Ultimate Angler 2012 - Are you brave enough!

Having had time to reflect the writing of this account doth prove no easier to write. As usual the festival provided the main escape for the trio as they sort the opportunity to escape from the challenges of family and work life. New tackle was view, reviewed, discussed, purchased and old tackle sorted, organised, packed, unpacked and polished in readiness for the sessions ahead. But as usual too much preparation was bound to lead to chaos. Gaining an early pass I headed to the mecca Spring Lea a day earlier than Nico. Arriving mid day Friday, setting up a small tent in Olympic timing and in desert temperatures. A customary walk around all the lakes and establishing which lakes had matches on etc, the brollie went up at the base camp to protect myself from melting and reading a few pages before the white van A Team BA style came wheel spinning across the field as Dangler arrived. Quick discussion under the protection of the brollie resulted in Mallard being chosen for a session on the waggler. Picking pegs 7 and 8 with easy access from the road and the ability to place the cars behind the pegs we set up and started to work through the 6 pints of maggots. Small bits proved a frustrating foe as both CC and Dangler missed fish or snagged small perch. A change to fishing fairly close in, steady feed of pellets and pellet on the hook resulted in a few carp.

A few carp in CC hooked a zoo creature and after a lengthy battle as captured in the photograph above, the fish below came to the net. Weighted at 9.5lb best fish of the day and the weekend. Not bad on the waggler and good sport. The session continued with Dangler ending with 5 carp for 5lb and CC 8 carp. Fished 1-6pm in hot as hell temperatures. Pleasing to catch as not a lot going on else where around the lake, but as usual fished the worst part of the day. 6pm-9pm would have been interesting. Shower, two pints in the local and fish&Chip followed. After a good nights sleep Day One of Ultimate Angler loomed.

Day one saw the Dnagker as BA from the A Team, Day two the Dangler transformed into Magnum PI zooming in his white van into the arena at 7.55am. Anglers decided that Orfe was the logical option after practising on Mallard the day before? Pegs 34,35 and 36 were chosen and they awaited the arrival of Nico. Not to let the team down Nico arrived on queue after ignoring all speed restrictions between Nottinghamshire and Shropshire, like Smokey and the Bandit, but this time more like Feeder and the pellet.

It was now time for the Ultimate Angler 2012 to start. First learning point was that using 3 methods means bloody ages in tackling up ready to fish. It was calm, dead calm so obviously feeder was the best option! CC fish first cast of around 5lb, Dangler and Nico early fish, but then very little. I tried fishing every peg, Dangler had a few more. After two hours fishing and 3 hours tackling up, teas, moaning and cobs it was all square.

Round Two - The Waggler. Not the first choice of method for the trio especially when the pole is to hand. Anyway much like the feeder, fish came fairly equally across the three anglers. Odd roach, odd carp, odd bream - total mixed bag. Again a break, banter, teas and reflection.

Round Three - Pole - this would sort the men from the boys. Nico quickly into catching ide at his feet one every minute of good size. The pressure was on. Dangler in the dreaded middle peg went a little further out but was plagued with small stuff. CC caught ide and small stuff close in always feeding the margin for the last hour.

Well fish kept coming. Plenty of ide for Nico with CC responding with carp from the margin. Dangler increasingly frustrated by 'bits'. With the final whistle approaching it was between Nico and CC, neck and neck. CC then hooked a decent carp in the margins of 5lb pipping Nico to the finishing line for Day one. CC 37lb Nico 32lb Dangler 15lb

Nice net of fish for Nico. Orfe classic.

Well after fighting their way through the Shrewsbury Flower Show massive the trio managed to have a few pints, green chillies, curry and a 5 minute firework bonanza in preparation for Day 2. CC woke to the feeling of being microwaved and feared that Day 2 would not happen. Medication, water and sausage roll to the rescue. With local knowledge Trevors lake was chosen. Snake lake with evidence of carp and ide. When we arrived it looked as dead as the photo above and over the session got worse. Dangler was allowed an outside shot of catching up by being given Peg 1 with features a plenty. Dangler promptly took advantage of these by using a black rubber band as elastic and allowed each carp hooked to swim into the mangrove swamps. Result lost more fish than caught. Nico and CC played a tactical cat and mouse game, matching fish for fish and CC ensuring Nico never made up the 5lb difference. Even the one carp Nico caught was luckily equalled. A frustrating session typical snake lake - forget it unless you are right up against the far bank and in amongst the mangroves and the lost float grave yard. Anyway after the usual 4 seasons in one day with down pours. The final weight in came. Nico 14lb Dangler 13lb CC 16lb Or something like that! On reflection and like many other things in life - it took a long time coming and over too quickly. Enjoyed it and the lesson learnt is avoid Trevors. Evening session must be on the cards as Spring Lea appears an evening venue. Centenary next year will need some thought. Match on, game on, fish on!

Trophy back where it belongs. Roll on next session. Need a Nottingham session in Autumn at the mighty Butterley !!