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Archives - WCC Chronicles Print Email
So, what do you know about the history of this intriguing competition?
Without doubt, there will be a good number of you who will have taken part in this ‘duel of the titans’ previously, but, it is possible that one or two of you have done so each and every year since its inception way back in 1998. If so, I truly envy you, as you are a huge part of the history of the most amazing annual carp angling festival of all time. Regardless if you have or haven’t been a part of the competition before, we will now delve into the archives to unlock some of that fascinating history and try to capture the essence of the event for you here.

It all started way back in 1997 when Ross Honey, the event organiser and founder, decided to push ahead with a burning idea that he’d been harbouring. Ross, a keen angler himself, believed that the world of carp angling warranted something special, something very unique, in the form of a competition that would raise the bar and seriously challenge even the world’s very top anglers. Impressively enough, Ross had set his sights extremely high, and with Lac de Madine as the target venue for the inaugural World Carp Classic - as this new and exciting tournament was to be named - the planning began.

1998 – Lac de Madine. (September 25th – 27th)
And so it was. The competition date was set and the inaugural competition was to take place on the stunning Lac de Madine. Of course, Madine needs no introduction now, as it is very well renowned. However, back in the mid to late 90’s it still had a huge air of mystery about it, and although the carp-vine had been buzzing away behind the scenes for a few years about the place, word was now well and truly out that Madine could provide some stunning fishing and amazing results.

As you can perhaps imagine, when it was then announced, right at that precise time, that there was to be a huge competition named the World Carp Classic taking place there, it captured imaginations and inspired carp anglers right across the globe. With a prize table set, totalling an impressive £25,000, the inaugural tournament attracted 141 contestants to the banks of the mighty Madine to do battle. In this, its very first year, the competition was set up as a 48-hour event for individual anglers, not pairs, and as such, it would prove to be a stern test for all of the competitors.

On that most auspicious occasion, Paul Rayment was destined to run out the eventual winner by just a few pounds. Paul banked an impressive 128lbs 8oz in total - with four of his five fish coming in a three-hour feeding frenzy in the early hours of the final night – enabling him to overhaul and beat fellow Brit, Graham Chapman’s total of 124lbs 3oz. That first competition proved to be an outstanding success, a ‘classic’ indeed, and it produced a magnificent number of big fish. Among the overall catch there were 15 carp over 30lbs, and three over 40lbs, weighed in. Whilst falling to the rods of Tom Craven, a fantastic carp of 49lbs.5oz scooped the biggest fish award and set the benchmark for future events. However, just two short months after the event had been held, the magnificent Madine fleetingly gave up one of the most precious jewels in her glorious crown in the form of a 74lb 15oz mirror. Now that really would have been a magnificent fish to catch during this first competition!

1999 – Lac de Madine
Such was the success of the previous year, Madine was the obvious venue choice once more, but this time the format of the competition would change from being a singles competition to a combined pairs and team event. With the same staggering prize fund of £25,000, just fewer than 100 pairs - around a 30% increase in the number of participants of the previous year - took part in the 1999 event. This level of increased support surely stood testimony to the way in which carp anglers, and the industry it supported, now viewed the 48-hour long contest. As with the inaugural event in 1998, there were a good number of fish caught once more as the lake gave up 40 of her glistening gems.

Among them was a 46lb 5oz fish that fell to the rods of Colin Champion and Martin Cronin, representing Wales. That carp was to earn the pair the award for the biggest fish of the tournament and was also to help them achieve a very worthy second place in the competition with a total catch of 95lbs 9oz. The eventual winners, and worthy champions for 1999, were English pair Dave Poxon and Mark Redding with a hugely impressive run of fish totalling188lbs 10oz. With English success in the pairs event and the team representing Carp World taking the six-man team award, the English contingency had prevailed for the second year in succession, and in doing so had retained the international bragging rights for another year.

