World Catfish Classic - Offical Global Website
Chiprana, Spain 23rd - 25th May 2012
| World Catfish Classic Launch Report |
 The morning before flying out to Spain I was sat at my desk eagerly waiting for Ross Honey and Tony Wade to turn up. They were due to meet me in time for our departure at 19.05 from Stansted, and we had to leave at 14.00 and it was now 1:47. Our departure was imminent, and not knowing quite what the next four days had to offer, the excitement started to kick in!! We arrived at Stansted with only a minute to spare, the journey in the car with Ross and Tony was, to put it mildly, ‘rather interesting’. I was getting to know my partner in crime, Tony Wade the film/stills photographer, and all we talked about was how good the Nikon D200 is. Not wanting to cut Ross out of the conversation, I was also getting to understand the job in hand and what work was needed over my time in Spain in preparation for the Catfish Classic. My feelings for this trip had already become apparent to Ross with the excitement that was looming ahead of the trip. After meeting up with Andy Chambers we had just enough time to board our plane to Zaragoza. We arrived in Zarogoza at 20.50 (21.50) local time and we were met by a friendly looking chap, the owner of the Jolly Fisherman, Martin Walker. The journey to what was to be our home for the next four days was only an hour’s drive away and when we arrived at the Jolly Fisherman we all sat and relaxed over a few nice cold pints of San Miguel beer..... Very nice for a midnight snack Day one After being woken at 07:30 to the sound of local removal men outside - who were making more noise than a screaming buzzer with an angry carp on the on the end - we all joined Martin downstairs for a nice English fry up... home away from home.  The time now being 10:30, Ross, Andy and I set off to Chiprana, the local town where the Mayor’s office is located. We met up with a lovely lady called Carmen (sectary of the Mayor). This time, I had remembered to charge my camera batteries, thankfully. But then, half way to Chiprana, we realised that we had forgotten something very important..... Our film cameraman! We had left Tony at the Jolly Fisherman! Luckily, Martin took it upon himself to transport Tony over, so no photography time was lost, keeping Ross very happy.The time by now was 11.00am and the weather was starting to turn sunny with nice fluffy clouds, we like fluffy clouds; it makes good photography even better. Walking around the Town to see the background scenery is unreal – for me, coming from the rolling hills of the Cotswolds to being placed in front of the River Ebro in all its glory was a jaw-dropping experience. Surrounded by what can only be explained as being comparable to the Grand Canyon, with its huge cliffs, and rocks bigger than houses, the landscape looked like what could be described as similar to the planet mars.... it was fantastic to say the least. The wind was very strong at this point, and the part of the river near to where HQ will be placed was flooded! Martin explained that the part of the river that we were looking at was the Town’s original Ministry.... it was underwater! I could only imagine what is held beneath the surface of the white horse covered river along with the gigantic catfish.  We continued driving past the peach covered fields that were planted along the banks of the Ebro, and only five minutes after pulling up, a local angler was hooked into a cat. This showed good signs, the fishing was not set back by the weather, but unfortunately, as work needed to be done, seeing what was on the end was missed... I was gutted, and even more eager to see my first “Ton-up” catfish in the flesh.Around lunchtime I found myself sitting in the middle of an empty field photographing the main area of where the set-up of the World Catfish bivvy city and HQ will be positioned. At this point the Mayor arrived and took us up to his office to show Ross and Andy the ceremony room where the official launch was to be held. Things were looking very formal and official, with the national flags set in the corner of the room. The Mayor explained the best he could to express where everything would be set up, and what would be happening. At this point, Ross explained that the launch would be broadcasted across Chiprana on local TV and maybe even go national. The organisation turned out to be very serious, as I was given the job of being appointed the official mouse-clicker and side show control manager. That really hit my nerves; let’s hope I don’t mess up. After going through the controls with the Mayor and Andy Chambers with his ICT skills, to aid Ross perfect his speech with the professional look, it was time to leave the equipment and go for a run through. After the pre-show warm up, the next progression towards the competition was to have a look around HQ and the areas that will be used for the competitors to fish , to actually see how many swims and what state they were in, if at all fishable. Cramming into Martins car, we drove around the rocky banks of the Ebro, scouting out swims to ensure the safety and availability of each swim. The area looks stunning and is very picturesque. Further down the Ebro, after passing 12 rods in one swim, we note that they take fish care very seriously. After a bunch of Romanians, we see the English boating out their baits with the use of an electric outboard. There was a little bit of a chop on the water and it confirms that even with the high winds it is suitably safe to take boats out onto the water.  