

After the final horn the competition turned to camaraderie and celebration, Sinnott said. A dinner and party was held at a historic club in Mantova.

Respresenting USAngling was an emotional experience for Wisconsin fisherman

For Sinnott, it was a fishing experience unlike anything he'd dreamed of.

"I had eye-watering pride when they played the national anthem at the opening ceremony," Sinnott said. "And then the tense competition was really a test. To finish it off with fellowship with the other anglers from all across Europe was really a treat."

What does the future hold for USAngling's Street Fishing program?

The 2024 World Championship is scheduled to be held in November in Paris. Young said although nothing is set in stone, he'd very much like to lead a U.S. effort to fish next year's event in France.

"I'd like to do it again," Young said. "Assuming everything goes well and we can raise the money. I'd like to take the largest possible size team. That's one thing we learned in Italy. You need as many angling brains as possible. It's very much a team effort."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin anglers buoy US Street Fishing team at World Championship