Alan Scotthorne prepares for the European Championship, which takes place on the Hensies-Pommerœul Canal next weekend in Bernissart, Belgium.

Normally we travel out for two weeks practice for the European Championship with Drennan Team England, but due to some extra work being carried out on this year’s venue, a large canal in Belgium, we were forced to do our pre-match preparation here back in England.

I and travelling partner Lee Kerry have spent two days working on our slider fishing at Sheffield’s Underbank Reservoir, as we have been told that this technique would play a major part in the competition. You may think why practice a method that I have done well with over the years but even for me sharpening up on groundbaiting at 50 turns of a 4000-size reel and a 6SSG slider is a must to help get back in tune with accuracy.

Underbank is the ideal place for this method, with a depth of around 14ft at the required distance it was just perfect. I have always struggled to find a good venue to practice on but this place just took us by surprise at just how good the fishing was. We caught Skimmers, roach and lots of perch and bites came regularly for both the four-hour sessions. It’s great to be on a large expanse of water full of fish!

It’s also the first real chance I’ve had this year to use the new 14ft Drennan Acolyte Plus Waggler rods that I helped developed with Drennan for this type of waggler work. What a joy to use. With the extra backbone in the rods I could reach the elected distance with ease but the playing action is still there, so catching anything from 3oz roach up to 5lb bream is not a problem.

One of the secrets to being accurate is to use a catapult that when at full stretch, as long as each ball is made the same size, it will only travel the distance required. I adapt three Drennan Softfeed Catapults by shortening the elastics to fire 30 turns, 40 turns and 50 turns of a 4000-size reel. That will cover all eventualities. All you then need to do is clip up five turns past this range, so you can wind over the feed area and sink the line for accurate fishing. It sounds easy but still requires lots of practice!

Hopefully I can report that the practice was all worth it. I will let you know in a couple of weeks time. Tight lines!