GUESTS DIARIES
Just a few words etc regarding our trips to ebro, I will send photos of this years catches through too separately today.
Well, after 3 years of going to the Ebro with a guide, me and a couple of friends decided that we could probably do a trip to the Ebro without a guide at all and go alone, as we have fished a few swims along the river and looked at a good few too, so it was decided to have an exploratoty trip to the Ebro just to see how we got on. 
So a few months were spent looking around at what we would need, obviously an apartment/ villa and then all your tackle, licenses, bait, car hire and flights.
We were looking at loads of places and then we came across RAW ANGLING and Nigel Blake.he hires out an apartment on the side of the Ebro at Mequinenza !!! to which we could hire tackle too, !! well what could we say, all there waiting for us….we were booked.
So a phone call to Nigel and we were on our way, the one thing we were a bit concerned about was the tackle…..what would it be like regarding condition.
After we had booked the apartment, it was time to look at flights, well we went to Barcelona airport for a 10.30 am landing, picked up the hire car and 2 hrs later we were there. We were greeted and we put all our cases into our rooms, 2 bedrooms, 1 sofa bed, and after un-packing, we went and had a look around a few swims before sorting out the license for the ebro in one of the many tackle shops at mequinenza. Incidently, Jason, our point of contact for the week, sorts out the licenses for you for the week before you get there and you get it when you get there, all you need to do is sort out a weekly license to fish the Ebro which is 17 euros.
I must say that the apartment is spot on for what you need, there is a fridge, cooker, etc, telly, sofa, sofa bed, shower etc also 2 bedrooms with 2 beds in each, with a perfect view of the Ebro right outside your door !!! you can actually hear the carp and cats jump from inside your living room !!! 
All this is there ready for you, but as we were on holiday we decided to go out every night and have a few beers and a meal in one of the many bars and restaurants in Mequinenza itself, or, if you fancy a Chinese during your stay, go up to fraga, about 10 mins drive away and I must say, having a Spanish Chinese was absolutely lovely… top food indeed. Also the food is quite cheap, there is a supermarket there too for drinks and a daily packed lunch.
Now when we came to looking at the tackle, we were thinking along the lines of “ we will see what state that’s in shall we “ , but I must say it is top, top gear !! the rods are spot on, reels excellent (not too cheap either as they are shimano”s with the baitrunner on the spool) , you have got the mats, carp and cat, scales, chairs, nets, slings,and an umbrella for shelter from the sun (or very rarely rail).
So then we started fishing on the Sunday…..with a sore head after a very late night in the restaurant drinking red wine…..self inflicted…..but good fun at the time!!
After a couple of hrs fishing we had a take and landed a common, 35lbr !! first fish , we like this we thought….then it got better, Lee had a 43, I had a few little ones too and we had a cat too, didn’t weigh it looked approx 40lb.
I wont bore you all with the details of every fish but we ended up with approx 80 takes in a week fishing on the Ebro and the Segre, catching carp upto 43, and cats upto 115lb, we did lose a few cats too, as they just try to empty your spool and you end up clamping down on them after taking 100 yrds….and haven’t stopped !!
So we went back out there in sept 2009, and same again, its so easy now to just phone Nigel, sort out a date, and book your flights to Reus or Barcelona, then car hire, and your off !!
This time the fishing was slower, as the river was up and down a bit but we still ended up catching a lot of carp and only one catfish, the carp were up to 34lb but plenty of 20 plussers hit the net, with in total 5 x 30s.
So we have booked up again for next year already……cant wait.
If you want a bit of adventure and something different from a fishing holiday, tired of going to France, give Nigel a call, you wont be disappointed !!
Cheers,
James Eames & Lee Cox
Ebro Adventure by Jason Ballard
In 2006 my mate Rob said he was going out to Spain fishing, Blakey had bought an apartment on the banks of the Ebro, great i thought were's my invite! Rob came back and told me tales of monster catfish and big carp being caught,showed me a video, and I thought would not mind some of that! 2007 came and no invite, Rob and Nige went 
out again late summer and caught a lot of carp to 37lb. Early 2008 Rob phoned said would i like to come out end of feb for 2 and a bit days, i jumped at the chance.
Nigel had all the gear in a lock up at apartment ,so I packed and dreamt of huge fish. Flew to Reus, hour and half later turned up at Nigel's apt, great position right on the river. We packed the car up and fished for what seemed like forever, 6 in the morning until midnight grabbed some food when we could a couple of 20's and 114lb catfish later, none of which were caught by me, we were back at Reus, very intense fishing every minute we could, very tiring. Flew home ,Rob and Nige said we'll have to do it again next year.
Feb 2009
In typical Rob (leave it to the last minute) Stevens fashion phoned me 4 days before and said we'll be leaving next Wednesday morning, told my brother and workmate i'm off next week.
