By Matt | No Comments
Last updated: Wednesday, March 19, 2008

This weekend saw the annual Sensas Challenge Final Qualifier, and was held at Birmingham’s Barston lakes and the nearby Packington Somers fishery. The French international team, Sensas 28, came over to fish, along with another 23 English teams that had been invited or qualified. The event is fished to CIPS international rules, and takes place over two days. The top three teams qualify for the final that is held on one of France’s canals in October. After a good result the previous week with the Triana North lads, Moral was high, and despite never seeing the place before, we were feeling pretty up for it! I had made a few phone calls to get some information about the place, and the event was silver fish only, with a 13m pole limit, 3 pint bait limit and 15 litre groundbait limits.

First impressions of Barston certainly came with a massive ‘Wow!!!’ The fishery is on a huge golf course, and the 18th green is actually in the lake! The Building on the lakes is proper mint, overlooking the lake, and rather posh for a load of smelly fisherman. En early start got us down there in plenty of time for the draw, which placed me at Barston, on peg 56. Several people mentioned that it was a good area. I had the company of Will Raison, Sean Ashby, and several other crack anglers in the section. Fellow England junior Jake Marshall was two pegs down too. The beauty about these big events is that you get to fish with some of the best teams in the country.

I planned to keep things simple for the four hour match, and set up three rigs for a 13m pole line. These all consisted of Jean Francois floats, a 0.2g, 0.4g and 0.6g. They were all made up on 0.10 main line, with a bulk and two number 10 droppers. Number 4 elastic accompanied a 20 gamma green hook on 0.07 line. Pluming up revealed that the peg was flat, at around 5 foot deep. I also set a rig up for skimmers with a 0.5g Tomas Walter float, with a 6 elastic and 16 hook. I also planned on feeding a waggler line for bonus fish. This rig was simple, with a 10g Tomas Walter Wag, four number 8’s down the line and an 0.10 hooklength and 18 Gamma pellet hook.

The mix that I had for the pole line was a bag of Sensas noir, a bag of lake and a bag of brown leam. The waggler mix was a simple bag of fishmeal, crazy bait gold. My three pint bait limit consisted of a pint of joker, a pint of casters, and a pint of maggot and pinkies. I’ve got to say, after a winter of cupping in bits of joker and the odd pellet, I was well up for launching 10 jaffers at the pole tip!!!

5 Minute pre Baiting……SPLADOOOOOSH!!!!!

I balled in 10 proper uns’ at 13m to make a cloud and then cupped in three balls full of feed to concentrate the fish. I also dropped three balls in at 7 sections, where it was the same depth. The waggler line was also very satisfying to feed, and I fired 15 sausages of fishmeal out at around 30 yards, full of casters and a bit of joker.

ALL IN!!!

I decided to start on the 7 section line to let the 13m swim settle down. A was met with an instant run of dumpy roach on single bloodworm, and I actually stayed on this line for the best part on a hour, putting probably 2½lb in the net. It suddenly died, and the next thing I hooked explained it. It tore off at 500 knots, most likely a carp, which explained the quiet spell. I had a look on the 13m line, and although it was slow, I kept picking up the odd fish. The 0.4g rig was best with single bloodworm. It was slow, and the odd bream had been caught on the pole in my section, so I tried some bigger baits and fished for one for half an hour, but had no success. With 2 ½ hours gone, I was forced into trying the wag. The roach weren’t coming fast enough, and most people had at least two skimmers. First chuck the float buried with three bloodworm and I netted a welcome 1lb skimmer, but despite trying and praying, no more followed. I topped up the long line with two more balls full of feed, hoping to attract a bonus fish, and came short to try and put some more roach in the net. I had a steady run of fish, but more and more skimmers were getting caught, so I went for a bit of a gamble, ad using bunches of bloodworm on the heavy rig, spent the last half hour in search of a lump. It turned out to be a good move, as I netted 4 good roach, 6oz a piece, and with 2 minutes to go, snared something that nodded and felt much better. All fish have to be clear of the water on the whistle of they don’t count, so I hastily shipped back, cringing a little, but safe fully netted another skimmer over a pound. I didn’t have time for any more, as the hooter went before I put my rig in. to be honest, I felt I had fished a poor match, and had definitely missed out on the bonus fish.

I ended up weighing in 3kilo 650g, which put me 8th in my 12 peg section. Will Raison Took it apart weighing 17Kilo!!! There was a 9kilo, a few 6 and 7’s, but if I’d have had another pound it would have got me two more points. I paid my quid to Jake Marshall, and packed the gear away in the rain, looking forward to a meal and re-think back at the digs, which was only few minutes away. The team however had done OK, and we were in a steady 8th position out of 24. Everyone had done well bar me, so I would have to try and make up for it the following day. Spanky did the best out of us all at Packington, coming 3rd with just under 17kilo. The top 5 get paid out, so were we still in with a good chance of some money the next day. The French team showed us all how to do it, winning with 15 points!. They are absolutely awesome. To come, practice one day, and then beat every other home team, most that have practiced all winter, is really impressive. When it comes to groundbait and the continental balling in style, they are the dogs!

