HUNGARY’S stunning  World Championship win on Slovakia’s River Vah was thanks to some 30 consecutive weekends of practice, total-fishing can reveal.

The squad even bought a fisheries scientist along, and had him take fish and examine their stomachs to find out what they were eating the most.

The team quickly concluded that on this big, fast flowing river the fish wanted big baits and after a while the fish moved away from feeding on maggots.

If the water was pressurised, all they wanted was casters, worms and in particular bloodworms. As a result, while most teams fed their full quota of joker, Hungary did not feed one joker between them in the match. Instead they fed lots of bloodworm, topping up on the hour with chopped worm and casters, plus more bloodworm. On the hook they fished bunches of bloodworms plus sometimes pieces of worm. They also fished lighter than England, who were in on the bloodworm trick. While the England lads fished 0.19mm and 0.21mm hooklengths, Hungary fished 0.15mm.

“I hindsight I think we concentrated too much on the barbel when we should have looked to catch the bream,” commented England’s Sean Ashby.

World Championships, River Vah, Piestany, Slovakia

Result, top 15 teams:

1 Sensas Hungary, 55pts

2 Poland, 93.5

3 Sensas France, 102.5

4 Belgium, 109

5 Drennan Team England, 119

6 Slovakia, 128.5

7 Germany, 134

8 Italy, 138

9 Croatia, 138.5

10 Shimano Wales, 153

11 San Marino, 162.5

12 Finland, 164

13 Holland, 170.5

14 Austria, 172

15 Portugal, 173.5

Top 10 individuals

1 Alan Scotthorne, Drennan England, 3pts, 13.140kg

2 Karoly Schater, Sensas Hungary, 5pts, 8.200kg

3 Robert Bednarksi, Poland, 7pts, 12.850kg

4 Tibor Ambrus, Sensas Hungary, 8pts, 9.800kg

5 Marian Hason, Slovakia, 8pts, 7.1110kg

6 Christophe Gazannois, Sensas France, 9pts, 10.270kg

7 Gyula Katus, Sensas Hungary, 9pts, 8.380kg

8 Stuart Conroy, Drennan Team England, 9pts, 8.210kg

9 Jounni Lillman, Finland, 9pts, 6.730kg

10 Luc Vercammen, Belgium, 10pts, 7.630kg

A full in depth report on the World Championships will appear in the November issue of Midland Angler, out October 12th.

Fact file

Venue: River Vah, Piestany, Slovakiatytu

Website: www.piestany.sk .

Travel arrangements: Channel Tunnel via www.directferry.com .

Accommodation: It’s very cheap. We stayed in a four-bedroom apartment close to the town centre with kitchen and shower etc for only 11 Euros per person per night. The owner is finishing a second property based on the same prices. Contact Radoslav Repa by email on rado@list.sk .

Eating out: A great restaurant to visit is the Pension Benakty, which overlooks the Vah. The owner Peter Kocenda is an avid fisherman and the walls are decorated with many of his catches including a national catfish record of over 135lb, caught locally. The wall also holds his world record taimen. The restaurant serves many local delicacies including zander and the steaks are all fillet steaks. A meal including drinks costs under £10 per head. You can find out more about the hotel on www.benatky.sk .

The fishing: Piestiny has a good tackle shop that caters for match, predator and carp anglers. There are many thousands of anglers in the area. There are hundreds of great fishing spots in the region, much of it based around the River Vah, which holds barbel, eels, bream, catfish, large zander, zarthe and many smaller species. There are also many mountain lakes to visit, plus a stocked lake in the town.