This time we flew into Zaragoza great little airport and slightly nearer than Reus, picked up the hire car which in typical Spanish style was nothing like what we ordered and covered in scratches which i took photos of, just to use my new camera really, if last year was anything to go by it wouldnt be used on fish caught by me. We arrived in Mequinenza about 3pm with the aim of fishing that evening, met the new improved Gary Allan at Bar Royal and had a beer, we had to get licenses at the worst tackle shop in spain and some shopping from "now don't laugh" the supermarket, as per usual in spain it was closed, so we had another beer by this time drinking was looking a better bet than fishing. Gary said he was doing a couple of hours at a swim he's been feeding and said we could pop down with a couple of rods, so with a plan in mind and supermarket still closed we had another beer, eventually the supermarket opened we got provisions and more beer, got to the apt unpacked, Nigel brought his usual number of self help books and meditation music, none of which he reads or listens to unless he’s trying to get to sleep. Taking directions while drinking is not a good idea,but eventualy we find Gary, he cast out 2 rods at 7.15 and said by 7.45 he'll have a run and sure enough at 7.35 theres a 25lb common on the bank, so we decided to make a half arsed effort set up 2 rods, an hour later we were in the bella vista eating spag bol drinking san miguel and watching champions league, a great fishing session. Me and Rob had a good nights sleep and Nigel had his 2 hours of listening to humpback whales and reading the dali lamma's thoughts on fishing spanish rivers,
Thursday, down the river at 7 put 6 rods out in a 4 rod swim and nothing. Rob went to look further up the segre, while Rob was gone Nigel had a 29 on Rob's rod, I decided to move swims and get baits out before dark. I had a mid double from the new swim lost another and hooked a cat which snapped me up in no time, nothing i could do with it when they want to go, they go. Before we went home that night we put alot of bait in the swims and decided to fish few hours in the morning and an evening session the next day. 
Friday ,Rob and Nigel set up in there previous swims and i was just about to move to my swim when robs left hand rod went off, he hooked the fish, then his right hand rod went off i picked up the rod now we had 2 fish on in the most awkward swim both landed, robs, a mid 20 the other a double, we thought to ourselves there would be more fish but nothing, we packed up about midday to go for lunch. Got back down the river about 5.30 sprayed alot of bait out in my swim and waited lot of fish moving, lot of line bites then about 9 heard a shout from rob went to see what the fuss was about ,as i was clambering down the bank they had the fish in the net "got to be over forty" said Rob ,trying to get the biggest carp any of us had seen into the sling was a feat, it tipped the scales at 51 ,what a fish. I didn't hang about for the photos, got back to my rods and recast ,wasn't really happy with my left hand rod a bit short and left, put some bait around it anyway ,sat down still not entirely happy shall i move it i thought ,just then couple of beeps from the delkim then another ,then rod tip goes round i cupped the reel lifted the rod and connected with a decent fish it kited left i managed to turn it and gained a lot of line until it was about 5 yds out, rod went over, fish boiled and i could see it was a p.b. thats when you start thinking ,take it easy don't do anything stupid ,the swim had a drop off about 6ft out, the fish was to deep to land close in, so in i went,after a few more short dashes for freedom i mannaged to slip the net under lovely common well over 30lb ,unhhooked it, took the handle off the net and went into deeper water and shouted for a cameraman, rob came over still shattered from his fish 30 minutes earlier ,weighed it, 37.8, couple of great snaps with my new camera (o me of little faith) and back she went, gave rob big hug both elated with our p.b.s. Packed up and went for dinner and a beer.
The plan for Saturday was to not fish the morning, do a bit of sightseeing and do a catfishing session on Gary's boat using uptide rods and multiplier reels all three of which are alien to us ,setting up the rods itself was laughable,we put the reels on the wrong way round not sure what the hell we were doing asked Jason Latham ,who had come to see Nigel,if he could point us in the right direction he showed us how to set up ,(must of thought what a pair of cretins) organised to get some bait and we were ready,both Gary and Jason told us how to float fish the baits by sticking a bamboo cane in the river bed close to the snags tie a week line to that, clip it to this, then go back unclip it then loosen it from that,well by now i was completly lost and i worked out we needed at least 3 boats,so we scrapped that idea and just fished free roving baits,drifting them until we ended up in the swim Nigel lost 2 cats the day before with a pizza break in the middle,nothing much happened apart from getting used to the reels,multipliers ! you can keep em,its like reeling in with a 1970's car jack ,about 9 after pizza and beer ,Nigel noticed Rob's rod tip go round,cluch started screaming Rob picks up the rod and asks what do i do now,i say i think its click the silver switch put the lever in strike and pull into the fish,this rob did and nearly went overboard,little did we now if you eased off the strike lever the fish could take line,to late hook pulled out,at least we'll know next time ,which was couple of minutes later probably the same fish ,not the brightest animals catfish, this was much more straight forward after a short fight Nigel pulled it on board, a fish of approx 45lb ,10 minutes later I had a run,hooked into it and got it to within a yard of the boat quite quickly,from that moment the fish was in charge doing laps of the boat at will,with rob and Nige shouting mind the other rods mind the anchor ropes, to which i said f**king tell it to the fish, then i thought time to show it who was in charge,with that the line snapped,oh well better luck next time? got the boat back ,Gary was there to pick it up, what a bloke,went back to Nigel's, for a good nights sleep,just like to say thanks to Nigel and Rob for a memorable trip can't wait until next year.
