Leading the way as head marshal was Tim Gray, ably assisted by Roo, who lead the troops admirably.  The British Army guys were fantastic and tireless in their quest to ensure things got done when they needed to. So too were the students and tutors from Brooksby and Sparsholt colleges.  No praise can be high enough for the effort and dedication these folk displayed, and their help was very much appreciated by the WCC Staff and competitors alike. Each of you should be proud of the vital role you played in the ultimate success of the event.

After chilling out as best I could on day one, on the second day after my arrival I went into the WCC HQ to register with my angling partner for this event, Andy Pethick.  We signed the necessary paperwork and asked someone standing by to draw our peg number. Having had scandalously poor luck in any previous draws I’ve ever made, it made good sense to ask someone else this time!  The guy plucked out a canister and revealed its contents… peg 7, section 3, which meant absolutely nothing to anyone at this stage.   Only when the wheel was spun on the final morning prior to the tournament starting would this bear any significance at all.

All we knew at this stage was that we were pegged in swim number 7, which was in one of 13 sections, but given the logistics of visiting all13 sections – one of which was on an island – very few anglers undertook the massive task of trying to visit all of these sections. 

This format worked superbly, and as the contestants filtered into the main hall for the official draw, the excitement was so intense that you could cut the atmosphere with a knife.  After the tension had built to a crescendo, the moment arrived where it was time to spin the wheel.  It spun agonisingly slowly as hundreds of hopeful anglers looked on with anticipation. Then it slowed and finally stopped on Dynamite Baits. This would now become section one, and following on clockwise from that everyone could determine which section they were in.  That section for us was to be Indyline.

After talking to a couple of other anglers who had visited this section, we were told that Andy and I had drawn a fairly good peg, or more to the point, we had been quite fortunate with the spin of the wheel!  A marshal explained where our peg was – situated out on the end of a long peninsula – and gave us directions how to get there.  In turn, the Indyline section was asked to go up onto the stage to collect the gift of a magnificent unhooking mat each from title sponsors JRC, and we were then greeted by the section sponsor Indyline and presented with a further gift of their products.  Then, at last and very excitedly, it was off to our swim to get set up!

It was now 9.30AM, and we had what seemed to be a comfortable seven and a half hours before the contest started.  Surprisingly, this proved to be insufficient time in our case, as it was with a few other teams, because we had to boat all of our equipment some distance out to our swim.  Finally, a further three hours after the rockets had signalled the start of the competition, I was fishing.

Out in the mud, 300 yards beyond the trees on this peninsula was to be  our home for the week.

Andy was a couple of hours behind me in setting up, and never wet a line until 10.00PM, more than 12 hours after the draw had taken place! I had settled on two spots just before dark, and decided to fish with just two rods on the first night and sort out another spot the following day.  Andy on the other hand had a microcat with a feature finder, and put all three rods out in the knowledge that the presentation in the copious weed would still be pretty much ok.  We were totally exhausted by the time midnight arrived, but the exhilaration of it all meant that we were still awake when one of Andy’s rods rattled off!

The fish found a snag almost immediately.  It was no surprise to us, as the peninsula itself was scattered with tree stumps and we could see many others protruding from the water too.  Andy quickly jumped into the boat and winched himself out into the blackness of the Orient.  A few minutes later, after the fish had been extricated from a further snag, I heard Andy exclaim ‘he’s in’.  “What’s that Andy, have you netted him mate?” I shouted into the vastness of the Orient. “Yeah, he’s in the boat mate”.  “Get in there!” I uttered through gritted teeth as Andy made his way back to base guided in by the red light we had for such purposes.  Thanks to the coated leader he was using – Kryston Quicksilver Gold – the braid had been prevented from burying deep into the rotting trunks, and Andy had netted a fish that might otherwise have been lost. 

Thankful to Dave Chilton of Kryston, we dealt with the fish and took a few photos before settling it out in the water ensconced in the mesh of a sack.  As we were about a mile from our marshals, Sam and Andy, we had arranged to display a red light in their direction if we had caught.  Sam and Andy are Sparsholt students, and as both are very keen carp anglers, they knew the score. They had set their alarm to go off every two hours so that they could check on the situation.

