Above: Peg 32 draws first blood with a decent perch and Didier nets the first of our duo's bag, albeit on the small size! (left).

Left: Our intrepid 'Brit' unhooks a bonus fish... unfortunately at the wrong time of year!

Right: Top Belgian 'ace' Frans Schoubben couldn't muster up any magic on the Prince Albert.

The match was developing into a sparse affair with the odd good fish coming to bunched blood or caster and it was anybody's guess who'd win. Even the top Belgian international, Frans Schoubben, was finding the going tough, but he nevertheless managed to give the camera a muted smile!

I was now feeling a little peckish and parched so a walk down to the HQ tent, were I knew a barbi was being prepared, seemed in order. The ladies (left), who were in charge of refreshments, seemed genuinely happy to serve me with the odd beer while the accompanying male dished up a welcoming pork roll, hot off the barbi and all while snapping some of the near by contestants, in fact they were immediately in front of the HQ tents and barbi! All this helped pass the time away, not to mention alleviate some pressing hunger pangs.

Above left: A good bream from peg 7 showed that the canal is capable of producing good fish along with this decent roach (above right) on peg 27. Its worth noting that this particular venue was the scene of the 2002 Euro Champs and is reputedly one of the hardest in Belgium (now they tell us!).

Ugh !!!
We were approaching the end of the 4 hour period and I was getting very foot weary, it had been a long day. I'd followed the weigh-in to the pair I believed would win and watched the scales tip past the 4.7 kilo mark I felt I'd hit pay dirt! I tried to explain to the two Belgian lads that I wanted a photograph of the catch, in a somewhat broken English sign-speak, you know the sort of thing you do when you can't speak the language and they won't learn yours! I felt that the various cameras hanging around my neck would possibly be a give-away but as I relentlessly kept gesturing, to whom I believed was a Monsieur Baugnet, that I wanted a picture he seemed to have his mind elsewhere as he tipped the catch back in the canal... now were did that bloody phrase book go? Walking back somewhat deflated I helped Mark (who also seemed deflated) stow his kit in the motor and then drove back to HQ to find out the crack, or in this case the Belgian for crack! Not much was happening, as was usually the case when people slowly filtered back, but in this instance the difference was we couldn't understand any of the banter from the Belgian guys so we didn't know what had happened!

Left: These 'Americano' matches can develop into a assault course when it comes to depositing fish in the keepnet!

Above right: Mark and Didier (centre & centre right) share a alcoholic moment with their team mates.

"Why are we waiting, why are we ....."
Some of Mark's new team mates joined us, with top-up supplies of beer, and we waited... and waited... for the results (does that sound familiar to anyone in the UK?). Four or five.. maybe six bottles later it was time for executive action. I endeavoured to find the organisers in the meleé of continental folk and with a little help from Marks team mates I struck lucky... we found an organiser and standing close by was a German lady who spoke impeccable English. She very kindly translated my request, for the top three pairs to gather for a group shot, and then helped in establishing their names... you see everything comes to he who waits!

Above: (L to R) Top three pairs: 2nd place - F Andreatta & J. Camino 4.200kg, Winners - D. Lejeune & G. Baugnet 4.750kg, 3rd place - M. Phillipon & R. Strong 3.820kg.

Having scored with the winners photo's we clambered back into the motor and raced back to base as by this time it was getting late! On arrival it was a quick unpack and scrub up then into the local town for a meal were the leisurely approach to life continued.

Icing on the cake!
There was one other item which contributed to making the day just about perfect... an introduction to Roland Marcq, the Belgian team manager, along with three of his stars... Frans Schoubben, Eric de Venti and Gert Jacobs. Roland was very forthright in his assessment of the coming world champs and inparticular some of the other teams which impressed him, notably the Hungarians and Poles. An interesting prelude to September's blue riband event will be the Six Nations competiton in August when the four home sides (England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland) will be joined by the Belgian and French squads for a workout on the River Loire at Sully sur Loire... we're hoping Matchangler.com will be there to report on what could be a carbon copy finish of September's event.

Above: The 'Roland's Boys' L to R: Frans Schoubben, Gert Jacobs, Roland Marcq and Eric de Venti.

Sunday morning was an altogether more relaxed start, about 8am, and our agenda would see us travelling to the fishing 'Supermarket' Bever Henglesport run by Eddie, spying out Bloso lake at Hazewinkel and checking the accommodation facilities for our stay in September plus anything else that took our fancy!

Eddie's really does have a big one!
On arrival at Eddie's I was once more struck by the size of the place. Mark's initial feature on the venue gave some idea as to its expanse but when you stand inside it takes on a whole new meaning. We do have large tackle shops in the UK but this was more like a medium sized Tesco's! A leisurely mooch around saw a few essential items purchased... well do you go into a tackle shop and come out empty handed!!!

Above: I told you Mark was a Sensas 'Nut'!

One item which impressed me greatly was this enormous catapult. I say catapult but it looked more like a 'ballista' from a Roman legion (right). Apparently these things are used on some of the massive carp venues which abound on the continent were ordinary means of depositing your shedful of bait by boat is not permitted. It would be interesting to see how far you could send a 'jaffa' on the GUC (lengthways of course!). Anyway for those who'll be making the trip to Belgium in September a visit to Eddie's should be number 2 on your list of things to do... you'll not be disappointed!