The good, The bad & the Nuisance fish!
by Brett 'whitey' White
Okay, to begin with, this is a story about 3 of the lads, myself included, slipping away for a few days fishing on the River Ebro in Spain. I’d never been there before, so don’t think I’m any kind of expert on the place, there’s plenty of others out there that are. You’ll find no telephone number at the end of this article plugging an ebro fishing holiday company, in case you’re wondering. If you thought 'this is the same old patter with a hidden agenda, because it was a freebie', you’re wrong. It’s about anglers doing their own thing, and if I mention a branded product it’s because I’m using them for their reliability and performance... I’d rather pay for something that’s gonna work than settle for second best because it’s free, and why not pass the info on if it does the job? So now we’ve sorted that out, you can relax, sit back and hopefully enjoy a good old honest fishing tale...
It was the middle of May, and the week before me and my good friend Johny Pearl were meant to be going to Holland for a long weekends carping with a couple of Dutch mates... I was particularly looking forward to it because I hadn’t been carping abroad for nearly 9 years due to running my own business and playing the field... A business, I must add, totally unrelated to angling and which only allows me one night a week to do so. Anyway, John got a call from one of the Dutchies telling us not to bother "coz the lake ain’t fishing and it’ll be a wasted journey, especially as we were going to be night fishing from a boat"... So, we’d wasted a couple of flight tickets! - That was, until I spoke to one of my mates from Essex, Nigel, who was going out to his new apartment on the River Ebro with another of our pals, 'dib dob' Rob, for a 3 day carping trip... he then said that me and JP were welcome to tag along... sorted! 
Unfortunately for John, his work schedule meant he couldn’t go, but I was up for it and changed my flight accordingly... we would take the morning flight to Zaragoza and get the evening flight back from Reus, so we could fish ‘til the afternoon on the last day. During the run up to the trip I did as much homework as possible to find out about fishing on the Ebro. Rob and Nige had only been once, and that was back in November when they’d had lots of carp to mid 30’s. On that occasion it was just by whacking out 5oz leads and single large halibut pellets to fish they’d located by walking the banks the previous evening.
First problem was that I only had 12ft 2.75 lb test curve rods... hardly capable of chucking out 5ozs of lead! There’s a 2 rod limit on the Ebro, so I thought I’d try to ponce a pair of 3.5’s, then discovered I had a brand-new Free Spirit 4lb test spod rod... I gave it a good bend and she looked the part and what’s more, my good mate Ritchie had another that wasn’t getting used... so that was purloined to make the pair! Now for the reels, my baitrunner M’s aren’t really for distance casting as it’s not my game, so my other good mate (handy to have a few!) Lee Watson brought round some big pit reels which, on first inspection, looked ready to retire, but he assured me they’d just been serviced and had acquitted themselves well on Chanticoque. I took his word for it, loaded ‘em up with 15lb big game and was ready.
After doing some homework, it looked like the carp on the Ebro had turned onto halibut pellets big style... so much so, that they weren’t interested in boilies. Hard to believe I thought, so I got a few kilos of fishmeals and air dried them for a couple of weeks with a view to glugging them in liquid Belechan when I got there, then, with the addition of a Korda boilie funnel-web stick filled with some Dynamite meaty marine groundbait, 3mm halibut pellets and a dose of Solar’s Slayer Salmon Oil, how could they resist that. The plan was coming together, and so the day arrived to fly out from Stanstead.
Now I dunno what it is, but you know when something goes wrong early on and you start to wonder if it’s a prelude as to what’s gonna follow... the guy at the check-in gratefully took our 3 passports then inquired "who’s this then?"... we looked hard at the picture and as much as we like to think we look younger than our years in our photo, there wasn’t much point in trying to convince the bloke that one of us was 2 years old!... There was a loud slap as Nige’s palm hit his forehead, "shit!"... he’d picked up his son’s passport by mistake! What made things worse was that there wasn't enough time to drive back and get his own one!
After some frantic phonecalls he managed to get his dad to deliver it to the airport... and with 5 minutes to spare, we boarded the plane... Just a minor blip we thought, from here on it’s plain sailing... albeit with crossed fingers! As a point of interest, for those of you who are wondering... your baggage allowance is 15k, handluggage 10k, and rods and bait etc can go through as 'sports equipment' with a maximum weight of 32k and an extra charge of £17 each way.
So after 2 hours we finally arrived in Zaragoza and picked up the hire car. Nearly an hour later, we arrived in Mequinenza... I was amazed by the serene beauty of the place as the graceful Ebro slowly meandered through the steep sided hills and mountains and black kites circled majestically above... it was so refreshingly tranquil. First things first, we popped into the Bavarian Tackle shop to sort out the licences and day tickets. Nigel had sent all our passport details on a few days earlier so there was no wait for the licences. The licence cost 26 euros and the day tickets 3 euros, night fishing is not permitted here so if you're carping you have to pack up an hour after dark, and catfishing ‘til midnight with both being resumed at 6am... and you will be checked, be careful or very tucked away!
