To tell the truth I had forgotten that I had entered at all until I came into work and saw an e-mail from Graham Marsden. That’s nice, I thought, an e-mail to tell me who has won the competition, who is the lucky sod this time. When I read the first line that started with ‘Congratulations’, I nearly fell off my chair. “I never win anything”, as everyone always says in this situation, came predictably burbling out of my mouth. Within minutes my whole office knew, with the male staff congratulating me on winning a week’s fishing in Portugal for myself and a companion, and being dead jealous and the female staff claiming that they would rather stick pins in their eyes rather than fish for a whole week. Within a week I had booked the flights, spoken to John Bate of ‘Fishing in Portugal’ about what I needed to bring and spent the next five weeks looking forward to going but not having a clue what to expect, having never done anything like this before. Strictly a pleasure angler We arrived at Faro airport mid-morning and were welcomed by John Bate, who runs the fishing holidays in Portugal. He’s a cheery northerner who has lived in Portugal for the past 10 years. We were packed into his trusty pick-up and, for the 40 minute drive to Silves, were regaled with tales of hundreds of double-figure fish pulled from virtually unfished dams. The weather was a warm but breezy 18 degrees that I was informed was fairly normal for the time of year. The accommodation was superb, we had the choice of the town house, which had three bedrooms, bathroom with a spa bath and fully equipped kitchen, or the flat which was downstairs and consisted of one main bedroom, living room, shower toilet and kitchen. All this was in the shadow of the magnificent Moorish castle that stands guard over the village. As there were only two of us we chose the basement flat which was cosy, warm and ideal, especially as the television had cable and included the Cartoon Network. John left us to get settled in and explore the surrounding area, arranging to pick us up bright and early the next morning for our first day’s fishing. The first day “This is one of my favourite spots,” remarked John, “we are virtually guaranteed loads here”.
Our first shock was the amount of bait that was needed to attract the fish to our area. There was a giant dustbin of particles that John had prepared before we arrived and a slightly smaller dustbin of similar bait but containing different stuff. A carpet of bait was laid down and we set up some float rods to play with while we awaited the runs on the heavy carp rods. No sooner had we set up Ollie’s rod and cast in he was yelling that he had a fish on and, under John’s watchful eye, he played and landed the first fish of the week. This process continued for the rest of the first day with the three carp rods remaining silent but pristine wild lean carp between 6oz and 1lb 6oz being pulled out of the lake for as long as we wanted. The feed was doing its job with the swims becoming more and more active. The first day was perfect for us because we needed to get our confidence up and keep Ollie interested. The day was interspersed with food and ‘coffee’ produced from the back of the truck. The Bate Leisure Service facility was up and running.
We fished until an hour after sunset and continued to catch right up until we packed up. The weather, whilst windy, was fairly good with a few showers that quickly passed over. The final bag was well over 30lb of fish which was probably only half of which we caught because only Ollie was really interested in putting everything he caught in the net. John assured us that the bait would do its job overnight and we would be looking at catching the larger fish in the dam tomorrow. We left full of expectation and looked forward to a better day. Day Two “No need for subtlety wi’ these beggars, when they take it they take it hard.” We did not have to wait long, the spool started screaming as the first run of the day took off. John grabbed the rod to show us what to do, made a guess at the weight of the fish before we had even seen it and ten minutes later the carp was on the bank and his “Eh, this is a double at least – probably a bit more.”
Ollie and I stared at the superb specimen lying on the bank, and when it was weighed it tipped the scales at 12lb 6oz. “Not a bad start eh!!” he said. Ollie and I stared and smiled; we had never even seen a fish that size before let alone caught one. pictureThe mood was lifted and the rig re-cast, Ollie was next, if it happened again. It did and I have never seen my son move so fast, then hesitate before grabbing the rod and starting the fight. This fish was not so big but for a little chap the fight was exciting and the result was thrilling for him. Another common of 5lb was the result and you can see from the look on his face that he was absolutely chuffed. The bait kept going out but as the weather closed in a little the runs stopped. However, we had seen what was possible and the quality of the fishing available when everything was right. We fished until sunset again and returned back to Silves exhausted but extremely excited. John suggested we do an all night session the next two days. Ollie and I had never fished a night session before and jumped at the chance. With John’s special ‘coffee’ to keep me going it would be a breeze.
The next morning started slightly later as we were fishing for longer but nevertheless the excitement level was high. We set up in record time as we now knew what we were doing. The weather was not brilliant but the fish were still there and feeding. The first run of the day, mid-morning, and it was my turn. With John’s help the fish was landed and the result was a 3lb common. Not my biggest but a thrill all the same. The weather closed in unfortunately for the rest of the afternoon but the action on the float rods continued unabated, the leger rods quietened down until the weather passed over. Early evening saw a break in the weather and almost straight away we had a run on the carp rods. As my previous fish was not considered enough to warrant a ‘turn’ it was decided that I should grab it and as I struck I assumed that it had slipped the hook and I was snagged on the bottom. After some ‘friendly’ words of encouragement from John I started to apply some serious pressure to the rod and suddenly the fish took off. Needless to say I have never been attached to anything this size before and had the necessary power of equipment to deal with it. Despite my being a ‘soft southerner’ I began to make some headway and eventually landed the fish.