Two hours pass and we are still having fun, off-roading in Martins little Japanese truck. We encountered the famers who operate there, growing peaches and cherries, and they had blocked off all the Caminos (farm tracks) in conjunction with the peach and cherry picking season. This is for the prevention of theft, as there are a few roaming people who live off the land and the local businesses have problems in conjunction with these people. The farmer is annoyed about this and is also blaming the local and foreign anglers, leaving heaps of rubbish, harming the environment. Ross promises him that the competition will show awareness to the problem, and will serve to highlight that anglers are not to be stereotyped; the competition is in concurrence with cleaning up all the rubbish, and will promote a cleaner environment. This is a great responsibility, and spoken out loud it conveys the message that the World Catfish Classic aims to promote good angling ethics and the local villages can be assured that the competition will not bring the rubbish that is expected from the anglers. After all the commotion of transporting from swim to swim we hit the roads to our next destination, we were now driving down a police ‘illegal path’ that has been chained over to prevent people accessing certain parts of the river. However, people have driven over the chain and it is no longer in operation. Martin carried on along the bumpy track at highs speeds in search of secret swims. It’s all good fun and I I was feeling as though I was on a either a safari, or in a middle of a war zone in Afghanistan, watching our movements and reasons as to why we were travelling across land which is deemed to be closed, as the farmers, lightly speaking, do not hesitate in using extreme measures to get rid of people trespassing. To finish the day off we travelled back down to HQ where there is beer on tap, keeping Andy happy. Tony and I went off in search of pictorial images for closure shots for the presentation on film and stills, as there are a lot of peach fields, Tony and I were a bit naughty at this point and I can tell you I have not eaten so many peaches in my life (sorry Mayor) but on the plus side, we did get some work done and get some great sunsets across the barren rocky landscape. After the hard day’s work we all ended up at the local Chinese, two doors down from the Jolly Fisherman, how convenient I was thinking to myself “it’s a hard life”... If this is called work then I could get used to this. After dinner, the final job before bed was to finish the already started presentation of all the photography of the WCC Story so far. With a little bit of help from Tony my masterpiece slide show was ready to show the people of Chiprana what Ross and his dream is all about. Day two Got up at half seven and thought it was time to have a refreshing shave and shower to the nice sound of birds perched on the side of the shower ledge only 2 foot away from me, (bit different, but Spanish culture I suppose). After that, Tony and I added the finishing touches to the presentation. With plaRoss’s delight with all of the hard work we had put into it, we had produced a smart and effective slide show to represent what the Catfish Classic stood for, with the purpose being to show the people of Chiprana that the competition is a very positive and beneficial step for the town, putting it bang in the centre of the world in terms of so many different countries competing in the competition. The first point of call before the official opening of the competition, Tony and I had to photograph some finishing pieces for the slide show consisting of still images that would display how bad the rubbish problem was within the Ebro banks, and how the World Catfish Classic will clean this up and make people aware this is not tolerated within the competition. By doing this, the Catfish Classic will promote a cleaner environment for the villagers and local anglers.  