Inter Services Carp Championships

After a few years of trying, the three Services have finally clashed, at what will now be the annual Inter-Service Carp Championships. The 48 hour match was held on Chilham Mill, part of the Mid Kent Fisheries chain. Covering some twenty-six acres, it offers everything the carp connoisseur requires: a multitude of features, including islands, gravel bars, reed beds and shallows.

Chilham Mill is one of the top waters in the country with some cracking fish to go at, two of them growing as big as 40lb+ (Chillys Fish and Cluster). Being one of the country’s best carp waters means Chilham Mill has seen some of the finest carp specialists grace its banks and struggle to catch. The Army organised the event and quite rightly thought Chilham Mill was a perfect water to test the best of the three Services’ carp anglers. The Royal Navy team was chosen from an accumulation of points gained over three inter-Command matches held throughout the year, one point for competing and up to twenty points for winning. Each Inter-Service team consisted of eight anglers with one runner/reserve. The eight fished in four pairs competing for the following:

• Inter Services Pairs Champions: 1st, 2nd and 3rd
• Inter Services Team Champions: 1st and 2nd
• Biggest Carp Caught
• First Carp Caught

With the teams chosen and the competition in place the date was set for 22 October 2008. Each team arrived on the afternoon of 21 October to register and walk the lake, where we studied the water and formulated a plan. The lake was broken down into twelve ‘swims’ or areas with defined boundaries, all offering something different to challenge the angler. Unfortunately the carp never showed themselves enough in any of the areas to go firm on a particular swim, so watercraft was going to be what we based our selection on. Each pair was organised so that one could fish at long range with the other taking the closer option. This left me as team captain with the responsibility of putting the swims into an order of preference, basing the choice on what we had seen and discussed. Once I had the swims in an order of preference, we could settle down for the evening and enjoy the BBQ before heading off to our beds.

That night there was one of the first hard frosts of the year, not a good setting for catching crafty carp. It did help towards the imminent swim selection, as I could imagine all the carp heading for the deeper parts of the lake to avoid the cold spell. The next morning was where many a carp match has been won and lost – the draw for swims. We had decided to try a new method of drawing swims. An order of service was drawn (instead of pairs) that would repeat itself until all swims had been chosen. Unfortunately for us the order was Army, RAF and then Navy. This gave us 3rd, 6th, 9th choice and the final swim. Not a great start, but we still managed to get some of our preferred swims. With the rules confirmed, we made our way round to our swims and set up. At 1300hrs, the horn sounded, recording a piece of history and the start of the first tri-Service match.

The day was bright with a high pressure overhead creating little in the way of fish activity both in the water and on the bank so the pairings laid out their traps and baited up areas which the carp may move into once the conditions changed and the banks had quietened down. That night we sat watching the forecasted low front blow in from the west covering the night sky with a blanket of cloud. Nothing was caught that first night but everyone was up early watching for the now warmer, blustery conditions to stir the carp. It was not long before a fish was caught, unfortunately by the Army, in the form of Chillys Fish at 43lb. This was an awesome result for Cpl (Steve) Ridout. Regular anglers have fished Chilham for years targeting this fish and never caught it. Chillys Fish marked the start of several chances for the competition with five being caught. With the Navy pairings trying every trick they could to out craft the crafty carp, we managed a respectable two fish caught and two lost.

Meanwhile the Army caught three and lost three. I would say all but one of the fish was lost due to the substantial amounts of weed Chilham holds, creating all sorts of problems, even for the experienced carp angler. Unfortunately the RAF lost one near the end meaning they never caught. With three fish totalling 95lb (26lb, 26lb and 43lb) the Army had won most of the prizes, but not all. WO1 (Bob) Harpers’ outstanding last minute 26lb Common Carp which, again due to the weed, required us to take to the boat to gain the upper hand, meant that we were now the Inter Service Pairs Champions.

Chilham Mill was a long awaited match bringing the three Services together, competing in what has been until recently a secretive arm (carp fishing) to the fishing scene. With three years behind us, I hope the Carp Section continues to grow in what is a relatively new category to the RN&RMAA. I would like to thank all who attended the match and everyone involved in getting us to this stage. As I write, I am looking forward to the coming year with more events, and further development of our Angling Association giving the ever increasing members a chance to do what they enjoy most – go fishing.