Spanish Catfishing with Catmaster tours

Sunrise on the Segre

Day One-Monday
The sun rises over the hills and so begins our  Spanish adventure. Having arrived the night before we had a couple of San Miguel's in the bar with our guide (John 'here's a story for you' Deakin), for the week followed by an early night in anticipation of the 7.00am start. The weather forecast was for a sunny start to the week getting colder on Thursday and Friday. Thankfully their forecasters are as good as ours and it was warm and dry all week.

Fishing in Spain is only allowed between sunrise and midnight and as the fish only really become active between 10pm and midnight there is a lot of waiting involved.

My view for the next six days

Our party consisted of myself, Cockney Steve and John and it was John who had the first fish, a 114lber.

I then had an aborted run at about 9.45pm and that was the end of the action for day one.
















Day Two-Tuesday
A cloudy start made way for glorious sunshine by 10am and then at 3.30pm we had a tremendous thunderstorm that lasted a whole three minutes followed by more sunshine.
The fishing was slow throughout the day. At 9pm I struck into my first fish of the trip, 38lb. At least I was up and running.

The action was fast and furious that evening and we landed a total of six cats for a massive 533lb.
I had a 68lb fish.

John had a 58lb fish and a super 138lb specimen which Ryan (the apprentice guide) helped him display.

But Steve thrashed us both with an 87lber and an excellent 144lb beauty(photo to follow).


Day Three-Wednesday
Following that cracking night we were buzzing and full of expectation. The inevitable happened, we blanked! This often happens, lots of fish then no fish and it had me worrying. Three days done, halfway through the week and I was the only angler without a 'ton' fish. I couldn't come all the way to Spain and not have a biggie-could I?

Day Four-Thursday
John started us off with a 25 and finally my moment arrived when I landed my 'ton'. I breathed a sigh of relief as the scales went round to 119lb.

I could go home fairly pleased but now I had a new target, I wanted to beat my pb, a 126lb fish caught 18 months ago.
Steve added his second ton of the week weighing 121lb, he was flying! (photo to follow)

Day Five-Friday

It was my turn for the early fish and I started with what we guessed to be a 20lber (not even weighing these now but I would be made up with this fish in England!)

and I followed that with a 116lber

Catfish are not the prettiest of fish but they are amazing looking creatures, this one however had an awful growth on it's side and a hunch back. We took a quick picture and back it quickly went. It didn't need too much stress.
That evening Steve added a 25 and a 40 and I also had a 25. By now we weren't even photographing these fish just putting them straight back. Fish size is totally relative to the water you are fishing and this river spoils you.

Final Day-Saturday.

The final morning of our tour we decided to head up the hills above the Ebro dam and try for something a bit different. The Spanish claim to have the best freshwater Bass fishing outside America and we saw plenty of them but it was pretty frustrating. John managed to land one of about a pound and I hooked and lost one that was a bit bigger.

About mid afternoon we went back to the serious business of Catfishing. It was way back on Tuesday when Steve had had the biggest Catfish and John and I wanted to try to beat it.
At 10.15pm one of my rods hooped over and stayed there and I knew I was connected to a good fish. It took line from a fully tightened clutch which none of my previous fish had managed and when I managed to get it into the margins I knew I had a new personal best. 152lb of solid Spanish Catfish. Doesn't Steve look really pleased for me!

My third pb in four weeks and a biggest ever fish.

Thankyou

I stopped fishing after that letting John and Steve take over my rods and I just chilled with a few San Miguel's. I was happy and confident that the action was over but at 11.57pm (yes, only 3 minutes left of our holiday!) Steve's rod doubled up and it took both him and John to get it out of the rest. Was it a serious fish or was he just being a wuss? Twenty minutes later and we saw it was serious, by far the biggest Cat I had ever seen and when four of us lifted it onto the bank I thought it was a 200! It wasn't far off at 182 1/2lb and right at the very end, on the whistle, in extra time he had done me.
What a beast.

Well done mate!

A week long total of 17 fish between the three of us weighing 1,473lb at an average of 86.6lb per fish-job done!

Thanks to John and Ryan, our guides and 'Catmaster' for a wonderful week.

Catfish, River Segre, Spain

Twelve months spent persuading 'er indoors and then ten months since booking the trip were all forgotten when finally we made it to Mequinenza, the Catfishing capital of Spain(if not the world).

Dave from the tackle shop and I had booked this trip with Catmaster tours and our guide John Deakin and we would thoroughly recommend them both. We arrived on the Sunday and after a few beers with the rest of our group we had an early night in anticipation of the 7.30am start the following morning.
It is quite a different method of fishing than any I have been previously used to. 150lb braid, stringers of pellets, rowing the baits out three times daily all takes some getting used to. Also the rod rotation system, known as knockout takes some adjustment too.
The first day was a roaring success as five of our six anglers had fish, mine being a biggest ever fish for me weighing 88lb, good start.

The problem with rod rotation is that I now sat it out until Dave had had a fish. This took 48 hours due to  a quiet period for bites and two missed takes. Sitting on the bank from 7.30am until 12.00 midnight is hard enough but for two days and not actually fishing is really frustrating for an angler. The boredom set in and we took the piss out of each other, took the piss out of the guide, got pissed, unscrewed each others chairs so they collapsed and even took photos of the ants eating bits of pellets amongst other things. 

Finally on day three Dave had his fish, all 185lb of it! I have a photo but this is my blog so stuff him!

The rules then meant the rods were back in my hands until I had a 'ton' fish.

This was Thursday and with only two days left I needed some divine help so there was only one tactic, praying!

It worked! The fish came thick and fast that day. Three in total. The first weighed 70lb.

The guide said that this one liked me and it was a sign of affection when they crap down your leg. I just hoped it was good luck like bird shit!

The next one weighed 67lb, they were getting smaller and my 'ton' was looking frustratingly less likely.

Then finally it happened. I hit into a fish that really tried to pull me in and took line off a super tight clutch. The power of these creatures is unbelievable and must be experienced by all anglers. She went 120lb on the scales and there was one very tired but relieved angler in Spain that night.

I was so relieved that I showed her my affectionate side. Well I have kissed worse looking things! (In my youth in case the wife reads this-not likely though as it's about fish!)

After that I felt anything would be a bonus and I could not believe it when my rod set off for the sea again. It proved to be an even bigger specimen at 126lb and my Spanish trip was complete. I will return though as I now have a new itch-for a 200lber!