Hi all

This month I will be starting my own version of the Rod Race in which Matt Hayes & Mick Brown set themselves a target of catching every coarse species in a prescribed number of sessions. The diferrence will become clear..


The twist??

On Fly tackle and tactics only.

The rules?

25 species in 25 sessions.
Fly rod and tactics only.
Imitative flies only - no dog biscuits/maggots etc on the hook.
All flies tied by my own fair hand
No using bait to get fish feeding or competing.

The species

Chub
Perch
Rudd
Roach
Grayling
Dace
Brown Trout
Rainbow Trout
Golden orfe
Common Carp
Mirror carp
Minnow
Pike
Zander
Bleak
Bream
Barbel
Tench
Ruffe
Goldfish
Crucian Carp
Grass carp
Ghost carp
Salmon
Sea trout

Some easy ones in there (ie trout etc) and some tough ones too (minnow anyone?).

All in all will be a big challenge, a steep learning curve (I have been fly fishing about 6 times in my life!) but a lot of fun. I will be blogging the events, with a report but also tactics, tackle, tips if possible, etcetera etcetera. I hope this will be an informative and entertaining read, and something a bit diferrent.

Now the serious bit

I am looking for pledges on a per species basis. Times are hard I appreciate, so even if it is only a few pence per species that would be awesome. All proceeds will go to the Help for Heroes charity (http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/), and monies will be handled by a 3rd party or direct to the charity so it will all be nice and clean, transparent and above board. I am also promotiung this on a coarse forum I frequent, whose idenependent owner is collecting monies on my behalf at the conclusion.

Additional help in terms of suggestions of venues etc for some of the harder species would not go amiss.

I am sure no-one would disagree that this is a very worthwhile cause, and look forward to the support of this very, very generous community.

If you are prepared to back me, or more importantly Help for Heroes, please post pledges.

Equally if you are in , or connected to the trade, or get on well with a local game or coarse tackle shop, please let me know if you or they can help in any way with sponsorship, tackle donation for raffle, or whatever else would help. If I can raise enough prizes etc I will do a monthly "draw" of those who have pledged, with the prize going to the lucky chap or chapess.

Phil Dixon (who needs no introduction here but to whom I am extremely grateful) of Seighford Lakes nr Stafford has already pledged to allow me to flyfish the coarse lakes he has, and has also donated the following prizes:

A day ticket for coarse fishing
A day ticket for Trout fishing
A free casting lesson

I hope this will be taken in the spirit intended and people help me raise some money for charity. In reality it will run for a near season so I hope a good sum can be raised as interest (hopefully) grows.

Anyone who can help in anyway please get in touch.

Best Regards and thanks for reading.

Ian

__________________
Around the steel no tortur'd worm shall twine,
No blood of living insect stain my line;
Let me, less cruel, cast feather'd hook,
With pliant rod athwart the pebbled brook,
Silent along the mazy margin stray,
And with fur-wrought fly delude the prey

fair play Ian im in just tell me what to do regards sponsorship paying monies etc have taken this as all above aboard not sure as to how much to sponsor as yet i think some of those species would warrant a bit extra like the ruffe good luck catching one of those i see youve not included the wels catfish,bullhead or stoneloach just kidding. not that it matters but are you going to target each species in one visit.only allowing 25 visits
i enjoyed the rod race and do watch it quite frequently on discovery i think if you can manage this then all credit to you hopefully youll have a lot of fun and raise as much as possible best of luck look forward to hearing from you soon

Thanks Anjinsan.

Other people on a coarse forum are sposoring between 50p and £2 per species. At the end of the day it is up to the idividual, any support no matter how big or small is appreciated the same.

Hopefully soem other epople will get behind me, also anyone in the trade who can help in any way with prizes, sponsorship, promotion, tips etc I would be really, really grateful.

It will likely run over 6 months so plenty of time to get involved

__________________
Around the steel no tortur'd worm shall twine,
No blood of living insect stain my line;
Let me, less cruel, cast feather'd hook,
With pliant rod athwart the pebbled brook,
Silent along the mazy margin stray,
And with fur-wrought fly delude the prey