Where on earth did October go?
The month seems to have disappeared in the blink of an eye, probably more to do with the fact that once again I’ve been particularly busy. With trips to the Ebro catfishing, Edinburgh visiting family, Holland piking, awards dinners with work and actually working thrown into the mix my feet have barely touched the floor.
The first week of the month was spent with Catmaster Tours on the Ebro/Segre river system in Mequinenza Spain. The trip had been planned since February and was to celebrate good friend Ashley Burton turning 40!
We arrived at Barcelona airport early afternoon on the Sunday and, as arranged, the Catmaster guides were awaiting our arrival to drive us and the other 12 anglers the two hours to Mequinenza. The drive was filled with stories of monster catfish in excess of 200lb with fish over 100lb the norm. The journey was over quickly and, like all good Brits abroad, we headed straight for the nearest bar for a few beers and to meet our guide for the week, Ashley Scott.
With just Ash and me travelling over to fish we were to be grouped together with another four anglers. Now, we were both a little apprehensive as to who we’d be spending the week with as it can be a bit difficult when you have to spend seven days with complete strangers but we needn’t have worried. There were another two groups of two so they were in the same boat as us and thankfully were top blokes. There were Matt and Shaun from the west Midlands who ‘by trade’ were match anglers and Malcolm and Gerry from the south West who were sea anglers. Given that Ash and I are both specimen anglers it opened the door for some healthy rivalry between the six of us based on our differing interests.
Our guide Ashley quickly filled us in on what to expect and headed off to prepare for the week ahead. This left us to have a few beers and get to know our fishing companions. The ice was soon broken and an early night was on the cards as we were to be picked up just before first light on the Monday.
Ashley was at the front door shortly before 7.30am and we made the short journey to our swims, which were to be on the Segre as this is where the majority of fish were holding up. Before long the rods were all in position and Ashley gave us all a quick pep talk on what to do and expect and explained the procedure of rowing the baits out, striking and playing the fish etc. This might be second nature to some but with none of us having ever done this before all the information was gratefully received. It was then time to decide on the fishing system and we could get the baits out. We chose the ‘knockout system’, meaning we all started with two rods then, for example, if I got a fish first Ash then fished with four rods, if he’s next then our rods would get split between the other guys and so on until everyone had caught. This kept it as fair as possible and meant no one ended up with a ‘going’ rod whilst others blanked.
We got a quick lesson in the equipment to be used and believe me it makes tidal Trent floodwater fishing look like pasty bashing on a commercial: 6lb test rods, multiplier reels loaded with 200lb braid, 170lb Dyneema hooklengths, 2lb of lead and 8/0 hooks baited with four 22mm halibut pellets! This wasn’t fishing for the faint-hearted. The only way to get the baits out was to row them across river before dropping them on various ledges and drop offs before tightening down to the huge leads and setting the drag so line could barely be pulled off the reel in the event of a take. All 12 rods were soon in position and the waiting game began. The plan was the same for every day: baits out by 8am, Ashley fetched breakfast from the local café; rods were reeled in and re-baited early afternoon and again an hour before dark.
With temperatures exceeding 25 degrees Celsius and San Miguel in plentiful supply as well as plenty of banter the time soon passed quickly. Before we knew it the rods were being reeled in and baits were refreshed for what we all anticipated to be the best time of day: dusk and the first couple of hours of darkness (catfishing here is limited from 6am to midnight, so maximum effort is put in leading up to midnight in the hope the catfish come out under the cover of dark to feed).
At 9.30 Malcolm’s alarm let out a flurry of beeps and it was fish on! He soon had it under control and after ten minutes or so Ashley had the fish safely roped up whilst we prepared the unhooking mat, weighing equipment and the obligatory bucket of water (it’s a catmaster custom to get a ‘bucket’ every time you catch a 100lb plus fish). On the bank the fish was unhooked and pulled the Reubens down to 170lb – what a start!
