Army Championships - Its not perfect if its not Carl....ing!

Well its arrived Friday and work finished I headed straight from Tidworth north to the Army Championships at the Midlands venue Makins Fishery.  Groups 1 to 5 from around the country send their finest to compete.

 Hearing the traffic reports I chose not to go Newbury A 34 M 40 etc, there had been several accidents in the Friday getaway madness.  I went Marlborough, Swindon , Stow on the Wold, Moreton In the Marsh - The Fosse Way.

First problem over the canal at Burbage into Savernake forest and a solid jam faces me.  It took an hour to get the the 4 miles to Marlborough.  Free of the traffic I whizzed on like a free bird to the M4 junction crossing where I was faced by another holdup of 20 minutes for an accident on the junction roundabout.  Free of this one I was enjoying the back road through Lechlade only to hit another snag at Bourton on the Water. My excitement at being on the way was now replaced by a the frustrations of snaggy traffic.  

Of the Fosse Way and on-wards past Warwick, and then another wait for a Caravan on its side with a wheel off.  Arrival at the accommodation after just short of 4 hours!!  Similar tales from those who chose the A34 M 40 route were shared on the way to the bar.  Traffic forgotten, (do the peg draw cards) and enjoy wine, women and song.  Well beer/cider/brandy, junk food and the Chelsea V Bayern Munich match.

After consuming too much Cider a Brandy or two, losing a bet on the score of the penalties in the match.  In addition to being told by a young lady (whose arse I had passed favorable comments on) to "F off"  Granddad,  I stumbled back to my cot.  

The night didn't go well as some of the guys were still crashing around disturbing the peace at 3 in the morning.  Having settled it down I was just dropping of again when one of them burst into my room to drunkenly apologise half an hour later for disturbing me - again!

Morning brought a mild hangover and a 6 am shower.  Whizzed of to the fishery early to look at the venue.  Not been before and its always good to walk the bank and ask the locals questions. Meat and fishery pellet was the majority choice.

 The Fishery cafe dished up a mountainous breakfast, always a good settler for a hangover.  You will note some of the lads were not confident bringing their fish to the venue and trying to hide it under their hat.

Breakfast consumed the banter begins.  Thoughts of the two competitions of the day ( Master and Club man finals).  The Club man, my competition, was to be held on Phase 1 and Phase 3 ( Makins has multiple lakes in three phases-phase 1 being the first stage of the fishery build).  We had P1 lakes 2a and 4 deeper lakes and P3  Thames lake - a Snake type.  I really fancied Thames, so did everyone else. Anything but 2a seemed the choice of most.

 I will say at this point, some people have said I am too hard on myself.  I look at it differently; there are people in life that do well as a matter of course. They seem blessed with good luck.  Add skill to that and the rest of us including me are already behind. Some guys draw the flyer regular, have swim full of feeding fish who jump without hooking into their keepnets, put on kilos of weight during their wait in the match while they wait to be weighed in.  

Me I always have to struggle against the odds.  I rarely draw what I want, certainly not the flying peg.  The wind is always in the wrong direction when others have flat calm, me snaggy, everyone else weed free - you get the picture.

Getting the 90+ anglers booked in took some time, match brief and local rules a little longer. But banter and the enthusiasm of day 1 of the week long competition kept grumbles to a minimum.

In fact I have adopted a line from the great Bob Seger and the Silver bullet band number; as my mantra.  I sing it to myself and smile. it goes " against the wind, I am older now but still running against the wind". Nearly last to draw delayed by Griff who was press ganging money for the charity of the days events, the Bob Coe Charity.  Two tickets left I drew peg 10 on Lake 2, the other ticket by the way Thames  lake- see what I mean - against the wind.

Side view of my peg, from peg 6. looking towards my island chuck.  The`peg itself looked great margin swims either side, 9 foot deep at 16 meters and along chuck to the boards and the island.  Local knowledge was to fill in with dynamite (fishery bait only) pellet, meat, worm or maybe maggot down the edge in the last hour.  My team (Orphans Captain) Carl Amman is two to my right on peg 12.

