The office I work in recently decided to get involved in a charity fundraising event for disadvantaged children. If you were going to raise money for charity what would you do? My fishing pal Nigel and I, agreed that rather than get roped in to the possibly life threatening activities that our colleagues decided that they were going to do, that we would raise money by doing something we actually enjoy doing. A sponsored fish it was then, with the target being to catch 20 different species of fish in just four days – much more relaxing! We even managed to convince a number of our sponsors that we would fail miserably and that they should sponsor us for at least £ 1 for each different species. How they howled when we came round to collect the money off them on our return. But back to the story! The venue where the challenge took place, Clawford Vineyard, is owned and run by John and Wanda Ray down in Devon. John has dug out a complex of 12 lakes, which he has stocked with Carp to 40lb+, Catfish to over 60lb, plus all the usual suspects and some interesting others! Each lake contains its own bit of interest and allows the visiting angler to try a variety of different methods and tactics. Day 1 Day 2 The sun had put in an appearance and so we decided to try ‘Clawford Lake’ home of the mighty king carp (up to 24lbs). We had noticed them rolling in the margins and thought a floater approach would be our best chance of a quick return. We approached the lake, with Nigel going to the right, while I went left. We both fired some mixers into the wind to drift towards the rushes and to our delight several big rubber lips soon appeared slurping our free offerings with gusto. After about 20 minutes both lines went in and the mixers drifted towards our quarry. The lips came up and I struck into the first fish – only a small one of about 6lb, but it was another species. This was followed quickly by Nigel striking in to a lumpy mirror just short of double figures. The weather then turned and a thunder storm we had been watching in the distance, started to head our way so we quickly headed back to the complex and shelter of umbrellas. Still at the end of day two we had some personal bests and we now had 13 species. Day 3 At about 6 o’clock we decided there was enough time and light to go and stalk the ghosties on ‘Fletchers Lake’ using floaters. The fish duly obliged and we had seven fish off the top from 8lb to 11lb 6oz. Not huge but great fun on light tackle. With the light fading we decided to head off to get some dinner (the complex has a fantastic restaurant) and a well-earned beer. The species count was now at 19, just one away from completing the challenge. If only we had managed to catch a blue orfe, we would have completed our challenge one day ahead of schedule. The Last Day So, if you want to catch lots of different species, or simply target large carp, or if you just want to have a very enjoyable fishing holiday with your other half (Bude and the shopping is only about 30 minutes away by car), we can thoroughly recommend Clawford Vineyard. You can find more details by logging on to the very informative Clawford website at www.clawford.co.uk |