OVERSEAS CHALLENGE 2004 –CHAMPIONSHIP REPORT

RAFCAA/Chair/03/04

INTRODUCTION

The rain was falling horizontally, angry black clouds heading rapidly towards the continent, and the Sea State more than a little choppy. It must be time for the annual NATO Coarse Angling Championships held near Zwolle in the Netherlands. Every year without fail the weather takes a turn for the worse as we depart Harwich for the Hook of Holland to participate in the military angling festival. Miraculously, however, this year things were to be different, as the sun shone with a vengeance for the full week. With the two RAF teams finishing first and second by some margin the previous year, the opposition was keen on revenge. With the quality of the opposition increasing by the year, retention of the title was by nom means a foregone conclusion. The successful, if gruelling format from the previous year was again to be used, with 6 consecutive matches, 2 on each of 3 venues, and results decided on a points basis. Matches were midday to 1700, to take advantage of the best angling time and avoid a rush in the morning so people could nurse their hangovers and mix the vast quantities of groundbait required every day. With Saddam Hussein safely in some top security prison in Baghdad, a full compliment of 7 teams at full strength would be participating. The Defence Sports Recreational Association (DSRA, or MOD to you and me) team again looked to be the most dangerous challenge to the RAF sides, having come narrowly 3rd last year and containing some experienced heads from previous years. Both Army sides (UK and Germany based) also looked dangerous on paper, again many with in-depth knowledge of the methods and venues through being based on the continent.

THE VENUES

The 3 venues selected were all part of the River Issjel system, with the first being the river itself, the second Zalk lake, and the third, the Zander canal, which links the lake to the river. This would encourage a variety of different methods could be employed, hopefully ensuring that the most versatile team won.

The River Issjel. At a cursory glance, this looks a little like a very wide lower Tidal Trent, but there the similarity ends. Strongly flowing, full of bream, and a highway to literally ocean going liners, the venue is a challenge at the best of times. The banks are boulder lined with ‘groynes’ spaced at about 30 yd intervals to prevent bank erosion. If in doubt about these water defence measures, you just had to wait for one of the ore laden aircraft carrier sized barges to suck away the water from in front of you to realise their importance. The groynes create an artificial crease, which is usually the chosen line to fish. In previous years it had often needed up to 120 grams to hold bottom here, however at normal levels, 60 grams held bottom comfortably. It also meant that the crease was much less defined however, and some found it more productive to fish well out into the flow. Others however, quickly sussed that a lot of fish could be caught in the ‘boils’, inside the crease, which also appeared to be where the bream preferred to sit this year. These were the target fish, although to win a section this also needed back up weights of Gusta, a kind of poor man’s bream that give unmissable bites…..which are very missable! How they could wrench the rod tip over and still not be hooked is still beyond me. These fish weighed up to 2lb and were present in the river in large numbers, preferring to sit towards the downstream end of the groynes. The lack of flow also increased the variety of fish this year, with quality Roach, Ide and a smattering of Barbel also being weighed in. Well worth a mention was also a massive 17lb 3oz Zander, caught by Noel Whitwham, which unfortunately didn’t count in the match, but was an extremely impressive beast.

Zalk Lake. Zalk Lake is a 20-acre reed lined inlet off the river, which, at the right time of year, is filled with 50% water and 50% bream, as they move into the lake in vast shoals to spawn each spring. The lake is fairly shallow and weedy, and the fish can be caught either on the feeder or, if conditions are right, by fishing pole to hand. The big waggler and slider were also big players this year, as the unusually warm weather brought the bream close in and up in the water. Weights here can be incredible, with the last match seeing 14 anglers weighing in a staggering total of total of 1100 lb of slabs. The lake can also be a heartbreaker however, with one angler (who shall remain nameless), sitting in between 2 100lb weights weighing in a meagre 1lb 12oz skimmer, caught in the first 5 minutes.

Zander Canal. This is effectively the piece of water linking the river to the lake. As such it is the ‘bream motorway’, with vast quantities of bream at times transiting through on their way to the lake. The venue is very unpredictable however, and can also be heartbreaking for some, which makes for exciting, if demanding angling throughout the series. The canal is up to 15 ft deep and lends itself primarily to long pole and feeder.

