Rodders for Scotland

Where do I start, well I suppose the invite to fish with Graham Copeland in 2005 at Armance.  Graham and I were both in the Army and had fished together with great success in many of the Army Carp competitions.  We both carried the same single minded passion for all things to do with carping.  Armance was quite easy for me as Graham planned and booked everything.  We were last out of the hat and bagged the swim with the ski ramp in it, oh well that’s history.

Graham and me 2005 Armance

Graham could not make it the next year and what with our single mindedness it was better that we parted company.  Sorry this part is short but nothing really happened.  The prospect of the following year gave me goosebumps, the Mighty Orient, “Oh my God”.................not only was it the biggest bit of water I had ever attempted to fish, I had to do all the planning and paperwork.  It was decided that I would fish with Mark (Dick/Thingy) Barton, a great angler who I had fished with a few times, since then we have been constant fishing partners in all sorts of competitions, and also winning a few along the way.

Dick with the Common

Funny thing is though, when I asked Dick he said yes straight away, a few days later he realise he would be fishing for Scotland.............he is from Leeds, “unlucky son” I said, “I’m the captain and I’m Scottish so there, but I won’t make you wear a kilt”  To be truthful I couldn’t force him he’s a big lad!  We arrived at the Orient on the Saturday, and just stood in awe at the sheer size of the water.  Some of the faces from the previous year were there to greet us, Keith and Clive had won it at Armance, and there was Steve, Darren, Paul and others we had met.  We drew a better peg this time, we were on the island, it looked a good swim.  We landed a beautiful Mirror of 13kg on the second morning.

Dick and me 2006 Orient

We were winning the event, outstanding, but unfortunately due to the water dropping at such a fast rate, the point where we caught the fish was no longer under water by the third day.  The rest of the rods were at 200 metres over the top of thick kelp, No Chance! The island was so muddy we were bivvied up about 120 metres from the rods, with thick knee deep mud between bivvi and rods.

The rest of the event flew past, we finished a respectable 7th, not bad for little Scotland.  The following year we were back at the Orient, this time the pre event bivvi area was even fuller than the year before, our little band of brothers was growing, unfortunately this was to be Steve’s last event, who would know, God bless you Steve, there is always a seat and a beer for you mate.  We had a good swim again, right by the pier wall, Tim Paisley popped by to inform us that he had fished it before, “Watch out for the Reggie’s and Ronnie’s”, yep he was right, twice the buggers cut me off over the kelp ARGHHHH.  No fish for us, however we met Renne and the Dutch boys, well we sorted the men from the boys with a lot of whiskey drinking.

Whiskey training for the Dutch

Last year the feeling of joy as we saw the glorious Madine for the first time, what a fantastic bit of water she is.  Not a great swim, very close to a couple of Polish lads, no carp for us again, however the bream kept us up, the Polish lads caught nothing either, in fact all the swims around us blanked!  We enjoyed meeting the crazy Irish lads; we will all be friends for years to come no doubt.

Dick and me 2007 Orient

So onto this year, I can’t wait to see everyone again, and have the chance to fish the fantastic Madine.  OK so we haven’t caught many fish during the events, but that’s not what it’s all about, it’s the taking part, the lads you meet over the years, the fantastic atmosphere and you never know, one day Scotland could be World Champions!

Just to prove I can catch LOL

Can’t wait to see you all at Madine this year, you never know 5th time lucky.

Rodders