An Alternative Christmas Day for Ebro carpSpeaking honestly, which queue would you rather have been in? The one which snaked around aisles 2 and 3, past the tinned peas and pasta, in your local supermarket, where you helpfully went to do ‘the man’s job’ of buying the Christmas booze. Or the much shorter one at the check in desk at an airport somewhere near you, from which you could have been flying off towards Spanish winter sunshine and some chilling out time, wetting a few lines and possibly hooking a big wild carp? Speaking honestly myself, the choice between a day spent amongst brussel sprouts, farting uncles and more repeats of the Two Ronnies, (which can be good for an average person) or casting out a line, from a perfect swim, into the calm flat water of the River Ebro, on a clear blue sunny sky day, wasn’t a difficult one to make. Luckily, back in November, determined not to get sucked into any part of a manic UK Christmas, when people buy enough food for a siege because the shops are shut for a whole 24 hours, I’d bagged a flight from Stansted for a quid each way, and so I was up up and away, long before that centuries old weather condition called FOG brought most British airports to a standstill. In the 21st century, when we can walk on the moon, transplant faces and keep Des O’Connor alive, why does the weather still bring the transport in our country to a grinding halt, and cause so much chaos. Why can’t someone aged about 7 invent something using sticky back plastic and an inch of Velcro to solve this problem? How hard can it be? After six weeks away from my Spanish colleagues, the first few days were spent catching up with a few old friends. They were unfortunately all sitting in various bars when I managed to find them. It would have been rude not to accept the offer of a drink, from all of them. Christmas Eve was a convivial affair chatting about the big catches up in Mequinenza and Caspe in the summer months, and who was doing what during 2007. After a few warming glasses of Vino Tinto (that’s red wine for those who don’t speak the lingo) I assured everyone that yes, due to our devotion to Ebrocatncarp, one of the best guided fishing outfits in on the River Ebro, myself and our guide Heiko Winter, really would be fishing on Christmas Day, and yes, I would take some pictures and write about it as well.
Even by Spanish standards the 25th of December was a perfect day for fishing. Clear blue skies really were above us, and the sun was trying to warm the winter air. It was cold, but crisp. Nothing like the damp, skin chilling, December days that England delivers. We picked a favourite swim, with a backdrop of snow-topped mountains behind us, and far reaching views up and down the River Ebro. Unsurprisingly, we thought, there was nobody else fishing and apart from the flapping of Cormorants, and a few nosey ducks, the only other sounds were of silence. You can imagine how much we missed Noddy Holder and his “Here it is, Merry Christmas.” Here it wasn’t. Bah Humbug! We’d soon set up the bivvie, and I did the traditionally English thing and got the kettle on, whilst Heiko got busy unloading the gear and setting up. For just a touch of seasonal goodwill I threw some tinsel over the bivvie and we shared some early morning mince pies. Soon we were ready for a spot of heavy duty Christmas Day fishing. The swim we had chosen was right by the dam in Riba Roja. It’s a popular spot, known by many of our customers for its sheltered position, and good catch rate. As it was a sunny day, there were plenty of fish moving into the more shallow water. The swim has a great open aspect towards the dam, surrounded by reeded banks, and sits beneath high mountains on both sides. With a drop of about 3 – 5 metres, there is no flow in this bay and so the water warms up more quickly. We spodded out with sweetcorn, pellets and groundbait, aiming about 60 yards from the bank, and then set up three, 3lb test curve rods with 15lb mainline, and 30lb shock leader, all clipped up for more accuracy. We fished method feeder style, because we wanted some quick action to take advantage of the fabulous sunny day. Straight away we had line bites and knocks on the feeder and soon the middle rod went off. As it’s ladies first, I quickly made the strike and started to reel in. The carp gave me a good run and it was a fair few minutes before I got it near to the bank. It weighed in at just over 7lb but it was just the right sized catch for me, a mere novice angler.
Not long after that, the real action started. The Ebrocatncarp guide, Heiko Winter, netted a nice 18-pounder, and we had another three fantastic fish over the course of the day, with weights all over 15lb. Not massive fish, but they certainly kept us busy. The sun shone down all day, and we fished until the light began to fade. We chilled out all day, and really didn’t miss a single repeat of any film, or the waft of an oversized turkey, now possibly looking like soup, which you could still be eating in March.
There are so many good reasons to come carp fishing on the River Ebro, the longest river in Spain. The area is one of outstanding natural beauty, and the fishing is never the same in two places, nor are two places ever the same. Fishing in France, at any of the renowned big lakes can be a good first step to the challenges of fishing outside the UK. But Spain offers so much more. A fishing holiday on the River Ebro provides more diversity, a different swim every day, on a completely different stretch of the river. There are no crowds, no rules, and no regulations. No need to just sit and wait for fish to come. If the day seems quiet, just go off and fish a different hot-spot. With the dams on the river providing flows and eddy’s, and with carp to over 60lb, and catfish to over 200lb, it’s a challenge not to be missed. For further information about our guided fishing holidays around Mequinenza, Caspe and Riba Roja visit: |
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