THE SERIES

Day One. The first day saw all the venues at their most fickle, with a meagre 4lb 11oz of roach winning B section for the RAF Blue Teams’ Simon Pointer off the end peg. A similar catch of 4lb 10oz by the RNs’ Scott Rispin made it apparent that the bream were not currently in the canal. The lake faired a little better for the few who found pockets of bream with A section being won by Lance Buckle with 50lb 12oz, and B Section by the RAF Blue’s Noel Whitwham with 53lb 4oz. There were, however 3 blanks and a lot of low weights for those not lucky enough to draw the bream. The river was the exception with 5 x 30lb plus weights, A Section honours being taken by DSRA’s Stu Cottingham with 41lb 3oz, and B Section the RAF Blue’s Nick Barling. The standings after the first day had the RAF Red team in pole position with 33 points, DSRA in second with 27 points and RAF Blue narrowly behind with 26 points. Day One results :: click here

Day Two. The second day witnessed the first signs of bream on the move in the canal, with DSRA’s Bob Pilgrim weighing in 34lb 8oz of Bream on the pole, again from the end peg on B Section. Odd bream from other areas boosted roach weights, resulting in much bar-room discussion that evening over whether to target roach or bream on the venue the next day. Things were also looking up on the lake, with an 80lb 14oz weight to Lee Bishop (RAF Blue) to take A Section, and an identical winning weight in B Section for the Army’s Dave Burns. Back-up weights were also generally better, although the fish were still in pockets. The river again fished extremely well, a feature that was to continue throughout the week as the venue just got better and better in the settled conditions. RAF Red had a clean sweep with Graham Welton winning A Section from peg A2 with 57lb 11oz caught on the pole, and Dusty Kiddell taking B Section with a more traditional feeder catch of 57lb 11oz. Team standings had changed little with RAF Red on 60 points, RAF Blue on 58 and DSRA on 53. The expected battle between these 3 teams had begun to take shape. Day Two results :: click here

Day Three. Day 3 on the canal saw 2 distinct matches as B section began to produce a lot more bream on the pole line. Best weight was 43lb 8 oz for RAF Red’s Dusty Kiddell. Despite the better weights stories of foul hooked fish were commonplace and many fish were taken up in the water, indicating that the fish were not settled and were transiting through without really getting their heads down. A Section was dominated with the very odd bream to make up the weights, top weight falling to RAF Blue’s Noel Whitwham for 12lb 11oz. With all the feed having gone into the lake on the previous 2 days, weights showed a considerable improvement, with many fish coming to the long pole to hand and waggler fished up in the water, as much as the normally more consistent feeder method. Again the fish were sitting off the bottom in the hot weather. Top weight on A Section was 90lb 9oz for Army UK’s Paul Evans and on B Section Army (Ge) Rocky Rock netted 84lb 8oz. By now the river was really on fire with the lowest weight recorded 21lb and a staggering 70lb 3oz the top weight from B1 by DSRA’s Pete Jenkins. A Section was won by RAF Reds Sean Corbett with 50lb 10oz. At the half way stage, RAF Red were looking comfortable with 90 points, from RAF Blue’s 82 and DSRA’s 81. Day Three results :: click here

Day Four. On the 4th day, the river again fished outstandingly well, with bream showing in strength, topped with a festival river record of 66lb 10oz to the Old Lag’s Vince Entwhistle from peg A1. 41lb 9oz was need to win B section by Gaz Evans (Army UK). A mention must go to Noel Whitwham, who played a big double figure zander to a standstill, before beaching it as it wouldn’t fit in his landing net. At 17lb 3oz 8drms of pure muscle, it was a magnificent specimen, but unfortunately did not count for the match. On the lake, the bream had moved onto the pole-line in the early pegs by the reeds and the DSRA’s John Bowland made the most of it by catching another competition record of 228lb 11oz. Bob Yeomans (RN) could only manage second place with 166lb 10oz. B section again proved more difficult, with Mick Dixon (RAF Red) taking the section with 51lb 3oz. By now the bream motorway o the canal was bumper to bumper, and everyone had at least a couple, although persuading the fish to stop and get their heads down was proving more than a little difficult. Brian Clark (Army UK) won A section with 20lb 5oz and Graham Welton (RAF Red) netted an impressive 46lb 15oz to take top honours on B Section. Team-wise, RAF Red again took top honours with 30 points, DSRA narrowly second with 28, and the Old Lags third with 26. This gave the RAF Red team an 11 point cushion over DSRA and a 14 point gap over RAF Blue. At this stage you would have got pretty poor odds on RAF Red not winning the series. Day Four results :: click here