Looking at my peg I set the bomb and method rods up first.  To land it tight to the boards as directed, I have to use a 45 gram large method feeder and a biggish running lead.  Next a 8 gram preston pellet waggler for up in the water.  Finally pole rigs long up in the water and margin, paste to the left etc.  The noon start comes a little too quick surprisingly.  Carl came along to nick a bit of maggot of me and then shouted the all in.  My plan was to chuck the method tight for an hour to get the fish feeding, then swap to straight lead.  Continue to ping regular pellet over and eventually start catching on the top.  Feed up the edges for the last 1.5 hours.

The Island boards were clearly marked with our corresponding numbers so it was clear where you could fish without encroaching.  Problem was there was a wicked left to right wind so I had to lob at peg nine in order to land in my target area.  The 70 yard mass of water between me and the island meant there was a huge bow in the line, as the water pushed hard into Carl's and the other corner pegs.  First chuck I was in, a foul hooker lost at the net.  Running against the wind.

Pleased by the start I struggled for a bite less hour with small twitches , lift and drop type bites.  Tried adjusting the rig to make more positive, size of hooker and length of hair etc but no joy.

Nobody else was catching so I kept at it,  but changed to straight lead.  Ripping bite resulted in fish scale, but a little more confidence that fish were there. Mid point 3 pm sees me changing to pellet wagg to see if the swirls on top would take.  Carl had just had 3 fish in a row on the bomb, and to be honest panic was setting in slowly fishless after three hours. Still nobody as was catching, but Carl.

Twitching the pellet wag sees it dive and I hook into a munter.  Great fish around 12+ pound.  Levels me up against Carl,s 3 fish and still nobody's catching.  Carl switches to the margin and bangs three quick fish.  Its at this point I ask what bait he is using.  Dead maggot for the long method chuck and sweetcorn down the edge.  I consider changing my pellet and meat attack, but stick with it.  Nothing long on the pole line so down the right edge over the caster/choppy/and hemp. 12 quick Perch for around two pound, but no Carp.

Carl is stretching away now on ten fish.  He and the guys in the corner seem to be reaping the wind, they are all are ladling in the corn micro pellet and hemp and bagging big style.  Carl must have put around six tins in!  A quick dig in the bag to find two tins of corn.  Keeping a small handful for hookers I heap the rest down the edge in an attempt to catch up.  Those of you that remember my "up the swannee"  blog a few weeks ago will know what happened next.  You've guessed it in comes the swans and promptly clear my baited area - still running against the wind"! Not Carls edge swim nor anyone elses, but mine!

The match continues with everyone to the left of me struggling like me for even a bite.  Carl and the others to my right continue to bag and stretch away.  I realise its all over for me, but I have enjoyed the day.  Glad to watch my mate Carl flying the flag for Army group two. Fish after fish and he's bucketing the corn, hemp and micro in.

Whats that new lager advert say, Its not perfect if its not Carlling. Well my boy did good he was fishing a perfect match it seemed.  I thought he was mad swapping the corn for paste; but it only increased the catch rate.

Carl does this occasionally. Look back at the bait tech angling times earlier this year, cometh the big match cometh the man.  Time for him to go into the Masters I think.

The three lads in the corner have it, some others have already packed up and left the bank.  I stick it out to weigh in the one Carp (6.5 kilo) and few perch. Guy to my left had two carp in last 15 minutes down the edge for 5.5 and Dave to the left of him one carp for the same weight.  Carl takes the lake with 32 kilo 780, 400 grams ahead on second place and 3 kilo ahead of third , all in that corner where the wind pushed in.

As I didn't have time off from work I couldn't stay for the rest of the matches this week. Needing to get back to Salisbury I wanted to get going on the drive back, hoping it wasn't as bad as the drive up.

So I have waited all day for text to see who won the masters and if Carl had taken the Clubman .  I will update later, message has not come through.  I hope its Carl Amman or should I say Carl "the man".

Next week back to the Pewsey Championship, heavy lines and big baits probably gone for this year as we slip inexorably into Autumn.  Better luck next year, maybe no more "running against the wind"