Some time later, after a long and arduous trudge through the mud to get to us, the guys appeared in our swim to record the fish.  On the scales, this queen of the Orient sent the needle spinning to 15.200kg – or around 33lb in English money - and we were on the score sheet. Well done Andy Pethick, well done indeed that man!  We could barely contain ourselves at this point, as because we had banked a fish ‘early doors’ the prospect of catching further fish was evidently a distinct possibility.

Early next morning we had a visit from the film crew of Sky Sports who arrived in our swim to capture some footage and interview Andy.  As you can imagine, we’d had no sleep at all and were very weary by this stage.  Although it must be said, the smiles were still present, especially when we heard the news that Andy’s fish was the first fish to be caught and had earned a very welcome £500 bonus and a visit up on stage to collect the prize!  Then it dawned on us.  The realisation that this fish was the ONLY fish to have been caught meant that we were leading the WCC in the pairs and team events. Surreal!

The point we were located on, stretched right out into the mighty Orient.

Although it was only day two, it was still incredibly exciting and it was dream time for us!  As the morning progressed, Pete Castle visited us to interview Andy for the Dynamite baits website.  As soon as Pete’s report hit the website, the phone calls and text messages began to pour in from well-wishers and friends, and I’m sure that Andy’s phone bill will exceed the £500 winnings!

Lac D'Orient is a simply stunning place, at times like this you realise, this is what it's all about!

With the status quo maintained, for a couple of days we somehow managed to hold the lead with that single fish, but try as we might - and believe me we tried - we couldn’t conjure up another run and all our efforts were being thwarted by those Orient leviathans.

We had tried every trick we knew, and even invented some new ones to try to pluck another fish.  We even collected hundreds of the large water-snails to crush and fish over, and mounted them along with pop-ups to sit naturally on top of the weed, but still nothing. 

Come what may, we knew that a single fish would never be enough to win such an event, and rightly so.  We tried desperately to add to our tally but after four days, we still required another fish, and at that stage because of the low catch rate, we were beginning to believe that two fish might ultimately be enough for us.  Indeed, if nobody else caught, it only required a 7kg fish for us, and in actual fact, as it was still so wide open a couple of good fish for anyone could have proved enough! 

Snatching only an hour or so of sleep here and there, I had determined that we needed something other than pure effort on our part.  Ideally, we needed the predominantly easterly wind to change.  The ever-present wind, although not cold, had been blowing consistently out from the bay, and we felt that it was possibly the worst scenario that we could have encountered in this particular swim.  

The penultimate day, day five, was overcast and gloomy with the wind becoming very erratic, switching directions constantly.  Then, on the very last night, with the information we had received that although we had lost the lead we were still in second place in the team event, we greeted the latest change of wind with great enthusiasm. 

The consistent fly hatches over the first few days had dissipated after the previously high barometric pressure had plummeted to 985 during a stormy spell on day four.  By day five it had settled at around 998 and had been slowly rising, and I was hopeful that this rise would trigger more hatches, or failing that, the fish would move on the wind regardless.  I had also been monitoring the large flock of gulls and other birds working the fly hatches out at extreme range, and I believed that it was no coincidence that this was where the fish had been showing.  Indeed, with each wind change in those last two days, the birds moved, and so too did the fish. They were on the hatches alright, no doubt in my mind about that.  With just 11 hours to go before the 9.00 am rocket was to be fired to signal the end of the competition, we were still very much full of hope and as far as we knew, we were still in the position where we needed just the one half-decent fish to claim the prestigious title!  The wind had suddenly spun and was now northerly and pushing into our faces perpendicular to the length of the peninsula. “This could be it Andy” I exclaimed “this could be all that we needed… if only it holds steady.”

There's no time to rest on your laurels at a time like this... We still had a very realistic chance to win the titles, and if we didn't win them it wouldn't be for the lack of effort!

I sat there deep into the night, vigilantly staring at the bobbins for hours not knowing, or even wanting to know the time.  Two or three hours must have passed before the wind took yet another change of direction, and to my mind, this change was now perfect!  A good westerly was now pushing across from the far bank - a mile or two away - across the tip of point Italy and directly toward the tip of our peninsula.  We knew that the huge expanse of water we were facing had been occupied by a large shoal of good fish for several days. I had been monitoring their whereabouts - usually some half a mile or more away - for those first few days, hoping, praying, willing them to move closer. Now, if another hatch was occurring, perhaps they would move in!

The trees on the peninsula told the story... the water level had been reduced in excess of four meters!