After seeing this fish on the bank and how hard it fought I was slightly nervous about catching one and what it would entail but I wasn’t given long to think about it as only 30 minutes later one of my rods was away and it was my turn to see what this Spanish catfishing lark was all about. I initially thought the fish had slipped the hook but I was assured it was coming towards me and to wind as fast as I could, not easy believe me!
All of a sudden I was in contact and the fish was no more than 30 yards out and boy did I know about it. For the next ten minutes I was dragged here there and everywhere right under the rod tip. Ashley took to the boat to try and glove the fish but it was nowhere near ready and dragged his little dinghy from left to right and back again. We finally got the upper hand and the fish was safely roped up while I changed into my spare clothes in preparation for the slime fest that was to entail. The guys all worked together and I was soon wearing a smile as big as the fish I’d caught as I posed for the camera holding 158lb of fish! I was given the customary soaking and sat back in the hope that now Ash had four rods he’d be next. It wasn’t Ash but Matt who was next into a fish. The same pattern followed and before long he was grinning from ear to ear alongside a mammoth fish of 159lb. This was all the action we received on day one and it was three very smelly but happy anglers that headed back to the house that night.
The second day followed the same pattern and with the daylight hours giving up no fish confidence was high for the hours of darkness. Sean was next into a fish and at soon had it on the bank – and what a monster fish, 183lb! By now Ash had six rods fishing and I was praying he’d break his duck that night and at 23.20 my prayers were answered when one of Ash’s rods roared off.
This fish really gave him the run around and he did well to keep it out of a snag that was close in. After what seemed an age the fish was just about ready when Gerry shouted he was also into a fish! Quickly working to get Ash’s fish weighed – at a very healthy 172lb – we went to give Gerry a hand and his one registered 129lb on the scales; what a great two days, we’d all caught fish with five over 150lb.
After this great start the fishing slowed up a little and nothing was caught on the Wednesday, so to fill a little time we organised a bleak fishing match. With each angler limited to 20 minutes each on the float the idea was to catch as many as possible and the pair with the most won. We paired of in a match v sea v specimen competition and battle commenced. With Matt being an out and out match angler his competitive edge soon came out but when it emerged the specimen boys were leading the mood soon turned – the match and sea boys took a bit of a beating and the specimen boys came out on top!
The next couple of days followed an almost identical pattern to the first two.
First up was Gerry with a huge fish of 175lb, then Sean with one of 190lb and half an hour later it was my turn with a fish that gave me a real beating and had me on the verge of getting someone to take over from me – at 184lb it punched well above its weight and with a length of 8 feet would normally be pushing 200lb.
Next up was Ash with a great fish of 189lb then Matt landed a fish which, at 191lb, proved to be the biggest of the week and gave him the chance to brag he’d beaten the speci boys at their own game after we beat him at the match fishing. Last but not least was Malcolm with a nice brace of cats coming in at 128lb and 75lb – a great way to round off a fantastic week.
I was soon home but before I knew I was once again packing my bags and heading off to Holland for a few days’ pike fishing. I’d invited good friend Paul Garner along with me and with him really having the pike fishing bug these past few years he didn’t need much persuading. Our flight was out of Stanstead at the early hour of 7am, meaning an even earlier start of 2.30am for me to pick Paul up.
Once over there we met up with my good friend Thijs and his news wasn’t good: heavy rain and gale force winds faced us for the whole trip! Undeterred we got to Thijs’ house, hitched the boat to his car and started the two hour journey to the venue. Despite the conditions confidence was high and it wasn’t long before we were afloat and thrashing the water to a foam with an assortment of lures.
We fished extremely hard for the whole trip and tried different approaches and venues but unfortunately the conditions beat us and we only managed a few jacks each for our efforts. The fish are most definitely there but with the venue being quite shallow, mostly six feet, and made up of a sandy bottom it didn’t take long for the wind to cause the water to colour badly.
I arrived back home at 11.30pm and was due back at work the following morning…what a whirlwind two weeks!