Mequinenza is situated at the point where the River Segre meets the Ebro, allowing for some fine angling. That evening we decided to fish a few hours up on the Ebro and keep an eye out for the carp with a view to getting on them in the morning. After a couple of hours we’d not caught or seen a thing, so we loaded up the car and went for drive up the Segre. We happened upon a pukka looking spit of land that jutted right out into the river... which, as it happened, turned to be the swim that produced the new Spanish record - a 64lb common - a few months earlier.
It was now dusk and as we looked up the river a carp nutted out, followed by some more, good enough, that’ll do for us... and at 5am the next morning we were setting up in the same area. There were carp topping everywhere... from the margins to the far bank 500 yards away, surely we were gonna clean up? Rigs were quite straightforward... a 2 foot length of Solar armatube, Korda tadpole rubber and lead clip, Korda snaplink to allow for the quick and easy use of dynamite sticks, 8 inches of 12lb Seaguar fluorocarbon to a size 4 Korda Longshank X, and the whole lot would be chucked out using a 4 or 5 ounce Korda gripper lead, depending on the flow.
Strangely enough, we never got a bite until the sun broke over the mountain and hit us with all it’s radiant glory. Nige had the first take, and a 22lb common soon graced the net after picking up a pellet. It was then that we realised the fish were spawning in the floating weed some 80yards in front of us and as we continued to watch, they thrashed about shagging their little tails off! Rob had a dropback and a 17 lber fell victim to the pellets. I was on boilies without so much as a bleep and so switched both rods over to pellets... then 10 minutes later had a 16lb fully-scaled - which was as rare as rocking horse turds on here - and so declared myself a specimen hunter! 
I don’t know if you’ve ever tried drilling a pellet, but you need to be very patient otherwise they split... so after about a dozen I was close to head-butting the pod... and as much as I wanted to use the Dynamite ones, it was too much hassle, so I opted for the pre-drilled ones we bought in the tackle shop which, as it happened, lasted twice as long in the water. I pulled the hair through the middle of it and put a line of boilie stops on to prevent it coming off. Now, whether it was my casting style or what I dunno, but I had problems with the pellets sliding up the hair during flight, resulting in the stop coming out closely followed by the bait. There had to be a solution... and so the 'loop der loop' rig was born.
It was pretty simple really, and a braided hooklink was better for the job, I just made an extra large loop in the hair which would then be pulled through the hole in the pre drilled pellet then wrapped around the bait once and tightening up the hooklink secured it in place with no stop required, it worked a treat. Rob and Nige had another couple of fish, and I noticed, about 100 yards further up, there was a nice big gap in the line of floating weed with carp showing... these were fish that looked they were feeding rather than bonking, so I made the move. 5 minutes later I had a long 22 pounder, followed shortly by a single and a lost fish. Whether it was my aftershave or dashing good looks I don’t know, but all of a sudden Rob and Nige were plotted up either side of me... hmmm.
It was then that I had a steady run on the left-hand rod. The dynamite sticks fished with the pellet and Slayer oil were working a treat, and I pulled into a nice solid fish. Up until now we’d only had doubles and low twenties, but, at last, this one felt good. In fact, after 10 minutes it felt a bit too good... maybe it had a lump of weed on the line as the slow steady flow was causing us a few problems with the floating salad. Twenty minutes in and it was becoming obvious that some kinda beastie had taken a liking to me pellet... it was slow, heavy and laborious, with every yard gained it took five back, it had to be a cat! I was grateful for switching over to a 20lb braided Merlin hooklink, although I began to wonder if the 15lb mainline and spodrod were up to the task, time would tell.
With no boat to jump in and follow the unseen beast it was a test of patience and aching muscles. With half an hour gone I had it under the rodtip... although it was still hugging the bottom of the cloudy Segre with visibility down to about an inch. Then slowly, inch by inch, the tubing broke the surface proceeded by the lead then something from Jurassic park. "You've gotta be Fu***g joking!" I shouted as the massive head of a huge catfish revealed itself... only to then disappear again back to the bottom... followed a few minutes later by it’s tail!
Rob then offered one of lifes great understatements, “I think we’re gonna need a bigger net!"... we only had a 42inch net, which Nige held in the water not quite knowing why. The Cat stayed tight to the bank and I had to hold the rod out as far as possible to prevent the line being cut by the boulders we were standing on. Thank god I was using Armatube... not even a rock would cut through that, and it had saved me a few fish in the past. Any doubts I had about Lee’s reels were unfounded as they stood up to the massive task, despite a few odd noises and clunks.
Up she came again and, amazingly, Nige somehow managed to get her in the net (funny how we refer to big fish as she’?). Our relief was only short-lived though, as the netting had done no more than give her the hump, and she instantly thrashed back out of the net into the river... showing total disregard to our efforts, it was futile to try to stop her. "Ok lads what’s plan B?" I enquired, whilst back winding furiously as the now disgruntled catfish headed for Barcelona. A stunned silence was the reply, shortly followed by nervous laughter and head-scratching!
