Peg 41 - Gary Thomas

Sunday the 2nd October 2005 at 7am

The Lac of Villefranche de Panet or the river? That was the question going through the minds of 100 Carp anglers summonsed from the depths of two Carp fishing nations.

This was the draw for pegs at the first ever England v France specimen Carp match.

Mark and I had arrived a day after most of the English team so with time running short we decided to devote the day before the draw studying the river section in great detail. We put all our eggs in one basket and if we were unlucky enough not to get a peg on the river, we would be relying on those who did the same at the lake to point us in the right direction. Not ideal, but a risk we were prepared to take.

The river section was about 3 miles long and varied from 80 meters to 150 metres wide.

Our trusty Avon was launched from Peg 66 and working down stream, each swims topography was meticulously studied.

From the first swim to about No 56 there was nothing that really took our fancy, no real features to speak of and at a maximum of 18 feet, fairly shallow. No 55 was an option as it had a large rock outcrop hanging over the far margin which also made a kind of bottle neck, features we would normally look for on this kind of river. From 55 to 50 each swim had something to offer, ranging from submerged trees to large boulders and deep margins. From 50 through to the last peg, No 41, things got a bit more interesting. Deeper water, shear cliffs and an abundance of snags to aim at. The one that received our top mark was No 46, this offered more scope than any other. It had overhanging trees on both margins, a few sunken stumps, depths ranging from 6 to 30 feet and above all else, at least 200 metres each side that could not be poached.

Studying the river section in great detail

So, with our first 10 choices embedded in our minds we were off to the draw. This took place at the town hall, on arrival all pairs were issued with a team number, when their number was drawn the corresponding pair from each country would be invited forward to choose a swim. So we all sat back to await our fate.

First number out. No twenty two .

Mark gave me a dig in the ribs “ come on, its twenty two”

“you're a bit fast mate, its only half past” I replied.

“No you idiot, its us, twenty two ”

I couldn't believe it, first match we ever fished and first team out the hat. Mark pushed me to the front towards the two large maps on which the swims were marked. The corresponding French team also walked forward as they were to choose first. There appeared to be some confusion as the French captain ushered them towards a peg they were not happy with. They eventually chose the dam wall on the lake which left the whole river free. I looked back at Kev Knight and he mouthed the words ‘forty one.' These were team orders which needed to be followed, this suited us just fine as this would have been our second choice anyway. The pin with our number was placed on the map, Simon Horton announced the choice and the English team erupted. It turns out that Kev had been telling the rest of the team we were French river ‘experts' 48 high profile English Carp anglers really believed we knew what we were doing. Oh dear, no pressure then?

Maps of the two venues, Peg 41 is bottom left on the river

The rest of the draw saw ups and downs as Adam and Chilli got peg 42, next to us, Tim and John Lilley got 45, another well fancied piece of ‘real estate', Rob Marsh (bloody nice bloke) got close to the lake dam wall and Kev knight got the dregs, second to last.

Left with the dregs, second to last

Fishing was to start at 3pm so every one headed back to camp and loaded vans, trailers, boats and cars, bided each other good luck then set of for their swims. Ours was nicely positioned alongside the road bank which made life easy apart from the bivies being precariously balanced on steep, loose shale and rock. Hey, compared to some of the swims we've found ourselves in, it was heaven.

Compared to some swims we've found ourselves in, it was heaven

After pitching in and helping the slightly disorganised Adam and Chilly with their mountain of kit across the river, we settled down to preparing our plan. We started out with 15lb mono with a mix of 40 lb mono and 35lb armadillo rubbing leaders. To this was attached about 4 feet of 45lb lead core, 5oz Fox ‘Cling-ons' and size 2 series 2 xs hooks tied to 12 inch mantis links. Baits were 3 x 20mm Mainline tutti and pineapple Pro Actve Ready made boilies.

My first choice for trips abroad. Mainline Pro Active ready mades

At about 2pm most of the tackle was assembled and ready so a last look about in the boat was called for in order to make the final decision on hook bait placing. Peg 41 was the last before the dam which meant that no anglers could fish to our right. This left about 500 metres of un fished water before us. The river was about 140 metres wide at this point with a large cliff face forming a large section of the far bank. There were a few submerged trees out to the left and a marginal weed bed directly in front. Plenty of scope with which to play. Hook baits would be placed in the margins on both sides as these areas are usually preferred other than during periods of low water level when the middle would be better. One thing we did notice on our recce was the abundance of crayfish gathered on the vertical faces of rocks close to the surface, a phenomenon we were not familiar with but later exploited.

