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England and Wales have agreed to take part in the competition and Scotland's team has been accepted by the Scottish Federation for Coarse Angling (SFCA).

Manager Joanne has, however, been stressed out as a large chunk of the caravan park she runs with her family near Brighton has been under water.

Pluckily, she ploughed on through is now clearing up following the deluge, but said admitted: "My smiles in the picture I sent hide the stress of dealing with the worst floods we have faced at Three Ponds Holiday Park and Fisheries in over 20 years.

Joanne Barlow in waders clearing up after the floods at her caravan park.

"It has been really hard and we've been dealing with all sorts of issues recently, but we have had an amazing team helping us. Thankfully, the water is subsiding now and our team are now dealing with a massive clean-up along with rescuing our fish which have escaped in the floods."

However, securing the first international for Scotland has lifted her spirits and the Australian-born captain, who qualifies for Scotland because of one of her parents, said: "The girls will be officially capped for Scotland at the event and that is amazing."

England are favourites as they have experienced anglers who are used to competing in major events. Wales took part in the last World Championships but have only been competing for a short time.

Scotland are the underdogs and the team is Barlow (captain), Catherine Robertson, Niki Wildman, Eleanor Mitchell. Margo Robinson, Ruth Cormack. The manager is Emily Barlow, Joanne's daughter.

The skipper said: "This team has been four years in the making and we are so excited to be finally representing Scotland at national level. We are currently making all the arrangements for the match and it is so exciting that Scotland will have a carp team competing in a major match for the first time."

Joanne is the most experienced member of the team but Niki and Margo have fished in matches before. Eleanor has fished in one previous match but Catherine and Ruth are newcomers to the match scene.

She added: "We won't come together until the match but we are meeting over the internet and discussing rigs and tactics and the girls are all fishing regularly at local locations."

The Scots know the Wyreside complex well as it is their home base and Barlow added: "The girls have bonded so well and are learning fast and we will go into the match and give it our best and see what happens.

"We have a strong core group currently but, hopefully, the squad can be expanded in the future."

Meanwhile, the Edinburgh and Lothians Coarse Angling Club have confirmed dates for league and cup matches for this summer. The league starts in early April and runs until September.

The Pairs Match is on July 22 and the rod and reel only event on September 16.

League dates are April 1, 15 and 29, May 13 and 27, June 10 and 24, July 8 and 22, August 5 and 19 and September 2.

Geoff Lowe, the club's chairman, said all matches will take place on Alex's Pond at Orchill near Auchterarder with the rod and reel event on the Outer Snake at the same venue.

The first match, he added, would be a pre-draw to assist with administration but all subsequent draws will be made on the morning of the match.

The subscriptions remain the same at £10 and are payable on the date of the first match and Lowe said match fees are remining at £10.

He added: "We are pegging the membership at 28 this year and we have 25 names in the list already. All matches are at Ochil as it is a central location for our members as they travel from Aberdeenshire, Tayside and Central Scotland as well as Edinburgh so it is convenient.

"We cap membership at 28 as that is the number of pegs that Orchil has available and we do not want to disappoint anybody."

Darrin Ferguson, who had a consistent season last year and lifted the club championship, has signed up to defend the title and seven out of 12 matches count."

Most of the members, he said, fish with a pole although there are several anglers who prefer to use a feeder method.

Finally, the last round of Del's Fresh Produce winter silver series is at Magiscroft on Sunday (January 29) and the draw will be at 9am with the match from 11.00 to 15.30.

Scottish international Dave McAuley cannot be caught and has won the title race but Derek Brady, the organiser, said six anglers are in with a chance of being second and taking the £200 cheque and even more could be third where the prize is £100.

One of them is Fife-based Gus Brindle, Scotland's team manager, who is in second position currently with Brian Wallace third and title holder James Woodrow fourth.

Wallace won Section A in round four with 2lb 13oz, just pipping McAuley who weighted 2lb 11ox.

Woodrow, also a Scotland international, showed a return to form to win Section B and the match with 3lb 12oz ahead of David joseph who weighed 2lb 8oz.

Nobody in Section C had a bite untl the last 30 minutes and Chris Paton, a former Scotland team manager, won with 1lb 9oz with Simon Murray 2oz behind with 1lb 7oz.

The weather in the week before the match had taken its toll, according to organiser Derek Brady, and the fish were not in the mood. He said: "It was another tough day for everyone with the majority of the fish caught coming in the last 40 minutes."

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