MATCH NEWS
Downes wins canal title
RESULT:
1 M Downes, Sensas, 51-12-0; 2 S Long, Daiwa Gordon League, 41-12-0;
3 P Bendall, Daiwa Gordon League, 12-4-0.
ENGLAND Manager Mark Downes has won almost all there is to win in his glittering career, and he can add the Gloucester Canal Champs to that CV.
Held on the notoriously moody venue, Sensas UK boss Mark weighed in an impressive 51-12-0 of bream to just get the nod from Steve Long in second on 41-12-0 as the famed Hempsted area once again produced the goods.
Fishing groundbait feeder and long pole, Mark had 20 fish to 4lb to lead the 30-strong field.
“This shows what the canal is capable of and it’s just a shame that the Sensas Challenge we had booked on here was cancelled because I’m sure it would have been a great match,” Mark said. “I drew peg 50 at Hempsted, which is not on the fancied bend, but in the narrows. It’s good area, but not one I felt I could win from.”
“I started on the feeder fishing 6m off the far bank and caught six bream, but I was waiting for my pole line to get going,” he revealed. “I’d fed eight balls of Canal Fine and Gros Gardons groundbait and Terre de Riviere leam at 11m with joker, dead maggots and dead pinkies in it. After around two hours, I had my first fish on the pole.”
“After that, I was nicking the odd fish every 10 minutes or so, topping up with another ball of feed after every two bream,” Mark commented. “The best bait was a single maggot and six or seven bloodworm crammed on to the hook and fished 6ins overdepth. Resting the pole was also important as even though I didn’t catch when I went back on the feeder, it meant that when I returned to the pole line, I got a a fish almost immediately.”