It was another 15 minutes before she was ready again... she looked beat and lay on top of the water. Nige skilfully manoeuvred the net, so that as she turned, her body formed a loop and he thrust the net forward then lifted it around her quickly, pulling the net towards him and grabbing the cord. She was in, and it was with excited relief that we started laughing and whooping like kids around a xmas tree ready to open their presents. The 'F' word was quickly shared around as we peered into the net... it was obvious our meagre 60lb scales weren’t quite up for the job... along with the pathetic little unhooking mats that seemed so big for a mere carp... fortunately, 500 yards down the bank were a group of English anglers who’d been there all week catfishing... one of which was Derek Ritchie, whom I’d met a few times on my travels.
I drove down to Del and his gang and explained my predicament and they kindly lent me some 200lb scales, a massive weighbar, and a weighsling that looked like a hammock. They’d caught quite a few cats upto 157lb, so were well happy. On returning to the swim, me and Rob tried to lift the fish out in the net... it was so heavy there was a chance it could rip right through the bottom, so we pulled the weighsling under the whole lot and dragged it unceremoniously up the bank onto the waiting collection of mats that were placed in a line. We wrestled the fish out of the net onto the sling where it transformed itself into some prehistoric monster. She was a proper old warrior, and huge, a good 7ft long!
The Longshank was buried neatly in it’s bottom lip... it wasn’t going anywhere, and amidst the vast mouth it looked like a fly in the Albert Hall! We gathered up the sling and hooked it onto the scales. Nige and I grabbed either end of the bar and up she went, 175lbs, less the sling, so we settled on 165 lbs... it was a shocking realisation. The euphoria was immense, she’d taken 45 minutes to get in and after the photos were taken I got in the water to grab the sling encasing the cat as Nige and Rob lowered her down. I pulled her out and stood there holding her steady ‘til she was ready to go and gradually with dented pride she drifted back off into the depths... I was shattered, the temperature was now around 40 degrees, my arms and back were aching, but the enormity of what had just happened made it strangely pleasurable.
It was with a huge grin I returned the scales and sling back to the chaps who kindly congratulated me, "Bloody nuisance fish!" I shouted as I drove away laughing hysterically like a crazyman who’d just landed a 165lb catfish on 15lb line from the bank!
I recast the rods during which Rob had his first ever cat... although Kitten might have been more appropriate as it was only about 5lb... and that was us being generous to him!
I sat back in the shade reliving the encounter when a dropback signalled another inquiry on the pellet... it had only been out about 15 minutes!
I wound down fast and on contact the fish hit the surface 80 yards out. This felt like a good carp but ten minutes later a familiar pattern was taking place... yep, another big cat! I won’t bore you with another fight description coz all you've gotta do is read the last one again! Rob managed to get another cat whilst I was playing mine - another 5 pounder! The netting took a little longer this time as it just wouldn’t go in, but finally with the aid of two nets, we managed to scoop her into one. She was in great condition with no visible marks and after the trip back down to borrow the scales again weighed 115lbs.
It was quite unbelievable, a brace of fish, 15 minutes between, for a combined weight of 280lbs on carp gear! The rod performed brilliantly, so if anyone’s thinking of getting one for this purpose then have a look at the Free spirit 4lb test spod rod, coz at £90 it’s for nothing! The 15lb big game mainline took it all in it’s stride and those Longshank X’s never even looked like bending.
The rest of the day glided by... I was on a cloud... and we managed a few more carp to low twenties then packed up about 4pm to go and clean up, eat, then return for a few hours in the evening. I couldn’t wait to get back to the swim. I had my marks all sorted out and knew there’d be more action. On arrival back to the swim we were shocked to find it occupied, not just that swim but the whole bank was swarming with Spanish anglers! Unbeknown to us, the following day (Friday) was a bank holiday so they’d all arrived for a long weekend... if only one of us had stayed in the swim we’d have caught a shedload, but then hindsight, as always, is a wonderful thing.
Driving around revealed anglers in their droves, all mostly catfishing along with their families, pets and probably even the kitchen sink, definitely check the public holiday dates beforehand should you ever fancy a trip. We managed to find a small stretch of bank/road and fished the evening amongst an electric storm. We caught a few, and I managed the biggest so far, a 27 common, in the rain which the chaps kindly photographed from the comfort of the car rather than get wet .
We returned to that swim in the morning armed with a newly acquired catfish mat/sling and 200lb scales just in case. We knew everywhere else was taken for the rest of the weekend and so it was a case of making the best of it. The carping was slow, the fish were still spawning, I had another cat around 50lbs which crapped all over our nice new mat. As the sun got up I looked down the river towards our old swim hundreds of yards away... I was saddened by the sight of god-knows how many buoys, as far as I could see, and to each one of those was attached a large livebait - usually a carp - with a big single and treble hook embedded in it awaiting the jaws of a catfish.... all of which was connected via thick ol’ line to a boat rod and multiplier. I felt sorry for the cats, it was a minefield out there, and with the added distinct lack of unhooking mats, they deserved so much more respect.
