Since January 2023, Cresta has been a co-sponsor of team Evezet Cresta Groningen. A predominantly(😉) young and fanatical team whose ambition clear to see. As a team, they recently became champion of the federation Groningen/Drenthe. Team captain Jan Bart Uuldersma reports on how this victory came about.

On the 17th of June, we joined the match of the federation the Eemskanaal at Blokum (GR).

The Eemskanaal runs from Groningen to the locks near Delfzijl and was dug out by hand in 1866 to 1876, in 1963 a widening took place making this canal near Blokum now about 52 metres wide. Pleasure and commercial boats like to use this 6 to 7 metre deep canal, which can create quite a bit of movement and pressure,so  good and strong equipment is important.

Before a big competition, as much as possible fishing is done on the competition stretch, because there are always quite a few aspects to sort out. Firstly, it is important to map the bottom well, after that we need to see at what distances/depths the fish are present and on what the fish are feeding on. Perhaps more importantly in this case, what the fish doesn’t feed on, more about this later.

After an initial training session, with the full team lined up, we could already note the main distances. Around 35 meters and below our own side, just behind the rocks, at around 15 meters. The 15-metre line calls for a soft and forgiving full rod, as the bites come through very hard so close, from nowhere to fully hooped.The Identity Pro Superior 3.20 proved perfect for this situation. With action up to the reel holder, this is a gem of a rod. The more a rod bends, the better it takes the run of any big fish.  With the typical head-shake of a hugh bream, the blank of the rod should provide the necessary damping to prevent the (fine) hook coming loose. What was also noted this day is that there were many fish present in the upper water layers. In feeder fishing, it is then a challenge to get these fish to the bottom, where you need to catch them!

Using a cage feeder continuously creates a ”feed trail” from the moment the basket hits the water to the bottom, this can make the fish in other water layers curious and entice them to chase the trail. When this is the case, bites will often follow ”on the drop”, a take right after the feeder hits the bottom. The cage feeder can be alternated with the plastic open end feeder, a closed plastic feeder that holds your food and bait right to the bottom. You naturally deploy this feeder when the fish are on the bottom, the open end feeder gives more peace of mind on the spot and will eventually yield the fatter fish when they are present. If the bite drops, you could switch back to the cage feeder to get back into a good rhythm.

After several training sessions, the distances were confirmed each time, the best weights came from here, it was also clear that bream was the main and only target.Only a few few small fish were caught, the tactics were  fully geared towards bream.You would think, worms are the right bait to feed. Nothing was further from the truth, the most important thing we found out in the training sessions was that bream didn’t like worms. When you fed worms, even while with bream in the peg, the fish were gone in no time and didn’t come back. Build up slowly with feed and leam, in a 50/50 ratio and dark in colour. Somw joker, a few casters and dead pinks was by far the best to fill the feeder with. The bream caught ranged from 1kg to big, strong ones up to 3kg.

A strong landing net handle is a must with such big fish, the IDentity Accelerate Pro Power landing net handle is highly recommended! Because it comes in 5.5 metres and with 2 threaded sections, you have the choice of omitting the first or last part, this way you can tailor it to the situation. If it is  about many  averaged sized fish, you can leave out the last part, creating a thin, light handle. Should the fishing be as described here, on big fish, the front part can be left out, resulting in a powerhouse that is still light to use!

On match day, we were confident in our approach and how nice it is to get reports through that the whole team is well into the match, while also being told that other competing teams are still struggling in some sections. With each of us having nice bream landed and kept safe in the Supa River Keepnet.This net has everything a keepnet should have on this kind of water. Double connection for horizontal and vertical use, an enlarged upper ring, protection around all the rings, large 6x9mm mesh and an attachment point on the lower ring for weighting on the outside.

By the end of the match, it slowed down almost everywhere and there are hardly any bites to get. Time is ticking by and after the final whistle, it is clear that the match has played out mainly in the first 3 hours. So starting at the right distance was very important. The weigh-in makes it clear that we indeed competed well in the top in all sections and that the team tactics worked out properly.

With a 1, 2, 3, 4, and and 5, we end at 15 points as a team of and win the 2023 championship!

Training, the right materials, means………. winning together!

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