Looking down on peg 41

Three o'clock and the baits were rowed into position, two each to the far margin in depths ranging from 15 to 20 feet. The other two positioned just in front of the marginal weed bed on our own bank. We baited up with about 50 boilies, and a scattering of chopped tigers and hemp around each hook.

Prior to the match we had done our research and all information pointed to this being a hectic session with plenty of runs, well, darkness fell and all was quite. Nine, ten, eleven o'clock and a few too many Brandies but still nothing. This wasn't going to be as easy as we all expected! The weather had turned cold and there had been a fair amount of rain, perhaps a bit more thought was required.

Eventually at about midnight Mark had a chance, the nearside margin rod took off and a mid double common was heading towards the net. Almost there and the hook pulled out. Not much was said other than ‘just bad luck' and the rod was reset. About an hour later one of the far rods takes off resulting in frayed and cut 40lb mono. More bad luck? Soon after, a small common does reach the sack and we were off the mark. Just before dawn another chance came our way and yet again more lost kilo's.

The following morning we discussed the events over bacon and eggs and after a few phone calls from other team mates soon realised that with four chances, we had more runs than anyone else in the match, yet with only one small fish, were in third place! We talked about the losses being unacceptable and got nasty. All mainline mono was replaced with braid, rubbing leaders were upgraded to 45 lb armadillo and size one hooks were brought out of hibernation.

We also puzzled over the lack of crayfish attention to the hook baits, perhaps we needed another plan. Usually on this type of water, the crayfish find the bait pretty quick and will whittle a couple of baits away in an hour or so. This wasn't happening to us or any other anglers we talked too. Most thought this was great as it saved the use of much hated mesh and cages. To us it was a problem, in our mind, if we could attract Crayfish, the Carp shouldn't be far behind. After all these crayfish were the staple diet of the fish we were trying to catch. So, if they weren't coming to us, we would have to go to them. If the crayfish were staying shallow then it figured we would have to fish shallow. Over the next couple of hours our efforts were concentrated on working out how to present our baits at 6 or less feet in a total of 30 odd feet of water. Mark found a couple of small ledges on the far bank cliff which were visible when looking down from the boat, one of them became affectionately known as ‘Cognac Corner'. It was no more than a foot wide and 6 feet long, but big enough for a couple of baits. These had to be anchored in place with 8 oz crab leads. Freebies had to be chopped in order to stop them rolling off the shelf and each hook bait was accompanied by a lovingly prepared PVA stocking full of pellet and chopped actives. That should get the Crayfish going!

My side of the swim didn't have such a cliff or ledges to work with, so another method of presentation had to be dreamed up. 6 to 8 feet of line was attached to Fox captive back leads and then pegged to the far bank. By taking my mainline across the river, clipping it to the back leads, then getting Mark to carefully take up any slack at the rod end, allowed me to present baits 6 feet down on an otherwise un fishable slope. Theory being that when a fish took the bait it would run away from the back lead, pull the line from the clip and register a massive drop back at the rod end. Free offerings were prepared and presented the same way as at ‘Cognac Corner'.

Match Rig

We liked our plan and accepted the fact that to re-position any baits in darkness was going to be difficult to say the least. However, due to the general slow fishing every one was encountering, it would be worth while.

That evening was spent listening to over active Carp, chopping boilies, preparing PVA stockings and further sampling our teams namesake. Oh I didn't mention that. We had christened ourselves ‘Team Cognac' due to our favoured pastime of pursuing the finest Brandy, Armagnac and Cognac available. Still searching I'm afraid!

Team Cognac's tackle transporter

Just before dark, one of Marks massive crab leads was pulled from the ledge and dragged a mid double common with it to the depths. Subsequently landed and in the sack. Job done and ‘Team Cognac' was now ‘on a mission' to capitalise on their plan. There was no sleep to be had that night, as a total of 7 chances came our way with 6 banked and 1 lost. It took at least 30 minutes to re set a bait following a fish and judging by the score sheet the following day, every minute well spent. Fishing elsewhere had been slow and we had made it to the top of the board.

Team mate Mark England returning one of the typical commons which eventually won the match

The nearside margin rods had remained relatively quiet so during the morning ritual of egg and bacon beasties, a decision was made to get two more rods to the far side. Mark spent another hour scanning the cliff and found another ledge. Problem was, it was only 3 feet under the surface and as the daily water levels fluctuated anything up to 18 inches, he could potentially be fishing in less than 2 feet. To hell with it, worth a try and we christened the spot ‘Cognac Corner plus one'. Don't ask me why, just did! My third rod was also repositioned to the far bank and delicately lowered onto the slope, again in less than 6 feet.