Day 5. The penultimate day was to see a major change in fortunes as the DSRA made the most of another favourable draw. Best weight on the canal was an excellent 80lb, taken off the end peg by Ian Halliwell (DSRA),and on the river 50lb 14oz by the Army’s Glen Nixon. The 2 end pegs on A Section again dominated proceedings on the lake, this time A2 taking the honours to Gav East (Army Ge), weighing 179lb 8oz.
On the day the Army (UK) team scored an outstanding victory with 33 points, but the real story was DSRA scoring 29 points, with RAF Red slumping to 23 points and RAF Blue a disaster with 19 points. This put DSRA well back in contention with a points total of 134, to RAF Reds 138, with RAF Blue 3rd on 133. The pressure was on for the final day, with any of these 3 teams realistically in with a shout! Day Five results :: click here

Day 6. The draw would be crucial for the final day, and with DSRA drawing 4 out of a possible 6 end pegs, the RAF teams would be up against it. A lot of beer was drunk that night discussing the best approaches to, by now, well known pegs, and studying the different possible outcomes on the various venues. A change in the weather the next morning to blustery winds further added to the spice as this could quite feasibly move the fish, but only time would tell. The lake fished pretty much to expectations however, and the end peg again won it with 146lb 6oz for DSRA’s Steve Bettis; 2nd was RAF Red’s Pete Dawson, with 116lb 7oz from the next peg. One point up to the DSRA. The RAF Blue’s Spike Milligan was 4th with 47lb 4oz. B section was more complicated, but was won by Army(Ge)’s Dave Burns with 164lb 12 oz. RAF Blue’s Noel Whitwham was second with 134lb 6oz and DSRA’s Ian Halliwell 3rd with 111lb. As expected on the lake, the DSRA had cancelled out the RAF Teams, although the damage had not been as great as feared. On the canal the DSRA n-from man, John Bowland had had a disaster off peg A7 to come last in section. RAF Reds Mick Dixon had capitalised with a section 2nd and 6 points. The section was won by RN’s Scott Rispin with 87lb 11oz for a perfect 2 day canal score of 14 points. However on B section Paul Coombes could only secure 2 points to DSRA’s 5, the section being won by the Army’s Rocky Rock, with an impressive 106lb. It would all come down to the results on the river. The river had begun to produce some random big bream weights the previous day so anything could happen, and sure enough it did. RAF Blue’s Rich Tomala sat without a bite for 1 ½ hrs before tempting 25lb of Gusta for last in section, and RAF Red’s Dusty Kiddell only fared one place better. The section was won by Billy ‘splitter’ Woodcock (he’s actually in the RAF) fishing for the RN, with a new record 77lb 11oz, but Stuart Cottingham made further ground for the DSRA with a 3rd in Section. This put the RAF Red and DSRA teams equal on points with one section of the festival to weigh. But it was all over when Bob Pilgrim took the section for the DSRA with 52lb 3oz, beating RAF Blues Nick Barling into 2nd and RAF Red’s Graham Welton into 3rd. The DSRA had recorded a famous and desperately wanted victory.

OVERALL RESULTS :: click here for PDF

1st DSRA 164 points Total weight: 1494lb 2oz
2nd RAF Red 162 points Total weight: 1371lb 9oz
3rd RAF Blue 159 points Total weight: 1272lb 1oz
4th Army UK 146 points Total Weight: 1170lb 4oz
5th Army Ge 142 points Total weight: 1260lb 13oz
6th Old Lags 122 points Total Weight: 944lb 2oz
7th RN 108 points Total Weight: 862lb 7oz

Individual Results. Although the championship is primarily a team event, there was keen competition for the individual places, but RAF Blue’s Noel Whitwham finished as the clear winner with an impressive 36 point total and 336lb of fish. Second was Vince Entwhistle (Old Lags) on 32 points and 286lb of fish, with Graham Welton (RAF Red) third with the same points but less weight with 210lb. Individual results :: click here for PDF

All in all six days of generally fantastic fishing, excellent company and the sinking of far too many beers. Roll on next year…hopefully the weather will remain the same.

A S CORBETT
Wg Cdr
Chairman RAF Coarse Angling

Full results in the events > results section :: click here