It started with a kitten that I caught from Shatterford Lakes near Kidderminster probably around 15 years ago. My cube of bacon grill was snaffled by a 4lb ‘monster’ catfish and at once I fell in love with the species. Most anglers think of them as ugly creatures but I can’t see it myself – I think they are beautiful – but then again I think Everton are a good football team, so what do I know. I then set about targeting cats properly and without going into too much detail was quite successful and soon found myself in the position of having caught plenty of UK catfish to what I consider to be a good size. The natural progression seemed to be to head for Europe to land a real biggie, what’s a real biggie – well we all know the answer to that – 100lb plus… ‘the ton-up club’. Two years ago I went to the Ebro with a ‘guiding service’ and to be honest we cocked it up; we didn’t do enough research and ended up in the wrong part of the river with the wrong people. My pitiful result was one fish of 50lb+, and one of 40lb+. Nice fish maybe from the UK but not what I was after.
Last year we travelled to France and fished the mighty Saone with Luke Moffat’s crew. Although the set-up was well organised and we had a fantastic social seven days with Luke and his guides we chose the worst possible week. Delays in the warm weather hitting Southern France sent the cats into spawning frenzy for one week only (our week) and we had to witness spawning beasts with no intention of taking a bait. One day that will live with me for ever saw me lowering a small carp livebait into a shallow bay and seeing a hundred pound plus fish snake under the boat just a couple of feet away from me. I literally lowered the carp onto its nose as it passed by but she just kept on going, followed by two or three tiddlers weighing in at around 30-40lb. That was as close as I got to a fish that week! Third time lucky? There were six of us in the party, Steve the Morris dancer, Terry F’wit, Ivan the Terrible, Chemical Ali, Root and Myself and we would draw straws for who fished with whom. On the first night we were welcomed by Martin Walker whose apartments in Caspe come with everything a travelling catfish angler could need – a barrel of draught lager! Over drinks we made the draw, Steve the Morris dancer, Terry and myself would be team 1 and would be on the bank tomorrow with the other guys (Team 2) in a boat with Martin. As it was our first day Martin provided with us with a guide anyway to get us used to the boats, rigs, etc, and we all slept poorly that night, probably because the whole apartment is decorated with photos of huge catfish that Martin’s guests had caught. Also, that night we all tried, and failed to bend by hand a purpose built catfish rod that the previous week had been shattered by a catfish – awesome stuff. Carp Diving – it won’t catch on at Wraysbury Day One First away is one of Terry’s live carp rods and soon our first fish of the trip is on the bank. 45lbs and a nice warm up for Terry, in fact it’s the biggest fish he’s ever seen and he’s as happy a pig in poo. In fact we all are, there are fish about and as it’s very, very hot now we all celebrate with a bottle of water or a tango……plenty of time to drink beer that night. Its a few hours later when one of Steve’s rods screams off. Well, scream is the wrong word. As the ratchet on the reel is a bit dodgy we have clipped a bell to the rod tip to alert us to any action and its tinkling away as he run’s over to it. The fact that Steve can’t stop himself from running backwards and striking every time he hears a bell jingling is the reason he’s been christened the ‘Morris Dancer’. We thought it was funny anyway, but perhaps you need to have been there. The fish came in quite easily until it neared the bank then realised what was happening. The big cat surged back in an attempt to escape and Steve was quite literally dragged into the river up to his knees as he struggled to contain the fish. He did at one stage try to slacken the clutch on the large multiplier but was rebuked by the guide. “We don’t give them line on the Ebro mate; never know what snags are out there. Just hang on and enjoy it, he’s well hooked,” came the sobering reply of a man who’s seen it all before. Well we hadn’t seen it all before and when we grabbed its lower jaw and slid it up the wet grass we all gasped in amazement. On the scales she weighed 118lb and a ‘ton’ for Steve on day one. What a start. I’m now on all six rods and just can’t relax. For three or four hours I paced up and down, sweating profusely in the heat and tweaking the line occasionally to get the baits working, oh, and having a mini-heart attack every time I heard a bell tinkle. My nerves were getting frayed – I wished I still smoked! It was late afternoon when the ratchet on the rod we had repositioned after Steve’s fish clicked several times, yes, I kid you not; just like in Jaws. Looking out about 80-90 yards I could still see the float. The bait was set near the bottom so feasibly something could have taken the unfortunate carp and be lying doggo. It was a long way out but the more I looked the more I was convinced the float was slowly, very slowly moving upstream. Damn, my turn on the rods and the bait has been taken by a kitten not big enough to pull the float under, there’s nothing else to do so I wind down and hit it. There is obviously a fish on but it comes in easy and with little weight behind it. All the way in I’m moaning that my bait has been snatched by a kitten but our guide knowingly stubs out his roll-up and puts on a gardening glove. Like I said, he’s seen it all before. Twenty yards from the bank and it decides it doesn’t want to be led like a dog anymore and changes direction, powering back out into the river. Despite the fact that just a few hours earlier I have seen Steve caught out I too am unprepared for the sheer power of the things and am dragged up to my thighs into the warm waters of the Ebro.