Just for a minute or two our plan was put to question as Adam Penning, across the way in peg 42, took a low twenty in the middle of the day in over 20 feet of water. However we stuck with it and again had several chances throughout the following night. A point worth mentioning here is that during the night the water level had dropped by 2 feet. This meant that ‘Cognac Corner plus one' had produced two fish in about a foot of water.

Adam & Chlli across the way in peg 42

We continued with these tactics for the next two days with similar results each night. Only one fish came from the nearside margin which by chance happened to be the largest of the match at just over 25 lbs.

As the last night approached it seemed Team England was on its way to victory and Mark and I were well ahead in the pair's event. Then things went pear shaped for a while. About 9 o'clock we received a phone call from a well wound up Kev Knight. Seemed that one of the most feared French teams had read the signs offered by the improving whether and moved into a shallow bay at the top end of the lake. They had taken 7 fish in the first few hours with surely more to follow.

Kev was frantic.

“No Cognac tonight boys, you need to be at your best. The buggers are closing in”

We didn't believe him, had to be a windup.

“Too late mate, nearly finished the bottle. But don't worry, we've got another one in the car”

Little did we know that Kev was deadly serious, Tim was heading off an international incident, and the fortune of the England team was resting with peg 41 and we were in it!

Come morning the phone was red hot as various teams booked in to see how we'd done. It was only then did we realise the truth of the matter. The French had at one point moved ahead by 1 kilo and every one knew except us. I think Kev had issued more team orders not to contact us until morning and let us get on with it. It seemed to work as we managed another 5 Commons that night (and the other bottle) this, combined with a few from other pegs, had put England some 35 kg ahead.

Mission accomplished then

Another of the Commons that helped put Team England 35 kg ahead)

All rods were brought in at 10 am and gear packed in the trailer ready for week two on another river. The next couple of hours were a highlight for me. As we pulled into the car park at England headquarters, most of the team were gathered around Kev's chalet. An almighty cheer went up and much shaking of hands and pats on backs. There were we, a couple of Cornish Cognac drinkers being cheered home and congratulated by some of the biggest names in the game. This was followed by a relaxed social gathering where tales were told and funnies exchanged. I did enjoy that!

Back at base, telling tales and exchanging funnies

This was the first time either Mark or I had even considered being involved in the match scene, to be honest I didn't think we ever would. However once we heard about the style of the match together with the type and location of the venues. Hey it's what we do, and besides we've taken a fair bit from this sport over the years so it was time to repay a little debt.

The England win was the most important, but winning the pairs event also gave us a buzz

Summary

I think there were several reasons for ‘Team Cognac's' success. Firstly, I would be kidding myself if I didn't believe we had by far the best swim. It made a huge difference being the first out of the hat.

I believe the competitive nature took over for many anglers. There seemed to be another game going on with regard to who could throw the most bait in their swim. I heard stories of 30 and 40 Kg of bait being pilled in prior to the 3pm cast out time. If that wasn't enough, if they didn't catch the first night, chuck in another sack full. It was obvious from day two that we weren't trying to stop vast shoals and bagging up. The match was going to be won by selective positioning of small amounts of bait. With the fishing so slow, a single fish here and there was always going to make the difference.

Being prepared re position and prepare baits regardless of how tired or how cold at all hours of the night. The style of fishing we adopted for the match required constant work and sleepless nights. Well worth it though!

Before I bring this piece to an end, there is a couple of funny stories I must share:

On the Saturday of arrival, both teams gathered in the local village hall for a ‘gastronomic' meal and a few drinks. Mark and I decided to mix it with the French team and sell a few blinders. It was here we introduced Kev Knight to the VIP at our table.

“Kev, meet the towns Mayor”.

We directed him towards an elderly gent and his wife sat at the end of our table.

“He doesn't speak good English but would like to welcome you to his town”

Kev looked kind of embarrassed but offered a nod and a smile.

Job done, we sold it to him. The rest of the night the glasses were constantly topped up. Each time they became refilled, the waiter simply nodded in the direction of Mr Knight.

Sorry mate, he wasn't the mayor, just one of the French anglers Dad who dropped in to get a photo.

However, he and the rest at our table would like to thank you for your generosity.

Kev about to be stitched up

Quote of the week had to come from Mr's Penning and Chillcot.

“On one occasion we got it right, not that good considering we got it wrong 39 times as well”

That tickled me.

Well that's about it this time. Big thanks to Kev and Tim for having faith in us, and thanks to the ‘Big Boys' who accepted us into their ranks . Cheers lads, enjoyed every minute!

Footnote: Mark and I moved on to another river the following week and managed a few more Commons. Not many, but a little bit bigger!!

Commons from the following week. A little bit bigger!

Gary Thomas