At 10.16am at the Mayor’s office I prepare to be ready for Ross’s talk, and the opening of the catfish classic. I was feeling a bit nervous, but with just half an hour to go, the last run down of what needed to be done sorted the worry out. The thoughts going through my mind?? I really can’t wait to see some big cats and, in the words of Martin Walker, those horrible scaley’s (carp) of around 40lb ... but no, I must concentrate on the job!Ahhhh, Just finished the presentation, and it went really well. My timing of the presentation couldn’t have been better and all the clients, including PURE Fishing and Berkley, were very impressed with our hard work, including the photography and stills images. Ross presented the Mayor of Chiprana and Pascal, MD of PURE Fishing, with celebratory plaques. At the end of the presentation there were lots of camera crews and journalist covering the event which, quite honestly, made me realise how serious this competition is. To celebrate the competition being officially launched and opened by the Mayor, everyone was treated to a traditional Spanish meal, which i must add was filling and far from the traditional food i have at college..... Squid, ham and chorizo yum yum yum... The atmosphere was fantastic, and Pascal, Head of marketing and Director of PURE Fishing, along with Andy Chambers and myself discussed Internet design and ways to improve the availability of each ticket to the wider audience.  Now at 5:50 we are sitting at le barqa the jetty next to HQ chilling with the whole Berkley team who were fishing for that one big cat. Everyone was quiet and we were grateful to be relaxing in the sun thinking back over what we have achieved in such a small space of time. An hour later and the crew have had four cats up to 56lb and the throwing stick has been put down after an hour of putting out 24mm boiles... that was a lot of bait! The 7 rods had been set and we all tucked into some cherries right next to the water’s edge.At this point the weather had turned to a very low pressured southerly and a cool wind was blowing straight into our faces. But the dark sky closed in, and the cameras had to be put away as Tony and i agreed that the black clouds are not very kind to d200 or 250D’s (small chuckles). We waited for the rain to hit us, and after 10 minutes of the cloud approaching us the wind completely changed direction and it completely missed us. Thank god for that because, as we looked on, the rain seemed to hit Chiprana pretty hard. Thankfully it didn’t put the fish off feeding, though, as the Berkley team had a very slow run ending with a 20lb baby cat. That evening we watched the England game and from the result you can imagine how much fun that was. We edited all of the pictures taken that day, ours and the Berkeley teams, and organised them on to Ross’s laptop. And what a day it was! I had seen my first Ebro cat, even though at a small size, and I really couldn’t wait to get back out there to see some proper cats. The following day the team were to be guided by Alan, one of the top guides from Catfish Capers. Hopefully the weather would be nice enabling us to get some great pics. Day three  As normal the day started off with a nice cool shower, as the weather was already hitting the high 20’s at 8 in the morning.Today was to be a relaxed day with only a scheduled boat ride with the Mayor to assure him of the safety of the competitors, and that swim choice along the Ebro was sufficient enough for his liking. With his guidance, Ross and Andy should have a good idea of what land could be used as a lot of the land around the Ebro is famers’ property and is not available to fish. After a few short hours in the boat and a few clicks of the shutter, we were on our way back to drop the Mayor off and find the Berkeley crew amongst the wilderness of the Ebro banks, dead in the heart of the what is known as Spain’s miniature jungle. We finally arrived after four to five, “I swear he said he was just around this corner” to find Alan the guide rowing baits out. Now, bearing in mind the wind had picked up at this point, all of you big pit anglers will know what it is like to row baits out in the wind... a nightmare! So, as you can imagine, Alan’s face gleamed with happiness as he knew our nice shiny Honda outboard, which he made sure to use in all its power, would make short work of placing baits... fast angling in my eyes. 1:30pm  After all the commotion of swapping boats and nearly tangling up in four rods fishing out miles into the dark chocolate water of the Ebro, Tony and myself were just doing some fishy arty party pics of bait bits and of course the Berkley teams nice new logo of the cat fish emblem. As time went on clutches began to spin and cats started to come in thick and fast. Funnily enough, only kicking off big time when the weather dropped? - Food for thought there! - Back to the fish, all in all there were over 10 cats caught in only 5 hours with four of them hitting the ton mark. The biggest being a huge 147lbs.... now if that isn’t the heart of the sport and an answer to why us anglers pay so much money on gear, bait and holidays then I have no more evidence to show.It was a good experience to get down to earth with some of the biggest people within the trade, and talk about their lifestyle as an angler and what made them choose the life they have within the business side of angling.  