After managing
to come second in the Inter Corps Championships at Walthamstow earlier in the
year and also by finishing in the top 10 of the Army UK, I was called up to
represent the Royal Signals in the Inter Corps Carp Championships at the
Wraysbury 1 complex. The team consisted of myself, the Pauls again, Chris,
Deano and Nick, and lucky Chris was going to be my partner for the three days.
We had been given
the South lake to fish and the truth about this lake is that although it is
stuffed to the rafters with double figure carp and a few surprises, due to the
size and shape not everyone would have a chance on the fish. We needed to come out early in the draw, but
as is so often the case that didn’t happen as we were last but one pair out of
the hat.
This gave us
a choice of two swims, the first was peg 5, in a bay that very few fish had
been seen in and I had not heard of a fish coming out of and the second was peg
7, also known as the party swim and was the entry into a bay from a narrow
section behind some islands.
So we
decided on peg 7 especially as we had seen a few fish bubbling in that area in
the morning. We got loaded up onto the
Kubota and got chauffeured to our swim to have a nice surprise as we turned up….
The fish were still bubbling. Not wanting
to spook them we tricked a small amount of loose boilies into the area straight
away and then went about digging pods in and setting up rods and camp, it took
a while but we were ready to get a couple of rods in each at the all-in.
What happen
next was text book as we had just settled in and started to put up the bivvys
when Chris’s left hand rod went into meltdown, it was a fraught fight but we
soon had a low double in the net. High fives all round, we were straight on the
phone to Tim to ensure that Chris got the accolade of first fish. We secured the fish in a retainer whilst we
were waiting on the scales and no sooner as the fish was comfy that my right
hand rod fishing LOCKED up against some snags needed urgent attention. Again it
was a bit nip and tuck through the trees and snags but Chris soon scooped
another dark scaley one into the bottom of the net. We were well happy at this
point as you might well guess.
This set the
president unfortunately with me having a dropped take in the early evening, and
Chris loosing 2 carp to the snags in the early hours. That was it for our action, we even got
desperate on the last morning as all we needed was 1 more fish to get the team
into third place overall as both of the other pairs had managed to catch of the
other lakes. PVA Bags, choddies, bottom baits and even the naked carp dance were
all tried in the vain hope of a bite, we even ended up with all 4 rods trying
to catch a bubbler that was cruising around the swim.
Alas it was
not enough though and it was all too little too late. We as a team ended up 4th out of
10 teams so it was not all bad, all three pairs had caught fish and we were
unlikely to catch the RAC who were the overall winners as they had two section
wins and a section second. Ant and Mark both bagged originals as well to top it
off for them. I am looking forward to
next year’s festival already and I have managed to get selected to compete in
the Carp Inter Services so watch out for that one. Finally thankyou Tim and Briggers for
organising a brilliant event, and thankyou to all the staff at RK leisure for
looking after us for the week, the facilities are second to none and the
fishing isn’t too shabby either. I will be back.
What would I
have done differently?
Looking at
the swim my Back channel was good for a couple of early bites but I think the
left hand rod should have been fished in front of Chris for the duration,
however, hindsight is the best angler I know.
Tackle used:
Rods: 13ft
3.5lb tc Free spirit CTX
Reels:
Shimano 14000 Ultegra XTC
Line: 16lb
Fox TransKaki Flouro