2000 – Lac de Madine (14th – 17th September)
A total of 98 pairs from 14 different countries were to contest the coveted crown of World Carp Classic Champions in the newly-formatted 72-hour event, and among the changes was an all-metric weigh-in, as the good old British pound gave ‘weigh’ to the continental kilogram. Ultimately, Paul Harrison and Paul Watts, who weighed-in with a total weight of 81.3kgs, ran out as newly crowned Champions, and they were also part of the winning team of Cobra/GB Baits. English pair, Jason Parker and Charlie Kassel, finished in the runners-up spot with a very creditable 64.6kgs, while George Csonka and John Roberts of England claimed the biggest fish of the event with a very notable carp of 21.5kgs.

Remarkably, the English anglers were triumphant yet again and the rest of the world appeared to be still playing catch-up. The British anglers were by now revelling in their domination of the event, and appeared to believe that they were untouchable!

2001 – Lac Amance (4th – 8th September)
Pushing the limits of angling endurance still further, the 2001 World Carp Classic metamorphosed into a 96-hour event with four nights' fishing. The announcement of the new event venue, Lac Amance, caused a huge stir among anglers, as the 2,500-acre venue was known to be the home to a good number of extremely large carp. Once again the World Carp Classic had thrown down the gauntlet, firmly establishing itself as a groundbreaking event, when vast areas of Lac Amance were to be opened up exclusively for the competition. For the first time since its inception, the English anglers were not to feature highly in the final order of things.

The strong contingency of Dutch anglers present rejoiced as Thierry Stunnenberg and Richard Bredenbeek romped home in fine style with an amazing 164.4kgs, setting a startling new record for the competition en-route to winning the title. Fisherman’s World, the team from Holland that the victorious pair were also a part of, ran out very worthy team champions with a staggering 258.9kgs, which was also a new tournament record and set an incredible benchmark for those to follow. In all, there were 91 carp caught by the entire field during this incredible event for a grand total of 960kgs, which was totally mind-blowing for a carp match of this nature. English pair, Sam Oakley and Barry Mann, managed to salvage a bit of British pride by banking a fine carp of 21kgs (46.2lbs) to land the prize for the biggest fish, but it was most definitely Holland’s year. The Brits had been dealt a harsh reminder that it was foolhardy to believe it was a foregone conclusion they would succeed!

2002 - Lake unavailability meant that, sadly, there was not to be an event in 2002. However, plans were put in place and it resumed again in 2003, this time as a 72-hour enduro, with each angler allowed two rods.

2003 – Lac Amance (23rd – 27th April)
Moving away from its usual slot in the calendar from September to April and back on Lac Amance for the second time, the event had now switched from the 96-hours in 2001 back to a match duration of 72-hours. There was a huge buzz created by news of a 32kg (70lb-plus) carp being caught in the lake in 2002, the interim year, and rumours of the existence of several such fish abounded. A total of 15 countries were represented in the quest to scoop the honours, and with the prize table set once more at a mouth-watering £25,000, the 194 combatants readied themselves for battle.

The newly-formed agreement with Sparsholt College in Hampshire proved to be highly successful, enabling on-site, 24-hour marshalling of the event. This new relationship was a major plus for the World Carp Classic, and largely due to that, this specific match was set to become much-lauded as the best event yet. This year, the tussle for the honours between the nations brought mixed results, and although the Brits regained the title, and as such felt that they had restored national honour, they certainly didn’t have it all their own way. Mark Gardner and Jo Gardner of England became the first husband and wife duo to win the contest, and ran out very worthy champions with a weight of 67.35kgs.

Hans Sissingh and P Vermeulen of Holland took the biggest fish of the tournament with a whacker of a carp at 21.6kgs, whilst team Omega of Holland and team Eurocarp from Germany were to share the spoils and honours in the team event.

2004 – Lac Amance (27th – 31st October)
Back on the amazing Lac Amance again for 2004, the Brits once more reigned victorious when English pair, Mick Hinson and Tony Kirrage triumphed with a haul of 85.35kgs. Whilst in the team event, the Birch Syndicate Carp Team representing Wales, weighed in with 20.85kgs to take the title, and with Welsh compatriots Brian Warwick and Michael Perry also bagging the biggest fish of the tournament award, it was ultimately a clean sweep for the British contingency.

