This is a competition that I have not fished before, mainly due to our very busy match calendar throughout the year and the fact that you also have to qualify.  That’s a feat we have managed before but we never quite made the time to travel, so all the lads were up for it on this occasion.

Despite the match being almost on the Spanish border and the 1600mile trip looking a little daunting, the fishing did look very good with lots of Catfish, Skimmers and Roach caught in a match in the run up to the competition.

The team of Simon Field, Frankie Gianoncelli, Lee Kerry and me travelling in two vehicles were soon through the Euro tunnel and en route to Lake de Luby with high expectations as we’ve been putting in some great results this year. We were staying on a caravan site right on the lake but arrived just too late to get a glimpse of it. After a good night’s sleep we were up early and on the bank for our first practice session on A section on one of the nicest lakes I have ever set foot on.

We caught very well on short and long poles amassing weights up to 25pounds of mainly Catfish with a few Skimmers and Roach mixed in but surly the whole lake was not this solid as we were to find out the next day when we moved onto the opposite bank into B section. On this section we didn’t catch any fish at all on the pole but Simon Field put together a great 20lb catch of Skimmers on nice twenty five meter chuck on a small Waggler feeding over wetted groundbait and leam with Joker, using bloodworm on the hook.

All looked set for great match with 64 teams in the competition, about 10 of which were from outside France. We had talked with the other two English sides, Starlets captained by Mark Downes and Sensas Image captained by Rob Hewison who had all caught very well but expected it to be mainly a pole match. I had a sneaky feeling that the waggler was going to be the main method on A, B and C sections with pole being used on the narrow part of the top end of the lake in D section where it appeared to be all small Catfish up to 100grams apiece.

Unusually on this match you can place your anglers. Some teams practised one angler per section they were going to fish but we all practised together as I believe the best way to learn a venue is trying all different approaches which is impossible on your own. Because this is primarily a team match the individual is not recognised so it didn’t matter who fished what section. Lee was placed in A, myself in B, Simon in C and Frankie in the narrow D section as we felt this was the best option for our team result.

The match was fished over two days and I managed to win the section of 16 anglers on both days for a perfect 2points score for my team, fishing the waggler for weights of 9kilo and 13kilos of a mix of mainly skimmers and catfish. The team finished on 43 points for 6th overall out of 64 and top team from outside France. French side Sensas28 B won overall with a brilliant 29 points total.

I am now off to Spain for another Sensas competition but on my return I will run through the waggler tactics I used for this double section win and just as important how I fed the swims on both days.

Hasta la vista!