By lunchtime we decided to hire a boat and go exploring. It was great to get out on the river although the murkiness of the water made visibility impossible and a fish finder a necessity... which we didn’t have, especially as there are large shallow areas concealing snags. These we found by pushing the oar in the water and doing emergency stops when the propeller hit a branch and spun the boat round! With no swims available, we decided to moor up next to a marshy island where the Segre split into two using the oars as stakes and tying off to them. It was cramped in the boat with 3 of us fishing, but with 2 rods each just lying on the deck or on half a pod it felt like extreme fishing and was a right buzz.
I got the first run after about quarter of an hour, which ended in the fish getting snagged and shedding the hook. After that, it was a run nearly every ten minutes, and we caught lovely long commons up to low twenties. It was exciting fishing and the size of the fish was immaterial. With the sun reaching 43 degrees by mid afternoon, we had to call it a day as it was sweltering sitting there with no shade. On our way back we found a secret little jetty that would accommodate us nicely, so after some refreshments, we set up there for the rest of the day and again caught commons of a similar size. The great thing about that swim was that behind the steep bank leading to the jetty was a great little restaurant overlooking the river. As the sun slipped back down over the mountains we frequented it, sitting outside admiring the view... whilst drinking ice cold San Miguels, and feasting on the biggest steaks we’d ever seen. I’m sure all they’d done was pulled it’s horns off and wiped it’s arse!
So the last day beckoned, and we had until lunchtime before it was time to pack up and get sorted before the drive to the airport. Rob fancied a swim by the bridge, yes, a vacant swim... and the reason it was vacant was because there was about a twelve foot drop into it... and when I say swim, I really mean about 4 foot to set yer gear up on all the crap that had been floating down the river and had made a beeline for the bank in the same spot! It was duly christened the Rathole. After much stumbling around and snapping of dead branches underfoot, we were set up. Rob chose to fish just off the stanchions of the bridge... being able to walk along it and bait up. Nige was in the middle and I fished right... I just about had room to cast, but the others had to clamber to the top of the escarpment and chuck out from there then abseil back down with the rod.
It wasn’t long before I had a take, but all too soon there was a grating on the line and the fish was snagged solid, I lost that one, and the next two, despite casting further round each time. They all headed straight for the snags, even with the boat we couldn’t shift them, so I moved both rods straight out to hopefully avoid it happening again. Rob then had a belting run that soon had him scrambling to the top of the parapet, back winding furiously, as an angry fish headed across the river. Despite the rod being in full fighting curve, whatever was attached didn’t seem impressed... it had to be a big cat again, and with line being taken, it slowly started moving left towards the bridge.
We had no choice but to take to the boat to close down the gap and keep it away from the concrete pillars . A great battle commenced with the fish fighting hard , at times we were precariously close to the bridge with bemused locals staring over the side and cars stopping to see what all the fuss was about. Finally she surfaced, but despite numerous attempts, the fish was so heavy the boat would move before the cat did... and so we slowly led it back to shore where it was played out into the now very experienced Nige, who netted it first go. She was another beauty and gave us a chance to christen our newly acquired 200lb scales, just in case, they swung round to 95lbs and Rob was well chuffed.
Shortly afterwards we hit a mad 20 minute spell when a shoal of carp came through. We managed half a dozen, all around the 25 to 28 lb mark, with Rob taking the biggest... but the clock was ticking and all too soon it was time to pack up. It had been a great 3 days with a few fish caught, tales to tell, and plenty of lessons learnt, but there was to be one last twist...
After a one and half hour journey to Reus we arrived at 8.25pm. The plane was leaving in an hour nd we queued up in one of the two long lines of Ryanair check-ins. By the time we reached the desk it was 8.50, "sorry, but the check-in closed at 8.45 for the stanstead flight, you are in the wrong queue" came the greeting, "it wasn’t on the screens"... we questioned, “that’s because they are not working" came the reply! Well, I’ll not bore you with what happened next, but they refused to let us on despite their cockup, and much abuse and mayhem followed... resulting in security guards being called and a threat to ban us from all Spanish airports!
They offered us a flight the next day but couldn’t guarantee a seat, so we paid an extra charge and changed the flight to one out of Zaragoza at 1pm the next day. 3 other English guys were in the same predicament, we’d already dropped off our hire car and so had no transport... they had a van they were leaving there. and so it was. We all travelled back in the beaten up motor to Nige’s apartment in Mequinenza at a steady 50mph, taking two and a half hours and arriving at midnight.
We all crashed out for the night and got up the next morning to what can only be described as "Groundhog Day", then poodled off to Zaragoza taking nearly two hours. and finally caught the flight home arriving a day late... in future, we’ll stick to Zaragoza, the balls up at Reus cost us some more valuable fishing time, and that hurt ,but all in all, the trip was well worth the hassle and I’d like to thank Nige and Rob for letting me tag along to share this rollercoaster of an experience. Now I’m hooked, and can’t wait to get back, cheers lads.