2005 – Lac Amance
A remarkable story was to unfold in 2005, as Keith Turner and Clive Hicks further extended the stranglehold the English appeared to have over the rest of the world. A final total of 35.4kgs for the pair was to set an unwanted record for the event, the lowest-ever winning weight, but fishing in extremely tough conditions the pair did extremely well to ultimately win through. GB baits were to repeat their success of 2000, and scooped the award for the best team for the second time with 31.6kgs.

2006 – Lac D’Orient
As soon as the news was broken that the mystical Orient was to be the official venue for 2006, the world of carp angling sat up very straight and took notice. Lac de Orient had long captured the imagination of carp anglers across Europe, and the excited clamour for places was unprecedented for an event of this nature. Home to the Bulldozer, and many other very large carp, the venue was predicted by many to provide the ultimate challenge. This would, in most anglers’ minds, prove to be the match to end all matches; an unrivalled contest that would seriously challenge even the most ardent of carp anglers.

Speculation about the potential capture of a new world record began, as anglers quickly recognised the reality of that possibility. As daunting as this huge lake is, with all of the inherent problems due to its nature, it far from put people off from entering the event. Quite the reverse in fact, such was the inspiration drawn from the thought of what might be caught, and on a scale never witnessed before, the match got underway amid huge excitement and expectation. An early fish of 15kgs on the first day for Andy Pethick and his partner Steve Howard, saw the pair lead the way for the first few days of the contest. Perhaps ironically, in previous years the pair would ultimately have won the event after two days, but thankfully the competition had now evolved into a six-day enduro.

The extraordinarily hot spell of weather had somewhat reduced the quality of the angling, the lake had understandably gone into torpor, and very few fish were caught during the first four days. However, fittingly, determination and effort prevailed with a final total of 19 fish being caught among the contestants. The end peg on the dam wall, which had been the hot pre-match favourite with many competitors, produced fish as suspected. Mariusz Ciach and Jaroslav Plochoki from Poland, capitalised on their good fortune in having drawn the swim, and accumulated a total of eight fish for a respectable 81kgs bag, to claim the title of Champions for 2006. As if to confirm Poland’s dominance in the 2006 event, Leszek Rutecki and Andrzej Bartczak claimed the runners-up place with 33.5kgs, with two cracking fish of just over 18kgs and 14kgs helping them to achieve a fine result.

The team from SBS Baits triumphed to claim the Team Championship with a stunning final-night fish of 23kgs, which fell to the rods of Eddie Matthews and Richard Bradley. This fish earned the pair the award for the biggest fish of the event and, along with being the very first 50lb-plus carp to be banked in the history of the tournament, it was also to establish a long-awaited new competition record.

2007 – Lac D’Orient (9th - 15th September)
Back on the incredible Lac D’Orient for a second successive year to enjoy its magnificence, each and every carp-angler taking part in the event was in for a real treat. Without any doubt, as with previous years, the atmosphere was very highly-charged. Everyone who had entered the fray rightfully believed that they could win the title, and that fact set the scene for the most exciting competition in the history of the sport. The World Carp Classic is not just another carp match, it is the biggest, and with the most prestigious title of World Champions to be contested, it generates a truly special and quite unique atmosphere. What would it take to succeed? Unswerving commitment, without doubt. That is the single most important aspect required. The challenge was the ultimate test of angling skills and endurance but, above all, total commitment was required in abundance. Over the six days and five nights of the competition, those who were able to rise to the challenge would put themselves in with a chance of success.

As always, the event was very well received, with the organisation spot-on, and the pegging of a very high standard, competitors enjoyed almost every aspect. Even the lack of fish banked, five in total, didn’t appear to dishearten too many anglers, as it meant that the competition was wide open right up until the final curtain fell on proceedings. The eventual winners, Jean Pierre Becker and Yves Hauk, deservedly took the honours for France with a splendid fish of 22.2kg. We will never know if one of the 25 lost fish would have beaten that one, but our guess is that at least one may have had every chance of doing so!