A young Enniskillen angler was in Seventh Heaven as he celebrated a gold medal at the Feeder Fishing World Championship in Merida Spain on Sunday.

James O’Doherty (25), who is a son of well-known Enniskillen butcher Pat O’Doherty of Belmore Street, was part of a five-man team that also included Rory Dunne, Michael Buchwalder, Charlie Richards and Johnny McKinley who took the world title for coarse fishing for the first time.

Genial James and his colleague’s achievement is all the more remarkable as they are all amateurs and they beat 20 other countries, some of whom are heavily sponsored, from around the world.

And it is the first time that Ireland has won any team medal abroad in coarse fishing in 50 years.

In this event, there were 21 nations competing and each nation fielded five anglers.

There were five 21 peg zones (A-E) where one angler competed against one other angler from each other nation.

The angler that catches the biggest weight in the section gets one penalty point and then it is the team that scores the lowest number of penalty points over the two competition days wins.

All fish caught using feeder tactics are put into a four-metre-long net that is submerged in the water and at the end of the competition these fish are weighed and then released safely back into the water.

The Irish team were successful, catching carp, catfish and carassio, with the fish weighing from 25kg to 50kg

Speaking from Spain to The Impartial Reporter, James said it was “just the greatest feeling in the world".

The investment analyst was driving home when this newspaper caught up with him.

“I am just over the moon and we have just won the Coarse Feeder World Championships.

“It has never been done before and we are all amateurs and we did it against some countries who are professional.”

He added: “We are a team of five anglers with a team of five backroom staff under our manager Brenton Sweeney.

“Michael Buchwalder won gold in the individual competition, so it was a double gold for Ireland.

“We came over to Spain 14 days ago and we were practising every single day.

“We were catching carassio which is a form of carp and we were fishing with worms and we were catching 80 fish each day which amounts to 180 fish each over the competition.

"It was a 10-hour competition over two days with five hours each day.

“We caught fish from 25kg to 50kg.”

Meanwhile, James has been a keen coarse fisherman since “about the age of 10".

“My mam and dad brought me around Ireland competing in junior competitions and then I progressed into the junior international team and from there to the senior team.”

He continued: “We got the great news on Sunday and there was a weigh-in and it was like a rollercoaster really.

“The news came through around 4pm at the weigh-in from the last section and it was just the greatest feeling in the world.

“It is awesome and just the best feeling ever as it has never been done before.

“It is extra special for such a small country and we get zero funding, unlike other countries.

“We were competing against teams who are very professional and they get a free trip to these World Championships whereas we have to pay out of our own pockets to compete.

“That makes the victory all the sweeter and we are looking forward to celebrating at home.

“My mum and dad are over here and have been to all the competitions and it is nice to have something to give back to them for all that support.”

Meanwhile, proud father Pat O’Doherty said: “We are absolutely thrilled and something lit in him from a very young age and he took the passion of fishing a number of years ago.

“I often said that James, when he was growing up, he did not have one father, he had about 60 fathers.

“For from the age of 11 or 12, he would ask me to drop him down to the edge of the river and there would be all these fishermen from England with their boxes and special seats.

“And for four hours he would have talked to every fisherman, what they were using and what rods they had.

“He was like their mascot and they taught him everything.”