World Carp Classic - Official Global Website
Lake Bolsena 2nd - 8th September 2012
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Preparation Preparation Preparation You guessed it, there’s nothing more important when you enter into a major tournament and I’m in the very unusual position of not being able to go through my normal routine... What I am faced with is far from ideal, but I will not be able to even check through my tackle until the few days leading up to this year’s WCC, and even then that represents a bigger problem than you might imagine. You see, my trailer, containing almost all of my tackle (in fact 99% of what I will need, hopefully!) is stranded in Spain, locked up in a friends garage. My plans were, to go back to fish the big Spanish embulses of Orellana and Sierra Brava earlier this year for a month or so then bring the trailer back with me, but a new addition to our family, Kippa, my whippet x Bedlington Terrier pup, made that unrealistic due to the timing and duration of such a trip. With the notion that ‘a dog is for life’ and that ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’, I decided to forego the expedition until later in the year, feeling that Kippa’s training took precedence over fishing because those first few months are perhaps the important stage of a pups life. The intention was, up until that point, that I would go to collect the trailer in late May en route to the World Catfish Classic and after participating in the event, drive back through France. Faux pas! Upon checking the ferry costs it transpired that Brittany Ferries had greatly increased their prices, due to P & O discontinuing their service, and I was now looking at over £500 for a one way trip over from Portsmouth, where I live, to Santander in Spain. It was a tough choice to make, but the financial implications of doing that meant that it would have cost me in the region of £1200 as opposed to around £300 for a return flight to Zaragozza, the airport in Spain closest to Chiprana and the World Catfish Classic. Following on from the World Catfish Classic, I had no real plan in mind but I knew that at some point, no matter what it cost, I would have to get to Spain to retrieve my gear. It was a difficult conundrum... If I went through the expense of getting there, I would have to justify that by at least spending some time on the bank fishing, but, as anyone who has fished in central Spain during July and August will tell you, it’s too damned hot... Well, at around 40C it’s too hot for ME! I had a real problem on my hands here; should I scrap my plans for the World Carp Classic, or should I try to combine the recovery project with participation in the event? It crossed my mind that travelling this distance, especially alone, would be a bit of a strain and that I would need to make several stops. The first leg of the trip posed no problem with a good overnight sleep on the ferry the 8-hour drive, which I have done many times, is far easier than you might imagine. An overnight stay in Talarrubias, where my trailer currently resides, will set me up for the next leg to Chiprana which is also an 8-hour drive, but I’m very conscious that the 2nd 8-hour stint is very likely to be more taxing, so I plan to bivvy up for a couple of nights there before setting off on the 3rd leg. This is where it all becomes a little sketchy. It is roughly 14 hours to Madine from Chiprana, and I don’t want to take on a journey of that duration on my lonesome, so a stop will have to be included somewhere, hopefully a 2-nighter on the bank, but where? Splitting the trip roughly to accommodate this stop would place me somewhere between Montelimar and Lyon, but it’s an area I’m unfamiliar with on the fishing front, so I’m a little stuck on that right now. Anyway, as I’m sure you can appreciate, my preparation may be a tad less involved than it normally would be, and there is an ‘expedition’ quality to be factored in that could mean that I arrive as the most unprepared angler taking part this year... possibly ever! Please wish me bon voyage! Tight lines Steve |
