ionto reality
certainly mystery. I’d always thought that I would fi nd big waters daunting. I didn’t: I found Madine exciting and since that fi rst event in 1998 I have had no fear of big-water fi shing. Yes, in matches you fi sh where you draw, but that is part of the excitement and mystery. I’ve since enjoyed sessions at Madine, Cassien, Raduta, and the Orient, and while I haven’t caught on every session I’ve had more than my share of good fortune and been enthralled by the air of freedom of having all that space, sky and water in front of me and all around me. One of the great attractions of carp fi shing which drew me to the pursuit of carp in the fi rst place was in not knowing: in the early days I fi shed waters that I wasn’t even sure held carp. Frustration is part of the game, and that frustration is heightened tenfold by the participation in big-water sessions, and especially big-water matches. It’s no good entering one and being fazed by not catching, or not succeeding. Trying to win a big match is a lifetime commitment, and while Steve Briggs and I have been fortunate enough to win two world championships (out of three) the World Carp Classic is proving a different proposition altogether. Every year is a frustrating ‘never again’
a
year, and every year I go scurrying back thinking, or knowing, that the next time will be the big one.
fter the fi rst year memories of the other two Madine events become a blur. The second year the event was won from a swim no one wanted which
was pegged at the far end of the little dam wall which separates Madine 2 from the main lake. The winners were Dave Poxon and
Mark Redding. This was the year we won the team title for the fi rst time on the strength of a carp caught by John Lilley from a peg half way along the back of the main island. It was the same carp I caught the previous year from the other side of the island! (What do you mean, it must have been a mug fi sh then?) It has to be said that the back of the main island seemed to be a much better draw back then that it has been since the event returned to Madine in the last two years. It is due for a return to form, so don’t hang yourself if you get drawn there just because no one has caught
a carp from any of the pegs within two miles of your spot for years! I fi shed with Simon Crow the second year, on the back of the main island again, and we blanked. The third year our Pip and Jemima
caught a carp from the back of the small island near HQ and won the ladies title. I fi shed with Briggsy. This was a couple of months after we had won the World Cup at Fishabil, and we were drawn next to the previous year’s WCC winners on the back of the main island. We all blanked. Well that’s not quite true. By this time the Madine bream were starting to understand that carp baits were food so we had plenty of indicator activity of a very frustrating nature. It rained for most of the event, too. The infrastructure at Madine was
great, but there were drawbacks. During the fi rst three years the use of boats was not allowed in the event, nor was the lake closed down to the normal resort activities like boating and swimming. There was an air of hostility at times, which I think was extended towards the organisers. Ross was three years in
Magazine sponsored by Pescalis
www.pescalis.com 25
Above.. Tim cites the WCC for sowing the seeds of his love for big water angling.
Left.. The wheel of (mis)fortune had its fans, but Tim wasn’t one of them!
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