WORLDCARPCLASSIC.COM
DUTCH COURAGE CO SCHIJF LOOKS BACK IN WONDER
all my WCC adventures: to see all those anglers again, ones you have known for so many years, some of them starting their own business and doing well. You belong to this certain special group and see that you are not the only one who is looking older through the
years...It feels a bit like coming home. This was the first WCC I fished in as part of a trio, what will these days bring for us? Lars, I know him already as a friend in daily life and Peter I didn’t know him at all, but what a match we were together! Peg draw! I had the peg already in my head and YES, dreams come true! Then after walking off the stage a friendly woman is waiting for us with microphone and camera? Weird feeling that family and friends at home can watch what you are doing at that moment. It looks so much more professional, and knowing all the inventions that are available what more can you expect in the future? Game on! The match starts. We spoke about
our strategy, one team, one tactic, knowing what the bait will do when used properly, the rigs all nicely made up and made especially for that water. Will we catch ? Two hours after the start signal a young guy needed my car and he brought it back, a total wreck! Luckily he was unharmed, but it gave me a bunch of problems, never heard from him again and he didn’t take any responsibility for it. Shame on you! Calling home about the car for the whole day,
Going Dutch ... This was the first WCC I fished as part of a trio ... and yes, dreams do come true
and that took quite a time before all the stuff from the anglers was on the other side. And the temperature? Hot as hell! Finally, I arrived and stepped out of the boat
in shallow water and sunk up to my knees in the mud! I soldiered on, wading and struggling through stinking mud for 5-6 metres before I stepped on solid ground. All right, take it as it comes, so full of confidence
I prepared the rods so the lines can go in the water when the signal is given, the match started one hour later because of the earlier problems. But first a chair, my body is complete a mess,
the heat is unbelievable and what is that awful dirty smell? I noticed during the boat trip that as far you can look there was weed from the bottom to the surface. The water was 70-100cm cm deep for about 300 metres, this match was going to be a hard one!
Tweeeeettttttttt..the signal was given. Game onnn!! Tight lines and a lot of luck my friends, we’re going to need it! The camp was set up, so my plan is to first have a bite to eat and then get some early sleep. But no, from a distance I see people coming my way, huh who are they? Five marshals coming to help us out, “Can we do anything for you sir? Can we get you anything sir?” Wowwww so kind of them! No early sleep, they stayed until
uhhhmm...late, but it was a very nice end to a stressful day. Sleep now. Tomorrow’s going to be a busy
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day, I want to catch carp. Settle down looking for some sweet dreams. Aaaaahhhhhh, it’s 2 am, what is that noise outside my bivvy? And who is touching my bivvy all the time? I unzip and take a peek outside, well, I closed the zipper quicker than I unzipped it. Wild boars outside with their babies eating my bivvy. Now I know where that awful smell comes from, they made a mud bath that smelled like a toilet that wasn’t cleaned for a year 5 metres from the bivvy. I am not a great naturalist, but I know that when they have babies those animals are really dangerous, and I need to pee! Where is an empty bottle? Going outside was absolutely no option whatsoever! Searching for tools or anything that I can use as a weapon because the first creature that is sticking his nose in my tent will be getting some treatment, I’ll give him what for, or maybe I’d better not. WCC arranged the pegs so a lot of teams had
the comfort of a toilet and shower in the close proximity, but guess what? Yes, you already have, no comfort for us over here, damn. Oh well, it’s not that strange, after all how would you provide those in the middle of nowhere, so no hard feelings! If you think all of this was bad, now imagine what it was like for me in this match, I brought my wife with me and we fished the match as a couple! This gives me the opportunity to give my wife so much credit and respect, I heard no complaints from her, she made it fun for me, we laughed so much, making food for the Marshals, giving out drinks, every day during the day, the marshals sat with us because every time they came to see us it took them more than half an hour walking, once they took a seat they didn’t want to leave. Dutch hospitality I think. I’d just like to say thanks for all their efforts and kindness, we appreciated it! During the match a camera team from sky TV
visited us and Danny interviewed me in 2006. A new phenomenon for me as an angler during a match was TV media, and now in 2014 we have tweeting, whatsapp, facebook, skype and heaven knows what else during the match. It was not possible to catch fish, not any way,
not by any system, not even with all the luck in the world, our match was done two days before the end. Can we go home? Well no, you can’t. You can’t expect the boats to come and get you while the match is still going on. Other anglers also wanted to leave, but also couldn’t and that was a blessing for all of us. Kevin Knight with his mates and I were neighbours, so the last two days together with the marshals we had the time of our life. Those last two days made up for a lot of the lesser things. There are no regrets, it was a match never to be forgotten.
Lago di Bolsena
Another country, so different from France, the Italian people were very friendly and were willing to speak English. This was THE holiday environment, a huge
water with a lot of potential, but it also seems hard with a lot of obstacles. It is not just a match where you want to win the first prize, it is so much more! For me it is an adventure, use and try other tactics, learn from other anglers, and what I described in
I was knocked out because of it all. I needed to recover and get the pleasure back and the spirit to keep on fishing. What to do to find it? I called my wife and she talked me round, put me back on track. “Forget about all that for now darling, you can’t change things right now, so put all your energy into the game.” And so I did! We had a lot of fun, Darren Mullard, our
Marshall was a great guy and liked him a lot, he took so many pictures that he sent to me when I got home, so thanks Darren, he’s another one of the guys I hope to see at my next WCC. Yesssss! Carp hooked, and more carp follow,
we went out of our minds, but it was hard, very hard. The weather changed into a very ugly storm, thunder and lightning that was extraordinary, but still fish on the spot. To go into a rubber boat in that kind of weather with the big waves is a little bit like suicide, your body smashed from left to right and back again…no, no, no, I can’t land the fish, it swims around a marker held in place with big chains, and oh no, SNAPPPP
...line
broke...fish gone *&*%#!(&%#!!! As I said about the media, we knew what other
teams did. Facebook revealed a lot, WhatsApp told us the latest result it all added to the PRESSURE. We hooked more carp and we lost another five carp. Which place is going to be ours? Fifth, fourth maybe? No, one better, we did it! CoBRI team were number three on the prize stage. Wow! If you ask me which water to fish again then
that would be Lago Di Bolsena. All the stories I have told, I have talked about
me and my experiences. But of course, I didn’t fish the matches alone, but to describe my mates their (our) stories would fill a book. I thank each and every one of them who participated with me on the WCC! All of them made every particular WCC special! Back home, I dropped on the couch and
couldn’t move, my body was black and blue, my legs felt like rubber and covered with scars. A cup of coffee and then onto the internet for some breath taking footage, drones in the air, catch and release underwater, wow! The whole WCC in front of the camera. Interviews which were so professional. You nailed it Ross! Will I do another WCC?
You bet! See you in 2015 on Lac de Madine folks! n CO SCHIJF
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