Brett White
OUR EBRO CATFISHING HOLIDAY 2008 by Adrian Shaw
In June 2007 we visited the River Ebro at Mequinenza for the first time. Whenever going somewhere to fish for the first time it is preferable to enlist the services of an experienced person to help put you on the right spots and do the Donkey work. We spoke to several established catfishing guiding services to find out what they could offer us and at what cost. Although it was going to be our first time catfishing in Spain we are all very experienced anglers and had decided therefore that although we needed some assistance we certainly did not want a fully guided catfishing trip. The Company we found that were the most flexible and therefore most able to accommodate our requirements was Raw Angling. It was therefore very easy when we decided on a return catfishing trip for April 08 we simply contacted Nigel at Raw Angling again and told him what we wanted. He was able to supply us with a fantastic apartment just outside Mequinenza right on the banks of the Ebro in Spain. The apartment is only a few years old and is fitted out with all modern appliances. It has two bedrooms with two beds in each but could very comfortably sleep 6 people if you include the folding beds. Nigel was also able to obtain our licenses for catfishing in advance. This is a real bonus as it can easily take up half a day of your trip running around organising these. All of the additional catfishing bait and tackle we required was available in the village as well.
We arrived on the early flight from Stanstead, which landed, at Reus at approx. 9.10am. The 4 x 4 hire car was waiting for us in the car park outside. Just a note here. Fishing anywhere on the Ebro or Segre I would say that if you are serious about your catfishing or carp fishing or it is advisable to have a 4 wheel drive vehicle. It is not always essential but on many swims it will be the difference between fishing and not fishing. The drive from Reus to Mequinenza is easy enough and will take about 90 minutes. We were after a quick turnaround so that we could get off to start checking out swims and this is not a problem for the Raw Angling guys. Jason dropped off the key to the apartment and sorted out the tackle that we had arranged to hire. We also loaded up 6 x 20kg bags of pellet and roped the inflatable to the roof. Just a note. If you intend to fish as we did without a catfishing guide for most of the time then you will require a boat to check depths and take hookbaits out. On the previous trip we had taken out our own boat as hand luggage! It was a Sevylor Fishunter, which proved to be good until the temperature rose. From 11am through to 5pm the high air temperature made the boat go all ‘floppy’ which made it very difficult to manage in the water. As a result we decided to hire a dinghy for the week. Raw Angling is able to arrange hire of a really good quality inflatable with a wooden floor that is roof mountable.
After having a quick sort out with luggage and stopping to take on board a couple of well earned beers we started on our check on the swims down on the river. We had decided that if we had a choice we would fish the Segre so that is where we started looking. We began quite a long way up at the end of the Nature Reserve. The water was very coloured, flowing fast and full of weed. Not good! Most of the swims were taken, we stopped to talk to a few people and found that they were waiting for the flow to drop and for the big spawn full catfish to start going up river. Now although we did not necessarily agree with the thinking that the catfish go up river to spawn we did want to catch catfish and here was probably not going to be the place at the moment. The orchard was full as was the Pump House and High Bank. We retired back to the bar to discuss matters. The decision had been made for us really, we decided to head to the Upper Lake of the Ebro for a look. We took the road round the outskirts of Chiprana past the fruit factories and stopped on the boat ramp. We could see that the water was significantly down still from when we fished the year before. We talked to a few anglers and a guide that we knew and the news was again not good. The upper lake had come up in level by 7 metres the previous week. All this cold water and debris had had an adverse effect on the catfishing and carp fishing, not a lot was coming out. This I guess is the chance that you take. We were limited to coming out at this time of year because of school holidays and we therefore have to deal with whatever the conditions are at the time. We agreed that the best bet was to come back catfishing on the Upper Lake the following day and concentrate our efforts on one area to try and entice the catfish into feeding. We drove around for a while checking different swims. According to our contacts one swim that had produced well before the influx of the fresh water was the ramp on the opposite bank from the boat ramp. We drove round and checked it out. There were a few Spanish anglers carp fishing in the swim, which was not surprising seeing that it was Sunday afternoon. We guessed that they would be gone in the morning so we agreed that this was going to be the place to focus our efforts on.
The following morning found the alarm clock sounding at 5.15am. The car was loaded with all the catfishing tackle and enough bait for the day. We had left the boat chained and locked at the side of the boat ramp so at least we would not have to drive at 40mph. The drive from Mequi to Chiprana takes a little longer in the dark around the winding roads with hairpin bends. You can do the whole journey without seeing another car, however you will meet several articulated lorries so it does pay to take care round the corners and pay attention to the road.Sure enough the Spanish carp anglers from the previous day had gone so we decided to fish two people either side of the ramp. Dave and myself on the right and Andy and Nick on the left. I mentioned before about having a 4 x 4 vehicle if possible. The track leading to this swim had been partially blocked by a land slip and if we had not had a 4 wheel drive we would have had to walk the last ¾ of a mile, not particularly enticing with cold rain falling steadily.Once set up Dave and myself drove round to get the boat. I rowed the half a mile across just as the sun was coming up over the hills. We then sounded both swims using the boat. And found that the old riverbed which is the only feature in the flooded valley and therefore what you want to be aiming at was about 180 yards from our fishing positions. We made reference points using features on the opposite bank and the bridge downstream so that our baits would go out to the same position each time. You cannot clip up! We then took it in turns to row the baits out two at a time and put two handfulls of free offerings around each.