“Nice,” said John in his unassuming way and when we weighed it at 13lb 6oz I started to shake and smile inanely, texted my wife, hugged Ollie, and took pictures. The light was beginning to fade so it was decided to put it in a sack and photograph it in the morning. John suggested Ollie and I slept in the back of the truck while he slept in the front cab. After the day I had had, I definitely needed a ‘coffee’ to get me off. It was wild and woolly night but we were okay in the truck, only to be rudely awoken by a very excited John Bate with a 12lb common in his arms and instructions to get our backsides out of bed as the ‘big uns’ had moved in. We shot up, looked at the weather, which was not brilliant, but that did not seem to matter as the action came thick and fast. A couple of runs ended fruitless but then Ollie grabbed the latest one and struck into it. It nearly pulled his arms off and it took all of his strength to hang onto the rod. Some 15 minutes later, after much coaching, shouting and sweating, Ollie saw what was on the end of his line. The fish slipped into the net and even John was full of praise for his efforts. The fish weighed in at 16lb 6oz, which of course put my fish in the shade and made a pretty good picture. As the day went on the weather gradually improved and by the time we left that evening it was glorious. The rest of the day was spent ‘knocking out’ small to medium sized carp with the odd slightly larger one falling to float -fished chick peas and maize. On the way back, having all caught at least one double and Oliver and I having almost doubled our PB’s, we decided that we would like to have a go at some river fishing. John said no problem and suggested a spot on the River Guardiano close to the Spanish border. We were again sworn to secrecy about the actual venue and were told stories of monster barbel and clear fast-flowing water. Again we decided to go overnight as the spot was approximately two and a half hours away. It was fair to say that we slept well that night. Day Three
After a brief ‘reccy’ we found a perfect swim for the three of us to fish opposite a rocky cliff with several eddies and flows to fish over the next couple of days. To say we were excited was an understatement. John admitted that he had never fished this spot before but was convinced that once we worked out the terrain and best methods there would be plenty of fish to catch. The weather was superb now and t-shirts were the order of the day (remember this was the middle of November!) and our guide was relieved that we were to see some good weather. What we had experienced so far was a little worse than normal for the time of year. We decided to adopt the same tactics as at Ourique with three leger rods set up for the far bank and in a deep hole which was a little upstream of our area, whilst we each had our light float rods to explore as many areas as we wanted. After a couple of hours of baiting and exploring Ollie shouted that John’s rod was on it’s way into the river. John quickly grabbed his equipment and landed a beautiful barbel of just over 1lb. Ollie and I had never seen a barbel before and his face was a picture, it was all we could do to get him to put it back. We quickly worked out that single grains of sweetcorn on a small hook was the way to go and pretty soon the fish were coming thick and fast, nothing large but all beautifully conditioned between 6oz to 12oz. We were transfixed by the beauty of the place and with the added bonus of beautiful weather it really was ‘idyllic’. We chatted about everything over the course of the day and as evening fell John fired up the stove again and provided some of the best bacon rolls I have ever tasted.
As the night drew in the sky was filled with stars and Ollie and I, being townies, had never really seen the sky without any background light. We were astounded at what we saw. This is turning into a bit of a Mills & Boon moment but the appearance of several shooting stars put a cap on a perfect day’s fishing. Day Four We continued having fun until it was time to go late that afternoon. It was my fate to catch the last fish of our holiday, hardly a monster but nevertheless as thrilling as the new PB caught earlier in the week. We arrived back in Silves late that evening and agreed with John the arrangements for getting back to the airport the following morning. Both Ollie and I agreed that the week had been brilliant and the fishing superb. For us, pleasure anglers, it had been a great learning experience. John Bate our guide has so much knowledge and was happy to pass on as much as we wanted to know. Nothing was too much trouble. We decided what we wanted to do. Experienced anglers would love some of John’s secret spots that he has discovered over the last 10 years. Match anglers would be amazed at the size of bags that could be caught in short periods, the fish are never fished for by locals as they do not value carp as a specimen like we do in England. John is absolutely convinced that there are hundreds of massive fish to be caught. I would recommend everyone to take the opportunity to visit this great country and take advantage of the fantastic fishing to be had. And you could not choose a better guide than John Bate. If you’re interested in a fishing holiday in Portugal then contact John Bate through his website: ‘Fishing in Portugal’. |
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