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WCC CHAMPS 2005 CLIVE HICKS & KEITH TURNER
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AGAINST ALL ODDS
Now with the experience of many expeditions behind us, we decided to try and get to Lac Amance early this year in order to give us time to have a good look around the lake without feeling too time pressured. We left for the tunnel at around 4:30 pm on
Sunday evening and eventually arrived at the lake around 1:00 am in the morning. There had been torrential rain since we arrived in France and the prospect of getting a bivvy up was not particularly appealing; however the shower block (which would have provided a suitable overnight haven for our bedchairs) was locked so there was no alternative but to bite the bullet. As usual, soaking wet and five minutes after getting into our bivvies it stopped raining! We decided that we should use our first day
to find out all about the water and the pegs, the end result of our first very long day driving and trudging around the lake – which incidentally is huge – was a list of all the peg numbers and a corresponding Yes/No, the idea being that we could consult the list after we made our draw and if it was a ‘no’, simply draw again, no discussion, no prevarication, no chin scratching, just a simple decision. A few drinks in the bar in the evening led to a
few more drinks, which in turn led to us having a heated discussion with two lads from Scotland about whether or not we over complicate the whole business of carp fishing and at the end of the day it really boils down to something very simple: having fish in front of you and getting them to pick up a hook bait. When the bar closed and we continued to attack a couple of slabs of beer, as with all good things they eventually come to an end and following an all too brief sleep they were replaced by a terrible hangover on Tuesday morning. After our heads cleared sufficiently we were off
round the lake to confirm that the peg numbers that had been temporarily assigned were actually the ones that were now in the swims, and that we both agreed our yes/no list. We were back at base by early afternoon to clean up and get ready for the giant BBQ and entertainment. Being the dedicated, keen sportsmen that we are, and realizing that the competition was starting the very next day it was of course paramount to keep a clear head for the draw and the start of the match. So, we both had way too many beers and eventually got back to our bivvies in the early hours! Assembling for the draw is a tense affair: yes/no
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list – check, lucky heather – check. All you can do now is hope for your name to come out early and to then pick a good swim before they are all taken. Up on stage, list in hand and draw…make or break time…out came peg 51. No time to waste, down the list to 51, the clock is running and it’s a NO. ‘He’s going to put that one back’ said Ross Honey to a slight gasp from the remaining assembled
My fishing partner, Keith Turner and I set out this year with the objective of
not blanking and at least to pick up a little fish .. Little
did we know that in an event when the carp were not
cooperating with the 160+ anglers around the lake,
breaking our duck would not only satisfy our personal goal for the competition, but also put us right up there with a chance of winning it!
anglers. Apparently, and unbeknown to me, pegs 51 and 52 were hotly tipped as areas that would be productive and were well fancied. Keith maintains that he told me they should be changed from ‘no’ to ‘yes’ on the list, but I have no recollection and so I drew again…peg 61… fortunately a ‘yes’ on the list. What a good result I thought and returned to my seat to a partner slightly concerned that I had thrown back the potential winning peg! You can imagine the pressure this put me under.
Not only did we need to catch something in peg 61, but I also needed peg 51 to be unproductive. Imagine the grief if 51 ran away with the competition and we blanked in 61, this played on my mind for the early days of the competition. Peg 61 was at the southern end of the lake in an
area known as Pig Wood. There were three other pairs to our right, along a section of forest lined bank running to the dam wall. To our left was a point and we had plenty of open water in front of us. We also discovered that 61 is known as ‘The Graveyard Swim’ due to a small graveyard to the left of us at a range of 140+ yards from when the valley was originally flooded. We hoped that the name was not a portent of things to come. It was by now close to 11:00 am and we had
four hours to get set up and be ready for the starter rocket at 3:00 pm. I don’t know where the time goes in the run up to starting, but it seemed to fly by and we were only in the water with three rods by the time the Sparsholt marshal told us we were underway. Apparently the starter rocket had been of the roman candle variety, which I am sure
was visually very pleasant, but lacking the ‘bang’ required to signify the start of the event. It was at this time that we had a significant
setback. Keith’s mother was taken ill at home with a heart attack and admitted to hospital. It was a case of ringing home every two hours to assess the situation and if her condition deteriorated, to ship out and return home. Thankfully, as it was, her condition seemed to improve slowly and we were able to stay put for the time being. Keith positioned his first rod to the back of
the weed bed to his left and the second beyond the weed in open water. I fished directly out in front with my first and the other rod went under the trees to my right in the margin. Nothing to do now but sit back and wait as darkness fell. We both (unfortunately) slept well that evening with no action from any of the rods. On Thursday morning the catch report from around the lake told us that we were not the only ones to be struggling and in fact no carp had been caught only a few instances of bream and tench. This is always good news because it confirms that you are not doing anything wrong if no one else is catching either, and more importantly, Peg 51 was not producing. At about 11pm the right hand rod screamed
into life. I was out of the bivvy and onto the rods to see a swan disappear into the gloom – it had clearly been feeding on the free offerings in the margin and picked up the line. At 12:30am the right hand rod was away again, this time with a proper run. The fish decided that it would put a bend in the rod as it kited right towards the weed bed, sidestrain on and try and turn it back but in the darkness it was too late and it was in the weed; moments later the hook pulled and he was away. We had clearly been doing something right as
the next morning’s catch report confirmed very few fish out around the lake, and more importantly 51 was still drawing a blank! We would do exactly as the previous day except we would change a few of the variables in our favour. We wanted to get the rods on the bank rather than out in the water, so we could get on a run more quickly. We borrowed a bow saw from the Sparsholt boys and cut back some of the overhanging bushes to give us a clearer path to the water and enable us to set up the rods on the bank. At around 1:00 am Friday morning the right
hand rod was away again – this time it was important to make no mistakes. Once the hook had been set Keith had his waders on I handed the rod over. It’s pretty difficult to put chest waders on at the best of times but in the dark with a fish on it is virtually impossible without either falling over or getting them on backwards. Keith got the fish under control and then handed the rod back to me and took the landing net. A short struggle later we had our fist fish in the net – a common of just under 20lb, what a relief. At about 5:20 am the same rod was off
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