TACKLING SPAIN PART ONE

If you are a regular reader of Carp Fisher you will remember my Marco Polo series of articles where I took you traveling with me in search of Carp from several different countries. As I have a very limited amount of time for my passion in pursuit of carp, I have found that I have to travel abroad to achieve the size of carp I am personally targeting. Although there are many big fish over here, I do not have the hours to spend in order to do them justice, although I would dearly love to catch one of this country’s big home-grown residents (if you know were I am coming from).

But as my time for fishing is limited by work commitments, I have found my best chance of any whackers these days, is by targeting and catching them big foreign lumps (where they live) …….so with that in mind, travel again with me down to sunny Spain, and the mighty River Ebro system which stars its life in the Cantabria Mountains of northern Spain and then travels east between the Pyrenees Mountains in the north and the Iberian Mountains in the south. It is the longest river in Spain and flows for some 565 miles, before it flows out in to the Balearic Sea of the Mediterranean. (I don’t know if it’s true, but I have been told you can actually catch carp in the area, were it flows in to the sea).

The River itself cuts through coastal ranges in a series of spectacular gorges, which prohibit seagoing vessels traveling upstream further than the city of Tortosa, some 22 miles from the river's mouth. I have heard plans that this passage back up the river is going to be extended in the very near future and it may be possible to travel up to Mequineza, an area I know well and the basis for this report, as it was this section I fished on my last trip.

The River Ebro is mainly associated with its huge Catfish (which I also fish for). However there are some enormous Carp over there to, with reported fish to seventy pounds. I myself have certainly seen fish to well over the forty-pound mark and when I was there catfishing with my Son Lee and friend Tony Davies Patrick, he said he had seen them much bigger and I do not doubt his word. As yet, I'm not had anyone show me a picture of any carp over fifty plus, but they are certainly present, and I do have pictures of several forties from there, off my friend who runs a guiding service for Carp and Catfish trips in Spain, Colin Bunn.

The Cats in this section of river once thrived on the small Carp that used to be there in abundance. But as the big cats have feasted on them, the small Carp which are mostly Commons and fish in the 3 to 12lb bracket, have had their numbers drastically reduced, leaving only the much bigger carp to swim in this area. They fight like crazy and you can expect to catch plenty of twenty and thirty pound-plus fish at Me. As they are now caught on a regular basis, the potential for the real whackers though is there and it is only a question of time before it is realized by many anglers, what this area really contains.

Although this article is primarily about big Carp of the region, an article on the Ebro would never be complete without reference to its monstrous Catfish (which I also fish for) so for those that didn't know, there are approximately 2500 different types of Catfish throughout the world, I believe, varying in size from species as small as one inch, with fish reported up to 15 feet at the other end of the scale. The largest species is the Wells Catfish, Latin name Silurus Glanis. This is the species that inhabit the Ebro and a 200 lbs+ fish is on the cards there, if not already been caught and kept quiet. I have been informed that they grow to over 700lbs in Russia.

On the Continent, the Wells is known by several names. In Germany it is called the Waller, in France it is the Silure and in Russia as Ssum or Sheatfish.

The Wells catfish is a scale-less slimy fish (very slimy) which can vary in shade according to the water colour. There are also a few albinos present in this area and I have been lucky enough to have one, when fishing with the German camp set up over there on the river’s edge.

When fishing over there for Carp or Cats, as I always state on the many web forums I post on, location is of primary importance. If you can't find the fish, then there is really no point sitting in a swim because it looks nice or feels comfortable and waiting for them to come to you!! As on a river they could literally be miles away. Therefore an echo sounder is very necessary in my opinion so you can understand all the features in your swim, plus measure the depth of water you are planning to fish in.

Don't stop in a swim too long if you are not seeing signs of fish. It will pay to move on as it is a big stretch of river and the fish can be holed up anywhere.

Tackle wise, for the Carp, as I am not here to promote any tackle or bait company, just pass on information, I will say what I usually say – up-grade your tackle when fishing abroad and be sure it is adequate for the job. PVA bags of pellets worked well for me last trip, fishing a large Hook bait over them, 15 lb line and size 2 hooks. You don’t want to hook in to a big fish, only to lose it because your tackle is not up to it.

For the Cats, there are several methods, the effective 'Buoy method', the clonk Spinning and ledgering, all methods will take cats of 100lb plus fish on a regular basis.

Tackle required will be multipliers or the big 6500 bait runners, sea style rods like Uptiders being my choice.
Another area you will need to keep in mind is the climate, as the strong sun can have devastating effects on you at certain times of the year. November to April, are the cooler months, with it really getting hot in June, July and August, so if the heat does affect you, be warned, as some of the areas you will fish will leave you cooking in the middle of the day from the powerful sun.

How to get there is the next item I will cover. This will depend if you are on a do-it-yourself type trip, or one of the many organized trips that usually collect you from Barcelona Airport and basically provide a half-board type package, including guiding and tackle.

I have travelled over there by car and plane, like on my first trip driving all through France and in to Spain, some 24 hours traveling, or to my most recent trip which was a flight from Birmingham with BA to Barcelona and then a hire car at the airport and a two hour drive to the river. This is a far faster way, but you are limited on tackle. The drive from Barcelona airport to the town of Mequinenza takes between two and three hours and some of the scenery is absolutely breathtaking as the river runs through the rugged mountainous region and as it passes through the wild terrain it meets the large hydro-electric dams that have been built and this has then produced some very large reservoirs full of huge cat fish, carp, zander and bass. The wildlife is amazing, as the river Ebro is like an oasis drawing in hundreds of varieties of beautiful birds to the area such as the hoopoe, bee-eaters, golden orioles, shrikes, egrest and storks. There is also an array of birds of prey which you will see, such as the griffon vulture, many varieties of eagles including the golden eagle, and the beautiful song of the nightingale can be heard all night long. As you can see from some of the backgrounds in the photos, the Ebro is a truly spectacular place, well worth a visit and if you would like more information on the Carp and Cat fishing organized trips on the Ebro in Mequinenza, then visit my web site. I have no commercial links with any of the companies who are on the links. If you want to ask a question about a do-it-yourself type trip, then feel free to ask on my forum and I will answer you.

Well I can definitely recommend Spain as there are massive Carp out there probably which never seen a hook. As for the Catfish, they have well and truly hooked me since I landed my first one a few years back.

Well, I have rambled on a bit here and now I have given you a feel for the place, I will go through my last trip out there in November in Part Two of this article. See you soon for what turned out to be a very memorable trip on my seventh time in Spain.

My web site and forum http://www.catfishgroup.co.uk

Big Ron Woodward --------------------------------------------------------------------------------