I continued with my quest, sitting there listening for hours throughout that final night.  Deep into the night I was massively encouraged when I heard the occasional fish crash out in front of us, and as the darkness began to lift a large flock of gulls began swarming out in front of me, squawking away, and busily working a new hatch!  Anxiously I waited, but the longer I waited, all the more the usual doubts began to creep in. Were my rigs ok? Had they been obscured by weed being moved by the changing winds?  I couldn’t risk going out to check and reposition my baits now, as the first rays of daylight were bursting through the gloomy dawn, and I had to sit on my hands, and wait, and wait, then wait some more. 

Cruelly, as I momentarily hit the wall and nodded off to sleep for a few brief seconds, unbeknown to me a swan waddled across my line in the margin, and the resulting ‘run’ had me scrambling for the rod. Abject disappointment swept over me as the realisation of what had happened dawned upon me.  I truly thought that it was the moment I’d been waiting for and it was hard to accept this cruel turn of events. Did I somehow deserve that?  I continued my vigil for another hour, every few seconds thinking to myself ‘c’mon, pick it up, do it’. But it just wasn’t meant to be, unfortunately. 

A superb last night 23kg+ (51lb.12oz) of Orient carp was caught and set the new WCC record fish.

Sam and Andy came down to see us and break the news that the Polish pair up on the dam wall had enjoyed a very good final night with a further four fish to add to their tally, and that a 23kg fish had also fallen to another angler.  Ten minutes later it was all over, the dream, for this year at least, was over, and it was hard to imagine that we might ever have been presented with a better chance of success. 

Philosophically accepting what fate had dealt us, we gathered our equipment and made our way back to tidy ourselves up for the presentation.  However, living in a pair of shorts and wading around bare-footed in mud all week would ensure that this task would be just as arduous as moving the mountain of gear!  After a good scrub down we made our way along to the main hall for the presentation, still not knowing where team Carp Addict had finished.  The texts and phone calls we were now receiving simply had to be ignored – sorry folks! – as we simply couldn’t answer their questions, with “how did you get on in the end?” being the most frequently asked!

When Andy and I were requested on stage to be presented with the trophy and £500 cheque for the first fish of the tournament, it was surreal.  Maybe I would have felt differently if it had been me that had caught the fish, I don’t know, as I felt that this was more of an individual moment and I felt a little out of place being there alongside Andy. 

After a while, the section awards were then made, and I felt that this was more appropriate for me as after all, it was an award for the pair.  Mischievously, Ross Honey called out “section winners for Indyline, with a fish of 15.2kg, Andy Pethick”  Bemused by this I sat there waiting for my name, but it never came… at least not for a good 15-20 seconds.  Had Ross forgotten me here?  With a grin spreading across his face Ross then added “and Steve Howard”.  I took my place on stage alongside Andy as we proudly received a very nice prize of an angling holiday with French Carping U.K. at either La Horre, Brocard or Jonchery for each angler plus guest.

Well pleased with ourselves and very content with what we had achieved and received, it may seem a little crass to now mention our thoughts on the team placing, but this was something we dearly wanted, a placing in the team event.  For me, it wasn’t about any ‘reward’ it was purely about the personal satisfaction and meaning of gaining a place in the annuls of the World Carp Classic record books for Team Carp Addict. 

The moment of truth finally arrived when Ross Honey announced “and now to the team event, and in third place, with a fish of 15.2kg is Team Carp Addict”.  As team captain, and with a non-concealable beam of pleasure spreading right across my face, I proudly lead the team up to receive the accolade Andy’s solitary fish had earned us. 

 Team Carp Addict were: Darren Stevens, Brendan Shilleto, Wayne Cooper, Andy Pethick, Keith Wright, and Steve Howard...

As I said at the very beginning of this piece, some moments will live with us forever.

Andy and I would like to offer our thanks to the other members of Team Carp Addict for their support and fine effort in less than favourable swims. Both the other pairings of Wayne Cooper & Bren Shilleto, and Darren Stevens & Keith Wright slugged on gallantly in the back of bays, with little real hope of catching.  In fact, neither pairing even saw a fish all week, much less than having a sniff of a chance of catching one.  Fair play to you all guys, you never stopped trying and saw it out to the end when others around you crumbled.

Just for the record, the team received the award of an angling holiday with Carp Connections on their Lac du Villedon venue for 6 anglers plus 6 guests, and so it would seem, the team may yet be destined to catch a few fish following on from the Orient experience!