Talking with Pascal he was telling me how he has been working really hard and that his fishing has suffered from this, when at the age he is, he states that he still has the thrill, the drive just to catch fish and every time that buzzer goes his heart still pounds and that small childhood obsession comes alive again. He also explained that he was salmon fishing in Canada just weeks before coming out for this launch, as he liked to chuckle about it being a business meeting.... I would love an office on the banks of the Ebro, just imagine that!!Soon the sun was nowhere to be seen and the clouds crept in and covered the whole sky. This did not stop the fish from coming in, though, and as Tony and I were talking camera lingo, discussing how we could improve our photography, when one of the reels burst into life and Pascal was into a cat... at last as he has been waiting for one all day. The battle was intense and at one stage the cat nearly pulled him in. After an hour and 15 minute battle, the fish was landed, all 126lb of it. Pascal was speechless to have caught such a giant, reaching 7 ft in length.  After all the trophy shots were taken, and with Pascal being unaware, a huge bucket of water was thrown over him, completely soaking him from head to toe... all thanks to Ross! Now, if I remember correctly Pascal implied “I will remember this day Ross” as the friendly banter continued.What a great way to end the day, on such a good note, and as 7 o’clock drew by we all packed up and headed upstream to HQ in preparation for Martins fantastic BBQ and beer to wash it all down with. As the night went on and with the beer flowing as freely out of the keg as the conversation, it had become less and less about work and more about the excitement of next’s years event and bets on which country would win it. At this point in time, as the sun was setting, I realised how lucky I was to be out there, being given the opportunity to do what I love, photography and fishing. To cap the night off we gathered around Ross’s laptop and watched a slide show of the photos that had been taken through the day - all 1275 of them - I didn’t really have any time to edit them, which in turn was a good way to wind down before we all retired for the night, tomorrow being our last day of the trip. Day four  After showering and having a slightly smaller breakfast to normal, I got the chance to finish off the editing and cut down all the images I took the previous day to make life that much easier for Ross and the WCC team back home to use the images.The plan for today was to walk around Chiprana to see what it actually had to offer as we had missed out on seeing much of the town because we had been so busy over the previous three days. As we walked around it gave us all time to reflect and see just how different life is in different countries, well for me anyway. We walked through to the town centre where it literally was the centre of the whole localisation. It was quite strange to see a small square area just dedicated to bars and restaurants. It is great to have a communal area such as this for people to relax and enjoy the sun - it makes the town very welcoming and relaxing which is different to our stereotypical concrete gardens - and there was not a single person wearing a suit.  We walked further on through the town, passing the local church which made for some nice photography and a bit extra for Ross to show off what a beautiful place the competition is lucky enough to be held within.After a few hours, lunch time rolled around and as a great thank you to myself, Tony and Andy, Ross set aside the afternoon before the flight back to the UK to go out for lunch and be spoilt. What fun and games it was, as I am practically a non-drinker and, during the meal, I was given three glasses of wine and a bottle of San Miguel followed by a shot of yellow stuff..... Now, I have never tasted battery acid, but wow, that was close enough I imagine, and after that I was on my way to the land of wobbly images (light-weight, I know!) but at least I am a cheap night out! Anyway, the food was lovely, having more squid and an array of different meats that consisted of chorizo, salami and other types of meat including animal parts that I would not like to know that I ate, but none the less it was nice to be able to relax and reflect on how grateful I was to be there. Thank you Ross, Tony and Andy, it was an absolute pleasure and thank you all for your kind words and advice. After heading back to the Jolly Fisherman, a few hours kip was on the cards before the late night trip back home. We said our goodbyes and thanks to Martin at Catfish Capers until the return next year.  ConclusionSo, the conclusion of my time in Spain? Amazing! I have achieved the best photography I have ever produced, met some quality people and picked up some awesome advice along the way. To me, this new, mind-blowing Event - the World Catfish Classic - is one really worth keeping an eye out for! And do you know what? This is one of my proudest moments to be able to say that I have been a part of, and hope to be a part of, for many years to come. Thank you Ross, Tony and Andy for all your time and support Josh Sandars |
