Plan of attack After a short flight we arrived at Barcelona airport and were met by the reigning UK Pike Champion Duane Williams. Things were looking good. On the three hour drive to Caspe we discussed the fishing and the plan of attack for the week. The plan was to do a mixture of bank and boat fishing, depending on the weather conditions. Duane told us Martin Walker had gone back to England the week before we arrived but we were still in good hands. Once we arrived at our apartments we noticed ours was above a local bar, what a result and we hadn’t even fished yet! We were then greeted by the rest of the Catfish Capers crew. Steve Crowther, a Shimano consultant who had lure fished for England on many occasions and was a very experienced predator angler. Paul Smith, who was the young guy of the group who had started guiding three months earlier and had already guided lots of anglers to many ton-up fish. Paul had lots of theories regarding the cats which proved correct as I witnessed later in the week. We were also greeted by Paul’s girlfriend Lucy who would be cooking us lovely meals for the week. We found out that Steve’s nickname was ‘Self Harm’ as he always seems to be harming himself in minor accidents. Paul’s nickname was ‘Two Beers’ as he always had two beers in his hand when he was in the pub. The scene was set for a good week. Pedro’s Point Wednesday afternoon myself and Craig were driven by Steve to a small channel of the Ebro which the guides had nicknamed Pedro’s point. Here we would catch as many carp between the 3-5lb mark as we could which would then be used the following day as livebaits. The first thing we noticed about the Ebro was the sheer size of the water and that the bottom which was very rocky.
On the Thursday morning we were back at Pedro’s Point at 8am catching a few more carp for livebaits. The weather was very hot, well into the 100s. Steve and Paul arrived in the Landrover with the 21ft Dory on the trailer about mid-day and we were off for our first day on the boat. From Pedro’s Point we had about a five mile drive to the neighbouring village of Chiprana where the boat would be launched. Once launched we had a 10 minute drive downstream to a location 27 feet deep which Steve fancied and had landed a couple of ton-up fish the previous week. Tackle and tactics We were using Daiwa Euro-specialist 5lb test curve rods and Penn multiplier reels loaded with 180lb braid. We also used what I can only describe as monster-sized pike bungs. Heavy gear for heavy fish. Steve explained the idea was to let the livebaits drift off the back of the boat in a nice spread at different distances and depths as this method covered most water and was very effective. We would then watch the floats and listen for the ratchet on the reel to scream into life. Steve liked to have a bit of a bow in the lines as it was quite a windy day, the theory being that even with a bow in the line there would still be constant pressure on the fish; a bit like up-tiding. Myself and Craig would take turns on the rods and would rotate after each strike. We had quite a few bites which were missed as myself and Craig were not striking nowhere near hard enough. Steve gave us a demonstration on how hard we should be striking and believe me when I say this took a bit of getting used to. Striking very hard was one of the first main differences we noticed. We had to strike around three times harder on the Ebro compared to English fishing, this was because at times the baits were out over 300 yards. Also, you had to make sure the hooks were set properly in the bony mouths of the cats.
The sheer width of the head was breathtaking. Just then the rest of the fish’s body appeared on the surface which looked like a giant submarine. Steve was getting excited now as he knew this fish was over the magical ton. All of a sudden the end of the rod exploded and Craig was playing the fish with the two top eyes of the rod missing. The fish gradually got knackered and Steve managed to get a firm hold with the gloves. Once he lifted it over the side of the boat we were looking at a catfish of around 6ft 6ins long and we were still in total amazement at the sheer power of this creature. We put the fish in the monster weight sling and when myself and Craig put one end of the weigh-bar on each of our shoulders we tried to lift, the weight felt massive. At this point Steve said “You haven’t got the sling off the floor yet lads!” Once we lifted again and managed to get the sling off the floor the scales shot past the magical ton mark to 116lb. Steve advised that although this was a big fish it had not fought that well, as we were to find out later in the week. It was our first day on the boat and Craig had already had a fish over a ton. Not bad for an Essex carp boy.
A PB carp, vultures and kites The Friday morning saw us tucking into one of Lucy’s delicious breakfast rolls before setting off at 8am for Pedro’s Point for more bait snatching. I landed a 15 lb common carp. Straight after putting it back the baitrunner screamed off again and I was into another big common. After a long fight I got the fish on the bank and we could see it was over 20lb. This was my biggest carp. I was well happy as my carp PB had been broken by one and a half pounds and my catfish PB had been broken and it was only our second day. The carp on the Ebro have very soft mouths and you have to be very careful not to give them too much welly. Myself and Craig decided that we would now not take turns according to strikes per angler but according to fish in the boat, as sometimes the cats would drop the bait when they were not hooked properly. It was a more fair method as one of us could have ended up with a lot more fish than the other by the end of the week. Paul picked us up at midday again and we were off again up the Ebro. When we stopped in a nice looking spot opposite some large cliffs I noticed we had vultures and kites flying overhead. A truly amazing sight. We got the carp livebaits out and also put two rods out baited with eels. Paul explained he liked to have no bow in the line at all so we would be in direct contact with the fish at all times. This was the first difference we noticed when fishing with Steve and Paul. Steve liked a bit of bow in the line and Paul did not. Myself and Craig both thought this was great as we were picking up new theories, skills and styles of fishing from two very experienced cat anglers. Into the big fish again It did not take long and the float sailed away and I was into a big fish. After a very good scrap I had an 83lb cat in the boat. The fish was very pink in colour as Paul advised some cats become very stressed during the fight. We took a quick photo and put her back straight away.
