Drennan Barnsley Blacks have won the Sensas Challenge Final for the second year running.
This annual two-day event saw 30 teams of five competing to international rules, including teams from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, the Channel Islands and France. It is a float-only competition with a 13m pole limit and bloodworm and joker allowed. This year’s event was held on the Gloucester Canal and with heavy rain leading up to the weekend it meant the canal fished quite difficult for most of the field.
Drennan Barnsley’s talented team of five consisted of Alan Scotthorne, Matt Godfrey, Lee Kerry, James Dent and Andy Power. Expecting weights to be low they made the tactical decision to target bleak from the off in a number of sections rather than the usual roach and skimmers. That really paid off on Day One, as they managed just 13 penalty points to take an early lead. A similar effort on Day Two saw them score 16 points and a runaway 29-point total. That was more than enough to retain the trophy they did so well to win in 2015.
“The fishing has been hard but also quite technical and we’ve thankfully managed to do the right things in the right areas,” explained Alan Scotthorne, who scored a very convincing section win on Day Two. “There were very few roach to be caught so the plan was to target either bleak shallow or skimmers on the deck, depending on where you drew. Unlike many teams who fed predominantly leam, we also felt that a bit of groundbait helped to draw a few skimmers in the heavily coloured water.”
The top three teams now qualify for a lucrative Grand Final held in France later in the year.
Teams:
- 1st Drennan Barnsley Blacks, 29pts
- 2nd Sensas 28, 49.5pts
- 3rd Sensas Ireland, 55pts
- 4th Kamasan Starlets A, 57pts
Individuals:
- 1st Conor Browne (Sensas Ireland) 2pts
- 2nd Rob Hewison (Sensas Mark One) 3pts
- 3rd Matt Godfrey (Drennan Barnsley) 4pts
- 4th Rich Tomala (RAF) 4pts
- 5th James Dent (Drennan Barnsley) 5pts