|
|
|
 |
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
Hunting Pussy on the Ebro |
||||||||||||||||
|
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? You bet. This year it was my turn to do the booking and I was determined to do my homework. Phone calls were made and favours called in. The internet was repeatedly scoured at lunchtimes and eventually one guiding service and location stood out above all the others. ‘Catfish Capers’ are based on the Ebro at Caspe and seemed to represent our best chance of achieving our goals. They were priced a little over what we hoped to pay but by booking a 50/50 package it dropped nicely into our price range. The 50/50 package was ideal for us as it gave us a day on the boat, guided, followed by a day on the bank unguided. Most of use had experience of cat handling, buoy rigs, etc, and we were all more than happy to be left to our own devices once we had been shown around the area. Perhaps the most important thing about the trip was that all tackle and permits are provided. All we need to do is help catch the bait and the carp diving can be as much fun as the fishing – but more of that later. 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 Bait catching was great fun. The secret was to get out onto the shallows when the sun is warming the margins and using a spoon net dive on the hordes of small carp sunning themselves. This was not always as easy as it sounds and several times you would either miss or dive on a wafting fin which turned out to be a 30lb+ plus common. When that happed you got off it pretty quickly – or got battered. When we had enough bait for the day we had to be dragged back to the boat to go fishing as we all enjoyed it so much. Don’t think it would catch on at Wraysbury though…. Day One 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 We got totally involved 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 :
|
||||||||||||||||