Anyway, chicken with melted cheese and bacon, loads of veg and a few drinks went down really well in the evening, and bar maids were certainly something to look at! We had left all the clobber to dry out in the room, and were met with a horrible smell when we got back that night. Where were clothes and bits of gear all over the room drying out, the heaters were on full wack, and the bloodworm was going through a riddle in the bottom of the shower!

DAY 2

A goods night kip saw us feeling much fresher in the morning, and after breakfast it was back to Barson for the draw. The team had a very reasonable draw, with only one bad peg out of five. I was on the end peg at Packington, where there had been loads of fish caught the day before. Joe Carass was on the next peg, where Spanky had been, and with the likes of Steve Hemingray in the middle, and Ben Leach on the other end, I was going to have to really get my finger out.

I decided on a different approach from the previous day. This was to ball in a roach mix at 11m, and then fish a separate bonus fish/skimmer line at the 13m limit. I set up the usual, a 0.4g jean François, the same as the previous day for the 11m line. the rig for the 13m swim was a 0.6g version of the same float, but I used a number 6 elastic and an 18 63-13 hook. I didn’t plan to use or feed the waggler, but I had it ready just in case. My bait on the second day was made up of ½ pint on live joker, ½ pint of dead joker, 1 pint casters and 1pint of chopped worms, with a few maggots and pinkies for the hook.

5 minute pre-baiting…..

I didn’t know what to expect, as there had been a load of bait gone in and fish caught the day before, so I felt that it could have put a downer on the section. I balled in 6 soft balls at 11m, and cupped in three red uns’ with a few casters. The mix for this line was Lake and Noir, with only a bit of damp leam. I had settled on a fishmeal mix for the long 13m line, made up of swim stim green and crazy bait gold. I cupped in five balls on the long line, all crammed with worms, caster, and some dead joker. I felt that I had fed the peg positive enough to catch a winning weight if it was there, but also not gone too mad to mess it up if it was going to be hard.

I started on the 11m line, with a single bloodworm, and first put in was rewarded with a 6oz skimmer. I had a brilliant run of dumpy fish in the first 30 minutes, and probably put a good 1lb ½ in the net. All the time I was firing casters beyond over the 13m swim. With an hour gone I probably had 3lb, which was OK. Joe next door had got a skimmer and a decent roach along with a few bits. I decided to give the 13m swim a go to see if there were any better fish there. I baited up with three bloodworm, and fished the rig with plenty of float showing laid on a good 6 inch. After a few minutes a bite developed and a skimmer around 8oz came to the net. A steady run of 10 or so of these fish, between 3 and 8oz followed. I felt the line slowing, so came off it but kept a few casters going in.

The short line was still strong, and I managed another good run of small roach and the odd skimmer. 2 ½ hours in I probably had around 7/8lb. I kept having a look on the long line and picked the odd small skimmer up or better roach, but the bigger bream and skimmers didn’t seem to be showing for me again. The guy two pegs down was now catching decent fish well on the waggler, and word came down that Steve Hemingray was sacking on the wag. I was coming back with a fish most of the time, which is always a good sign, so I kept going. With an hour to go I cupped in another two balls of fishmeal and some loose caster and worm on the long line, in hope of a bigger fish to boost me up a bit. I kept the small fish coming until the last half hour, when I decided to go for it on the longer line.

A few roach were all that showed until I struck into something that really went. I assumed it was a non-counting carp and shipped straight back to the top 4, pulling like mad. It wasn’t until I got a good glimpse of the fish that I realised it was a blooming massive tench!!! I eased off, a lot, and luckily netted it, it looked a good 3lb!!! It was just what I needed, as I could afford to stay on the long line ‘til the end now. Three bloodworm were back on, and a few skimmers came in the last 10 minutes. I then hooked another better fish that plodded around, and the 5 minute left whistle went as a played it. It was another tench around the pound mark, but I didn’t get time for any more action as the hooter sounded just after. I felt that I had fished a much better match than the day before, as I had caught all the way through, and managed two fish for getting on 5lb in the last half hour. The better fish were just starting to move in, as the match was an hour earlier on the second day. I’m sure that everyone would have caught some skimmers and tench if we had fished the same times as the day before. I though I had around 6 and a half kilo, but Joe was guessing I had more.

When the scales got to me, Steve Hemingray was best with 12kilo, and Ben Leach was second with just under 10 kilo. My pleasing net went 8kilo 850 grams, which put me in third place, a good result.

The team had again done well. Daz Taylor had won his section, I was third, Spanky was half way, Gordon Smith also did well, but Mark Wilson had a gruiler off a terrible peg that had not performed all year according to the locals. We were surprised how well we had actually done and ended up in joint 7th position with the Trentmen. We all got a Sensas prize, and just missed out on the 5th place pay out. Daiwa Dorking did great to win the competition, and the ever consistent French lads were second, with Barston and Starlets also qualifying. I think that had we had some practice we could have easily come in the top 5. We still came above many well known teams, with Barnsley coming well down after a poor draw on day 2. All in all though. It was a really good weekend, on a great venue!!! Bring on next year!!!