Shortly after we moved upstream as Paul told us another of his theories was that when you are in a boat you are hunting and when you are on the bank you are trapping. Therefore use the boat to full advantage and move around. Paul would sometimes move up to five or six times a day. After finding another good looking spot Craig was soon into another fish which weighed 51lb. Shortly after I had a nice cat of 59lb. About 20 minutes later Craig struck into a fish which was obviously very large as it just kept taking line and could not be stopped. It had taken the bait at over 150 yards and was powering away from the boat. After about 10 minutes it seemed to swim back to the boat, probably still not realising it was hooked. This is when the fight really started. The fish had managed to get itself round the end anchor rope. As soon as Paul pulled the anchor weight up and re positioned it the fish went round it again. After untangling it for a second time the fish went for the front anchor rope and tangled round this twice. Each time Craig was holding onto the rod for dear life and trying to bully the fish away from the anchor ropes. Each time the fish could not be stopped. The rod was bent double and for every five turns of the reel Craig made, the fish would then take ten back. Physically very exhausted (or something like that……) Paul and myself were calling Craig a big girl and a carp angler when the fish decided to start diving to the bottom. Craig’s face seemed to change to a very serious one as he was giving it everything to grunt it up off the bottom and it would just not budge. This continued for another 10 minutes. The fish was using its bulk to hold on the bottom. At one point I thought Craig was going to pass me the rod as he was almost on his knees begging for mercy. His exact words were “My body cannot take no more. I am physically f***ed.” Just then he got a second wind and heaved the fish up to the surface. When Paul saw the size of the fish he said “I will let you off son, that’s one big mogger.” Paul managed to get a firm hold with the gloves and heaved her into the boat. The scales once again shot round past the magical ton mark and another 116-pounder was in the boat. It was a totally different fish from the day before. Craig was totally knackered and so was I just from watching the action. The demonstration on the striking by Steve the previous day had obviously worked as myself and Craig had just had four runs and four fish in the boat. Two days fishing and Craig had already had two ton-up cats. Awesome!
Bank fishing the Ebro We were back at Pedro’s point on Saturday morning, fishing for more carp livebaits. Duane arrived with Paul and Steve at midday and we were off again up the Ebro. Today we would be bank fishing with Duane at a spot nicknamed 140 alley due to the amount of 140lb fish caught. Paul dropped us off on the bank and Duane rowed the baits out and attached them to four huge buoys with 10lb line. Duane explained: when the cats take a livebait the 10lb line is just a weak link tied from the buoy to the float which is snapped by the sheer power of the take from these fish. The day turned out to be a bit unlucky as we only had one take, which I struck into, and resulted in a long 59-pounder on the bank. After being bitten by what seemed like a 100 mosquitos and a couple of horse flies we were picked up again by Paul.
Off to a spot known as Siluro Man Sunday morning and you guessed it – we were back at Pedro’s point at 8am and then off at mid-day with Steve on the boat. The day turned out to be very windy which restricted the fishing. Craig was still knackered from the night previous so I took first turn on the rods and caught a cat of 64lb, which turned out to be the only run of the day. Still we had a 100% strike rate. Monday morning brought more bait snatching and munching Lucy’s breakfast rolls. Then it was off on the boat with Paul. After a quick blast up the Ebro Paul took us to a spot named Siluro Man which had many large drop-offs. The water was like a mill pond when, all of a sudden, it was as if someone had turned on a switch. We had raging 80mph winds coming from all directions. The lines were going over each other but we managed to get all the rods in and move to a sheltered spot pretty quickly. I had two cats of 10lb and 7lb which Paul advised were the smallest cats he has ever seen from the Ebro. Craig had a 41-pounder from deep water which put up quite a good scrap. What a mate, and Steve works his nads off That night in the bar after a few beers Craig said as I had not yet caught a fish over a ton yet and he had fulfilled his wildest angling dreams he would let me stay on the rods all of the following day which would be our last days fishing until I had a ton-up fish. What a mate.
