THE RIVER EBRO SPAIN, AND SOME AWESOME CATFISH!
Over the last couple of years whilst I have been Carp fishing abroad, I have slowly become more and more interested in attempting to try and catch a Catfish.
On a couple of my trips last year, I decided to take two Catfish rods, which I had made to my own specifications. The idea being, that I would attempt whilst fishing on the River Saone in France to catch a Cat at the same time as I was pursuing my main, and preferred pray, the Carp.
Unfortunately, because of one reason or another, the Catfish rods never came out of my 'top box', (this is a carrier on top of my car, where I keep my rods when travelling, to protect them from any damage). I think the main reason for the Cat rods stopping in the top box, is most probably because once I as concentrating on catching my chosen quarry (the Carp), I find it difficult to deter from the task which I have set myself and hard to change from one prey to another.
However, this year, I decided to go all out for a purely Cat fish trip. I was already good friends with a guy named Martin Walker, and we had discussed a possible trip where I would accompany him on one of his many guided trips to the rivers in France. Unfortunately, the week that I had in mind was not good timing for Martin, as his wife would be ready to give birth to their child around that particular week!
Undeterred, I next spoke to a fella by the name of Luke Moffat about a possible trip with him, this also was not to be, as he was fully booked for the week I had inquired about. Although the week in question was fully booked, we had a long talk and Luke suggested that we could possibly help each other later on in the year, his idea was for me to front a competition for him in Carp Talk, to provide his new venture of Carp fishing holidays from the campsite where he runs his guided Cat fish trips.
This particular site is situated on the side of the River Soane and has all the amenities you could require, even a swimming pool! His idea was that the winners of the competition would be accompanied by me to assist them in catching some River Saone Carp, and while I was there Luke could take me out for the odd session Catfishing.
This particular competition did run in Carp Talk. While I was discussing the possible competition with Luke, he informed me that there was a Cat meeting quite close to my neck of the woods and that he would be attending to promote his trips and also his new rods. He suggested that as I was obviously very interested in Catfishing we should meet up there and have a good talk about Catfishing and also the future competition.
I had never been to a catfish meeting before, but I am very happy that I listened to Luke's advise and went to my first Cat meeting, it was not as big as the Carp meetings I am used to, but even so I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Whilst there, I managed to bump in a few Carp anglers, one of these anglers was face I knew fairly well, Colin Bunn. I had seen and talked to him several occasions at Carp Society meetings, but I was not aware that he was very accomplished Cat angler. When I saw his pictures on the display boards, I was more than surprised as I gazed at several of the pictures with him holding 100lb plus Cats. I immediately realised my search for a person to go Cat fishing with was over, not only did he catch very large Cat's but I also knew him fairly well! I had talked to him in the past so I could sense he was just like me and obsessed with fishing! If you are anything like me, fishing rules your life, even when you are not on the bank!
We quickly became friends and I started to soak up all the information he could give me, and there was plenty of it to absorb. He likes to leave nothing to chance when fishing, everything he recommended to me had been thoroughly tested over the years to give him the best results. As you will notice in some of the photographs we are wearing tee shirts advertising 'Cat Master Tackle', this is Collins latest venture and he plans to sell all the products that have been given him his success over the years.
Some of these products are not readily available in the UK, so he has to import a large majority of them, he is even having certain products made for him. He has developed them himself over the years, in my opinion if Colin recommends it, then it is more than good enough for the job!
He
told me his fist trip this year was to be in April, but he was already committed
to a 10 day trip with his friend and regular fishing partner Paul. As he had
already arranged to fish with Paul, it would not be possible for me to go
on that first trip, or would it?
We hatched a plan that hopefully would suit us all, this was for him and Paul to continue there planned trip and for me to go out and join them at the end of their trip, with Colin stopping on for a further six days with me. We spoke to Paul and asked him if he was prepared to return home after 10 days by himself, so that I could continue to fish on with Colin, then at the end of my six days fishing, Colin would return home with me. Paul said he was OK with this, much to my delight, I was all set for my first Cat fishing experience!
As the time of the trip came closer, Colin advised me of all the equipment I would require to hopefully play and land my first Cat. My goal on this trip was to just hopefully hook, play and land a Catfish, the size to me being irrelevant, I just wanted to catch a Catfish. If I was lucky enough to catch a largish one, then that would be an extra bonus.
The weeks leading up to the trip soon passed and before I knew it I was at Collins house seeing him and Paul off on their journey to the River Ebro in Spain. The days to me joining them soon passed and before I knew it, it was time for me to start my journey to meet them in Spain. I had little contact with them, as Paul's mobile had refused to work due to bad reception in the area they were fishing.