Above: The Zeekanal with Olivier, Emanuel and Mark.

Our next port of call was to be 'Bloso' but Mark took a detour via the Zeekanal in Willebroek in the hope that we'd see some action, and indeed we struck lucky, very lucky, when we spied two of Belgium's top feeder angler's, Olivier van de Velde, the VDE 2004 3 Day Festival Champion, (a title Mark won in 2003) and Emanuel Mampaey the 2004 Belgian Feeder Champion. The opportunity was not missed to take a sneaky look at his kit, which to be perfectly honest was nothing out of the ordinary. His setup was much the same as here in the UK but he did have an interesting piece of equipment...

...a hook-holder which you can store all those extra long feeder hooklengths that you're likely to use on any given session, a real time saver when match fishing! This simple accessory is fashioned out of a piece of foam tubing, the sort you get from the plumbers, were you stick your hook in, wrap round hooklength to the the loop and then secure with a small map pin... SIMPLE and effective! After watching Olivier pull in a couple of good skimmers it was off to the main attraction... BLOSO LAKE HAZEWINKEL!

Some venue!
On arrival I was immediately impressed with the peaceful and tranquil ambience of the place, this undoubtably would be in stark contrast to September's event when thousands are expected to envelop and clog-up the area. Sunday had now blossomed into a beautiful day, unlike the previous unsettled and drab day, and the lake was bathed in bright sunshine. The only people about were the odd walker and rowing club personnel so we had uncluttered access on the lake. As the lake was 2.5 kilometres in long I erred on the side of caution and ventured only a few hundred metres along its length (I had, after all, tramped a few 'km' the day before so was not feeling particularly frisky!). The championship side was pefectly straight so when you'd seen one hundred metres you had basically seen the rest of the metres! CHECK OUT THE PANORAMIC VIEW... click

What was noticeable was the clarity of the water and the banks composition. Bloso is obviuosly man-made judging by the cobblestone like rocks which form its structure, this could prove a problem for any unsuspecting competitor who doesn't have a sound box adjusting system! Another feature that struck me was the height of the second pathway which will be the main walkway. This will be above the competing anglers skyline so with many people expected in September it could create a no-go area for the fish, especially in the early sections bearing in mind the 13 metre pole limit! This fact when coupled with the depth of water could see the 'slider' playing a major role!

Opposite looked real tasty, masses of trees and big bays, a dream for the angler looking for seclusion and peace... no chance of that in September! Mark should be over there in June for a special fish feature so watch out for his piece in the 'correspondents' section later in the month.

An Oasis!
One welcoming sight was the café/restaurant opposite the venue's front gates. This proved a most pleasant midday break and will almost certainly be packed out during practice week. The food was excellant, although I wouldn't recommend having the bolognese sauce on the cheese and ham toastie... it was too much! Returning back to base we had one more stop to make, one I'd forgotten about... the hotel, fortunately for me, Mark hadn't!

I was surprised that most of the rooms had been taken, mostly by a French contingent, but they had left us some 'scraps' and I quickly slapped a provisional reserve on them. Now. Mark stressed in his section that hotels in the area are becoming fully booked-up, so once more we remind you that if your planning to come here in September then BOOK NOW or face staying 'miles' away. There was one other item I managed to achieve back at Mark's pad before departing for my train home, but that's something to report on much later!

Musn't forget the Duty Free's!
I was hoping to find some form of supermarket were I could buy some booze and 'baccy' (for my son's) but because the Saturday was a Bank Holiday in Belgium and most supermarkets are closed on Sunday's I'd not been able to gain access to Belgium's cheap contraband market I was therefore pining my hopes on the shops at Brussels Midi! Arriving in what I believed was just enough time (been here before methinks) I said my goodbyes to my excellent and attentive host and waddled into the station complex under numerous bags. First stop was the chocolate shop... yum, yum (for the wife of course) and then I saw a mini-mart. Well they didn't go in for nice wide aisles like the foreign hypermarkets which proved a bit of an assault course when added to the busy clientel and after much to-ing and fro-ing I arrived at the till with my limited drinks and nil 'baccy' ration (they didn't do 'baccy'). Time was now starting to become critical so a sort of running suffle was applied as the weight to bag ratio had increased drastically. The security checks were taking up valuble time and it crossed my mind whether or not they'd lay on a separate train for the late arrivals! All ends well and I boarded the six o'clock for London Waterloo and settled down in a nice seat with loads of room and plenty of free drinks and dinner!
That extra 'tenner' on first class was well worth it !

Oh, nearly forgot Simba. This house moggy was one big boy and constantly patrolled the house and grounds. Despite my best efforts to make friends he declined my offer, so maybe if I print his picture he'll meow to me next time (so, I like cats) !

Finally a very big thank you to my host and hostess, Mark and Anushka. Without them this weekend would have been a complete failure, both socially and professionally and I will hopefully look forward to seeing them both again in September.

Back to Contents ....... Part 1