Sensas Challenge Final Full report
Their bloodworm tactics leave English sides standing
FRANCE’S star-studded Sensas Team 28 side won the annual Sensas International Challenge on the Gloucester Canal with ease, and had four of the top six individuals into the bargain.
They ended the match with a 24.5 point tally, 12.5 in front of runners-up Drennan Leicester Sensas A.
Highly-coloured and cold, the canal was a hard nut to crack for the 30 competing teams but the French did it in style.
Event organiser Mark Downes cited the regularity of such matches on the continent as the reason why the champions felt very much at home.
“The French dominated the weekend and the win goes to show how strong they are at this type of fishing,” Mark said.
“Bloodworm on a big shipping canal is meat and drink to them but for the English sides it’s a one-off. The French are better at it, pure and simple.”
Mark felt that their resolve to catch a fish and avoid a dry net went a long way to their victory, even if that meant fishing tight to the marginal tins for a perch. Many other teams suffered highscoring blanks but the French fished for and caught vital fish to get points on the board. “Bream were in some areas and here the French fed a 50/50 mix of groundbait and leam with caster, joker, chopped worm, dead maggot and pinkie,” Mark explained. “On harder areas with few bream and less colour, the change was made to a darker leam with just joker and pinkies to try and catch a couple of pounds of roach and perch. They also had a lot of lines on the go, at 13m, 11m, 6m and up against those tins. One fish off each of those lines would be good.
“I believe that avoiding dry nets was key but the French did draw well – a good measure of how hard the canal was can be seen in Steve Hemingray’s scores,” Mark added. “He’s the most consistent match angler in the world, yet he caught 50g and then blanked the next day!”
Team result: 1 Sensas Team 28, 24.5pts; 2 Drennan Leicester Sensas A, 37; 3 Sensas Starlets C, 41.5; 4 Sensas Starlets B, 43; 5 Sensas A4, 44; 6 Sensas Starlets A, 45.
Individual result: 1 M Gouileux, Sensas Team 28, 2pts; 2 A Clements, Sensas Team 28, 2.5; 3 M Duchesne, Sensas Team 28, 3 (superior weight); 4 P Hughes, Sensas Starlets C, 3; 5 B Roberts, Tri-Cast Weston Team Wales, 3.5; 6 A Dewimille, Sensas Team 28, 4.