Because the mornings were so cold the action was a bit slow to start with. The carp were the first to show with Andy who had started fishing both rods for carp catching a couple of commons at around the 20lb mark. I then had the first catfish of the trip at 80lb, a nice fish to start. Nick then had a couple of catfish around 30lb as the catch rate picked up slightly. Andy had a few more carp, Dave had the biggest carp of the day at 27lb and then I had the first ton-up catfish of the trip at 103lb. The rain started falling by mid afternoon and coupled with the cold northwesterly wind put the fish down and everything went quiet. We decided to pack up and return to base for a hot meal.Over dinner we discussed the strategy for the next few days as we were still hoping that the main river would have fined down enough to fish by Thursday at the latest. It was agreed that we would concentrate our efforts in the ramp swim for the next two days. We would put in half a sack of pellet over each area in the morning and then reduce to a handful or so in the afternoon. The theory was that the influx of good quality bait in reasonable quantities over a couple of days would bring the bigger fish into the swim. We had already had in one day more small fish than we did in the whole of the previous trip and our thinking was that were there were 15-30lb fish there would be big fish. Over the next two days we put our plan into effect with pretty good results. We had 4 more hundred pounders with the biggest catfish of 138lb falling to Andy. We also had many more catfish around the 15-40lb level and the carp were making a regular appearance with Nick landing the biggest at 33lb.
Thursday came but with all the rain we had had over the last two days the main river was again really coloured up and large amounts of debris was washing through making it even more difficult to fish. We talked to a few guides and the news was that only a few smaller catfish were coming out. We therefore decided to stay on the upper lake and keep the catfish bait going into the same spot. This proved to be a good call as we had the best day of the trip with four more hundred pound catfish falling to our rods. Dave had what proved to be the biggest catfish of the trip at 139lb, and there were also a few good back up catfish to 98lb.Friday was a difficult day with rain almost continuous and the cold north westerly becoming stronger. The catfish and the carp had obviously decided that they had had enough and did not feed very positively at all. Dave had a cracking catfish of 138lb that looked a lot bigger and I had the biggest carp of the trip at 35lb.Saturday proved to be a frustrating day because the weather was much improved but the fish were just not having it, probably because of all the fresh water going in the previous day. Anyway we finally pulled off at 1pm so that we had time to pack, clean the apartment and get to the airport in time for our flight at 8.30pm.
The trip had proved to be really quite frustrating. The weather had been poor and the main river had been almost unfishable. However we had still managed to catch a good number of catfish and carp, in total having 45 cats with 9 over 100lb the biggest going 139lb. On the journey home we began to plan next years trip which looks like being in September or early October and will be focused entirely on the main river.Our thanks go out to Nigel at Raw Angling who provided us with a great apartment, tackle, bait and all the licences. His contacts on the ground in Mequinenza are both knowledgeable and helpful. We will definitely be using him again next year.
Good Fishing, Adrian Shaw
EBRO FIRST TIMER- (sept 2011) by Matt Gallant
We came to Mequinenza on the 3rd of September 2011 for one week. We found the accomodation great value for money with all the facilities required.
I think our biggest mistake of the trip was to get fishing straight away. I would strongly recommend that you write the first day off and have a good scout around to gain knowledge of what is coming out where and to become familiar with your surroundings.
I guess in my mind I was expecting to just turn up pick a swim put a bit of bait out and catch a few fish. This really isn't the case but if you do your homework, gain local knowledge when you arrive and really put the hours in you can have the trip of a lifetime.
The first three days we moved from swim to swim with no takes. The next day we spoke to a guy in the tackle shop who recommended a swim to us. We baited it quite heavily using a marker and decided that we would stay on the swim no matter what. I cant stress how important a marker is out there because you cant quite grasp the size of the river till you see it.
The first night in that swim at about 10pm my friend Danny had the first fish a 130lb cat we felt very relieved as we were so worried about blanking!
The next night at around the same time Danny had another screaming run this time a monster cat weighing 175lb! Id be lying if I said the green eyed monster hadn't started to set in a bit at this point and I was sure I would go home empty handed.
As Danny and I were getting the Cat up the bank one of the other rods shot off. I struck and managed to land a 40lb common carp my personal best but i was pretty sure that now with only one full day left my chance of a cat was gone.
On the last day we had one run all day on the carp rods which we lost. As it began to turn dark there was a slight sense of hope that the cats may begin to feed as you could hear them slapping against the surface of the water.
Sure enough in the last hours of the last night I had my first take on the cat rod.
It put up a great fight and after 25 minutes I landed a 180lb albino cat my first ever catfish needless to say I was thrilled!
I would strongly recommend a trip here to any keen carp or cat angler put in the time and you will reap the rewards!
Regards, Matt Gallant