I must admit I was not looking forward to the long drive through France and Spain to join them, it would be the furthest I have ever travelled in a car on my own. I said goodbye to my long suffering wife Lynn, who has to put up to up my obsession with fishing abroad, also to wish luck to my two sons who are anglers so they understand why their dad chose these strange things! I was soon on the journey down to the ferry, with 24 hours of traveling in front of me.
All that was in my mind at the time was, this has to be done, in order to accomplish my goal of catching my first catfish. I reached the ferry with seconds to spare as I had mistaken the time of sailing, luckily they rushed me through and I just got on, I think they were just about to close the back doors when I arrived! The ferry crossing was uneventful, the usual walk around the duty free etc. I bumped into a few Carp anglers on board, they were all off to their 'top secret' waters, not giving out any information (as if I really wanted to know anyway!). The ferry docked and I was the last car off as I had been the last one on, now my long drive to the river was to begin. The weather through France was dismal, heavy rain making driving conditions extremely hard, with the spray from the large lorries restricting my vision when passing them.
It was foot to the floor, I had a lot of miles to cover and I wanted to cover them in as short a time period as possible. I followed the route that Colin had given me, passing many well known Carp lakes as I sped through France. I would have liked to stopped off at a couple of them, the ones that I have not yet fished, but I could not stop, because it was a race against time, in order to keep the bait in good condition.
I had been driving for about 10 hours when I came to the border between France and Spain, as I passed through the one country into the other I could see snow on top of the mountains. There was still at least 3 hours drive ahead of me and I was starting to feel very tired, so I wound down the windows for some fresh air and pressed on. The towns on the map soon passed and it was about one hour away form my destination, as it started to get dark.
I thought I must be mad to be doing this, here I am in a strange country driving on roads I have never seen before in the dark, no one to talk to, or read the map for me. I was unsure how I was going to find Colin and Paul, as I could not contact them on their mobile. All I had was a piece of paper with a sketch, of where to find them when I reached the river. At this particular point in the trip it would have been very easy to have just pulled over to the side of the road and gone to sleep for the night and resumed my journey the next day, when I would be refreshed and could also see were I was going. But, being the stubborn individual that I am, I pressed on into the darkness and parts unknown.
When I finally got to the river, I drove up and down looking for them trying to work out there location, from my bit of paper with the directions on it. I had actually driven past a couple of times, but been unable to see them in the dark of the night. I headed for a spot where Colin said he would meet me if I could not find them on the river. I had no sooner pulled up at this particular spot, when I saw headlights flashing me from behind, it was Colin who had been visiting the meeting place every hour to see if I had arrived.
I
followed him down to the swim where Paul greeted me with a cup of coffee,
we talked for a bit and I set my bed chair up for the coming night. They informed
me that the timing of the trip was spot on and the fishing was excellent,
they had both broken the150lb barrier and Colin had one of 182 lbs. We talked
for a couple of hours and then they retired to their bed chairs for the night,
while I just sat there watching their rods! My adrenaline was flowing now,
and all I wanted was to see my first Cat, the tiredness that I had experienced
earlier on had completely gone!
I did not have to wait long as one of Paul's rods screamed off and he was into yet another large Cat. Colin and Paul had 5 that night between them, they were all photographed and videoed the next morning.
Then Paul had the task of doing the reverse journey to the one I had just completed the day before, like me he would be by himself.. We helped him load up and said goodbyes to him, as he drove off I did not envy him his long trip.
I settled into the swim, we could not put up a bivvy or umbrellas as we were not able to legally night fish in this area. Colin had already got the licenses well in advance (do not attempt to fish without licenses as, while we were there two anglers had all their rods confiscated, you have been warned). We actually had several visits from the police but, fortunately for us, they were all during the day.
Well that's enough about the down side of fishing for the Cats on the River Ebro, lets get back to the story! We set everything up and put out the rods for the forthcoming night and what was to follow that night, and the next five, for me was unbelievable!
That first night I had two Catfish, my first was one of 125.00 lbs. and I followed that up with a second Cat of 136.00 lbs. (what a brace!).
Unbelievable, over the six days I had a total of 12 Catfish, with seven of these over the 100 lb mark, the largest weighing in at 146.00 lbs. (mind blowing!) .
Here is a break down of the my six days fishing and my catch of Cat's
Weight in pounds .....Length in inches
| 125 | 82 |
| 136 | 84 |
| 65 | 60 |
| 52 | 55 |
| 114 | 76 |
| 131 | 80 |
| 69 | 64 |
| 123 | 80 |
| 102 | 77 |
| 92 | 72 |
| 146 | 84 |
| 24 | 48 |
Well you must admit it makes pretty impressive reading, actually I still think I must be dreaming! Maybe tomorrow I will wake up and it all has been a dream. Finally I must thank Paul and Colin for all their help, as I am sure without it I would not had such a memorable first trip Cat fishing.
'Big Ron' Woodward --------------------------------------------------------------------------------