The next 10 minutes or so were unreal, if you can imagine being attached to a speedboat, with 150lb braid, on the rod we couldn’t bend the previous night (which was now pulled flat) then you’re getting the picture. Once on the bank I knew I’d cracked it and with the bar between Terry and Steve’s shoulders I read off the weight….114lb….of hot Ebro pussy……you’ll do for me! The only problem now is I have craved this fish for so long I don’t want to let it go. It feels fantastic being immersed in the warm water with such a huge fish gently wallowing around in my arms and after being in the water with it for 10 minutes I reluctantly let it slip back into the deep channel. Terry’s now back on all six rods while Steve and I try to come to terms with the fact that on day one we have both achieved our goal of a big fish and can now relax totally and enjoy our holiday. It was getting late when we had our next run. Terry struck like a girl and what was obviously a big fish came adrift halfway in. We were all despondent, including the guide, as he had never had a group land three ‘ton up’ fish in a day and he began, along with Steve and me to give Terry some serious grief for ruining his averages. But cometh the hour and cometh the man just before dusk and with three of the six rods wound in Terry gets another chance. This time he really did strike, and strike and strike. “I think it’s on now,” said the guide and Terry started to pump in the unseen beast accompanied to chants of “Terr-ee, Terr-ee, Terr-ee”…….Okay, so I agree you had to be there but we thought it funny at the time. Team 2 were motoring past at this time, heard the chant and came ashore just as we grabbed the cats lower jaw and slid it onto the grass.
Incredibly we had done it. Terry’s ‘tiddler’ was the smallest of the trio at 112lb but with a 118 and a 114 in the bag Team 1 would hit the bar happy that night. It turned out Chemical Ali had also joined in the fun with a 108lb fish with several more smaller cats boated.
Day Two Day Four “I may be a shite angler, but I do know when a float has gone under.” Followed thirty seconds later by, “Oh, and by the way, that one just has.”
Trying not to laugh too much I grabbed the rod and struck into a powerful fish. Now we were actually fishing with two types of rod from the boat, the heavy 6ft-6″ purpose built boat rods on which we drifted out carp, and a Fox Luremaster rod, specifically designed for chucking heavy lures that we legered the eels on. I’m not sure how we got mixed up but I soon realised we had baited the wrong rod and I was attached to 6ft of angry cat with a little 4oz crankbait rod – this should be fun! And it was, the fight was totally different from that on the bank, whereas from the bank you could feel the raw power as there was better leverage and the fish was in shallow water, from the boat the cat just stayed deep and you had to lean hard into the fish and try and tire him out before you tired first. When the heat is over 30 degrees C you do tire pretty quickly. Anyway, we got him out and it was my second 100lb+ at 108lb. Obviously Terry wont let me have a moment of glory and went and landed another 100lb+ fish half an hour later. We got totally involved We all thoroughly enjoyed our trip and would recommend it to anyone who fancies a trip after the Ebro cats. The accommodation was first class, food spot on, the guides were great fun and the boats and equipment superb. Next time I return however I intend to take up ‘Catfish Capers’ self guiding option and utilise the rental service he operates. Basically you can hire accommodation, boat, sounder, tackle, bait, etc, with all licences already arranged. For a first trip I would take the option we did and then consider the self guided next time if you are confident enough to try it. To get the best out of a trip like this you need to put egos away and work as a team, there is no point in looking for personal glory here. A great example of the camaraderie shown on our trip was that in Team 2 Root who had had a 93 and Chemical Ali who had had a 112 both gave up there rods on day 5 so Ivan the Terrible who had not had a fish over 50lbs could get a biggie. Ivan then landed a fish of 114 right on dark and the following, last day, Root (my brother Dave) was allowed all of the rods, all of the day to try and get his ton-up. He had a great day landing several big cats including another 90lb+ fish. My thanks go to all the guys at Catfish Capers’, to Steve and Terry, my Team 1 fellow members, and to chemical Ali, Root and Ivan from team 2. Everyone acted selflessly throughout the trip by giving up rods, etc, to ensure we all caught big fish. Everyone had a laugh and refused to take themselves too seriously and that made for one of the best fishing holidays I have ever been on. Thanks guys…. For details of the services available contact Martin Walker on : |
Welcome!Log into your account
