Catch 22 - Hatt's Own 'Twenty Four Hour Rod Race'

I went over to the Ricoh Arena with Danny last week to see the fishing event there and when we were leaving, noticed that there was a pile of free Angling Times on a desk in the foyer. Of course I picked one up and took it home. Inside two things caught my fancy out of what was an excellent issue packed with good stuff, one an eye opening article about drop-shotting for big perch by Des Taylor, and the other, one by Matt Hayes about a twenty-four hour species fishing challenge set for him by the AT editor Rich Lee,  at Bluebell Lakes, Northamptonshire, a venue with a complex of pits and a river stretch to go at too.

Roach

I struck me that it wasn't that much of a challenge at all to be asked to try for only seven species in the one full day. Matt set himself a list of nine possible species to target, but in the end, only got the seven. I've done better than that in less time before (but without being set a target to reach, I hasten to add) catching nine species of fish and a crayfish too, in a day session spent at Packington Fisheries fishing their Siblings Lake and stretch of the River Blythe. A similar venue to Bluebell Fisheries then.

Rudd

I could have made it ten or eleven fish species that day if I had targeted the carp that were rooting around in the reeds at Siblings but I hadn't the tackle to cope with them so didn't try and if I'd stumbled upon the whereabouts of a small pocket of dace on the river that were located another day. I hadn't set myself a challenge either, the fish just came along one after the other; a chub, a gudgeon, a minnow and a perch from the river, and the crayfish too, then a tench, a crucian carp, a rudd, a roach and a bream from Siblings.

Perch

Not only do I think I could probably outdo Hayes' seven fish species on Packington's waters alone, and in daylight hours only, I actually reckon it's possible, given a choice of any (and the the right!) venues and good time management, to catch no less than twenty two species in the twenty four hour time frame, and by using only one rod at a time (no crafty sleeper rods!) and here they are ~

Roach, rudd, perch, pike, zander, dace, ruffe, barbel, chub, gudgeon, tench, crucian carp, carp, silver bream, bream, brown trout, rainbow trout, grayling, eel, minnow, bullhead and bleak.

Pike

First venue would be the Coventry Canal at 12 midnight for a zander as I don't know of anywhere else that can throw one up with any level of certainty. When the zander was caught, if caught at all, I'd switch swims and go after a bream and a silver bream, both species who do feed in the dark. If it looks like a zander won't show then I'd save it for the following night and concentrate on the bream species till dawn. Whilst at it, the bream swims do throw up tench from time to time and a perch is a racing certainty at dawn on maggot with the chance of a ruffe too.

Zander

Next port of call would be Packington Fisheries where I'd get a tench, a crucian carp and hopefully a carp early morning from Siblings Lake with the chance of rudd, roach and bream, then across to the River Blythe on the same fishery where I'd get a chub, a dace, a gudgeon and a perch too with the outside chance of an escapee rainbow trout from Packington's trout fishery downstream.

Dace

Grayling is almost impossible locally. They are known to be in the local River Sense which is a short hop from Packington, but I never did catch one there, however, I did catch a couple of brown trout and I know where they'll be right now. The same swims also contain roach, dace and chub too.

Ruffe

Next hop would be over to the local ponds if necessary where there's certain rudd, but also certain roach, perch and also some trickier crucians and carp too if they haven't fallen already.

Woman

The remaining species would be harder to get, but a session at Stratford-upon-Avon might see a barbel, though barbel fishing is a time devouring prospect, but would get a bleak and will get a roach or a bream. Pike and zander are also present there.

Chub

Eels are hard to get locally but an evening trip over to the Severn would certainly get me one after dark and silver bream can also be caught at night on the worm bait. Zander and pike are also possible there as are barbel, chub and any other river fish that still feeds at night.

Gudgeon

Minnow and bullhead can be caught from any of the rivers mentioned but would fall whilst chasing other species if they'd fall at all. Ruffe? I know of only one swim in Warwickshire where I can be sure that they exist and that's back home on the Coventry Canal but I can't see how or where I'd fit it in unless I had the previous night's canal targets sewn up by dawn when I could hop over for an hour to the ruffe swim.

Tench

Though such a twenty-two species challenge is a nice idea, I won't actually try it, mostly because I don't have the wheels for it, but it could be attempted if I had, and I would have a crack at it!

Crucian

What I will do is a two venue, one rod only, challenge, by fishing the Coventry Canal from midnight and then going over to Packington early morning, fishing there till dusk, and then returning to the canal to mop up till midnight of the same day. I reckon it's just possible to get fifteen of the species out of such a challenge, possibly more with lucky captures thrown in.

Carp

When to do it?  April or May, and whenever that time is when the canal comes alive with hungry bream and silver bream as they gather up into a tight area before spawning. Then is the time because all the other summer species have turned on by then and the winter species can of course be caught too. Doh! It's the close season on the rivers then. Silver bream off the list, they'll have vanished by June 16th, but that is when it'll have to be. Then again I know of a small pond where one can be got...

Silver Bream

And why midnight to midnight? Why not noon till noon? Or dawn dawn, or dusk to dusk? That's because a whole night is too static, too tiring and too concentrated and would, I feel, break crucial concentration in half when it is needed whole, spotting those tiny little crucian carp bites.

Bream

I'm gonna do it though! See if I can beat Matt Hayes at his own game, which was the whole point of the article, I suppose. To make us try it ourselves.

Trout. two species of these...

There's a lot of fish in this list! Didn't realise that there were so many...

Grayling

It goes on...

Eel

And on...

Minnow

And on...

Bullhead

And on!

Bleak

You are of course, welcome to join me if you want, though I'm keeping a loose lid on my well proven Siblings crucian bait, if you do...!

No, I cant. I can't keep a secret. That's just not cricket.

They begin with a P, end with an N, better cooked than raw in the middle...

And crucians? They love them. 'Sail aways' every time!