We were off up the Ebro again at mid-day with Steve for our final days fishing. Steve said he would work his nads off to get me the big one. He took us to a great looking spot which had produced some big fish a few weeks earlier. The weather was very hot and the drift of the river looked perfect. We got the livebaits out and the one Craig was drifting down the river looked to be in a very good position in mid-stream. Craig thought it was very funny to let the float drift as far as he could, almost to the backing of the reel knowing I would be the one reeling it all in, hopefully with a big mogger on the end. Just as Craig got near the backing the float was almost out of sight. He felt the pull on the line and passed me the rod as a fish took the bait. I hit it and felt nothing. The same thing happened a few times and I bumped a few good takes. We was not sure if the cats were just dropping the baits or whether it was me not striking hard enough again or whether they were half-hearted takes. The next time the float sailed away I wound down and struck hard and felt a fish. After reeling in over 300 yards of line with a 23lb mogger fighting all the way I felt knackered. After all that effort as well. Anyway, we put the fish back and put another livebait on and got it on its way drifting downstream. At this point another long range rod had the reel ratchet screaming. I struck into what appeared to be a good fish. As I was reeling in I noticed the fish was swimming to the boat at an alarming rate. All the time I had encouragement from Steve and Craig to wind faster you big wuss. I was getting pretty knackered by this point. After giving Craig so much stick with his 116-pounder when he was near enough on his knees, now was his turn to pay back the compliment! “My forearms were bulging like Popeye’s” The fish was swimming towards the boat fast alright, and once it got to the boat continued straight underneath to the back anchor rope. After Steve expertly untangled the line the fish decided to dive straight to the bottom on quite a few occasions. I was huffing and puffing trying to pull her up and my back felt totally locked out. My forearms were bulging like Popeye’s and felt like they were about to burst. Craig and Steve were creasing up. When the fish dived for the bottom again Steve turned round to Craig and said “I think you might be on the rods again after this one.” At one point the fish was actually pulling me along the boat. I grunted her up from the depths with all I had left and the water erupted with a very angry mogger. We were quite surprised as she did not look that long. I knew she felt heavy. Once Steve managed to get a firm grip with the gloves he hauled her in the boat. Although not as long as Craig’ s 116-pounder she had quite a big gut on her. We put her in the weigh sling and I watched the scales anxiously. After the needle shot around and landed on 101lb I was jumping for joy. Now before any of you think that sounds dodgy, there was no cheating or treading on the sling to help the weight. Anyone who knows me will tell you I am not that kind of angler. The way I look at it is if you pull those kinds of tricks you are only cheating yourselves. This was a true ton-up fish and I was the happiest angler in the world at this point. After some good photos and filming on the video cameras we put the fish back and watched her swim off. I was covered in slime and dived straight in the Ebro with delight. After clambering back in the boat Steve reminded us it was only 3pm and we had another 5 hours fishing. A new livebait was put out straight away by myself which I trotted down the centre of the river as I knew Craig was next on the rods. Just as the float got to the same spot where we had the previous take it disappeared and the line smoked off the spool. I passed the rod to Craig and he struck with bad intentions. The rod reared over and he was then winding in over 300 yards of line with an angry mogger on the end. Myself and Steve gave Craig stick all the time he was reeling in the line such as “wind, wind you ****!” Craig managed to play the fish a lot more professionally than me and Steve gloved another huge fish over a ton. When the scales shot round to 108lb we were calling Craig all the names under the sun. Every time he was on the rods his fish were over the ton mark. I said it must be his female pheromones. (They say female anglers catch big fish). Another livebait was put out and when another of the livebaits got into the hot spot it only roared off again. I struck and was playing another good fish which was swimming rapidly towards the boat and I was left winding 300 yards of line again as fast as I could. I was totally knackered. The fish woke up when it got near the boat and powered off upstream. I could feel a constant kick going through the rod which made me think this is gonna be another biggie. I managed to keep her away from the anchor ropes and Steve gloved another good fish. The scales shot round to 79lb. Believe me when I say this fish fought tooth and nail all the way and put up one of the best scraps of the holiday.
Another livebait was put out and as soon as it got to the hot-spot, bang, it was gone. Craig struck and after a swift fight a cat of 57lb was in the boat. Another livebait was put out and as soon as one of the other livebaits got into the hotspot I was into another of 52lb. It was great seeing the ratchet on the reel spring into life every time it got into the hotspot. The only trouble was that it was 300 yards away. I kid you not. By the end of this day there were many mixed emotions. I had broken the 100lb barrier, Craig had caught his third 100lb cat and the action had been non-stop all day. It had been the most awesome display of fishing we had seen or experienced ever in our lives. It was also the most amount of fish Steve had ever had in the boat on one day. The daily total was 6 fish in the boat: 23lb, 52lb, 57lb, 79lb, 101lb, 108lb also five missed runs. We should really have had 11 fish in the boat. Talk about saving the best till last! At this point myself and Craig would like to thank all the lads who helped make our holiday such a brilliant success: Steve Crowther, Duane Williams and Paul Smith for all their expert tuition and help. Lucy for her lovely meals all week. All the guides had different fishing styles, techniques and theories and this is what made the holiday even more enjoyable. Martin you have a great team and myself and Craig will be booking up again in the near future for next year’s Ebro Assault. |
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