Chino got the fishing bug after last week’s social on the Orellana. He wanted to make the most of his week off and dragged Craig out in the scorching heat for a couple of 24 hr sessions. It was hard going during the day with temperatures in the 40´s but the fish were active. Between them they had nearly 30 runs, most being mid to upper 20´s and five 30lb plus fish.



The night time temperatures are starting to drop, soon well have better fishing weather for our guests that start arriving soon.

Craig and Chino managed to get in a short session on the Orellana, first time for over 2 months. The temperature has been hovering around 40 deg for July and August; however a couple of days of thunderstorms gave them the opportunity to get in a short session. They managed to catch the last day of the cooler weather, around 30 deg, and had 15 runs between them. Nothing huge with the fish averaging around 20lb, but great to get a bend in the rods.

Chinos landed the biggest fish of the 20 hour session, this 33lb Common.

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It’s usually time for us to chill out during the hot summer months; however this isn’t going to happen this year.

Extrema Fishing and the local Council are working together on a couple of projects.

Firstly we are setting up a ´Fishing School´ where we offer tuition in various types and levels of fishing. Early morning sessions are underway for local children from the ‘Casa de la Cultura’ summer school.

Extrema Fishing Spain and the local Ayuntamiento de Puebla de Alcocer would like to thank the ´European Fishing Tackle Trade Association´ and their members for their kind donations. www.eftta.com

We received many donations of fishing equipment from the Valencia Exhibition in June, all will be put to good use and help us considerably in setting up the ´School´

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Also the Local Council has employed Craig to operate a boat for the summer months. Not only will the boat offer short trips on the lakes for locals and visitors, but for persons with disabilities as it is wheelchair friendly.

Over the last 18 months Extrema Fishing put together a project that was presented, with the help of the local Mayor, to the Extremadura Government. The project contained relevant information so the Government could look into the possibility to provide a specially designed boat and/or platforms to allow suitable access for disabled persons to fish.

Although unsuitable for fishing, it is great that the government have provided this boat from the result of a project from a foreigner. We are sure that many people with limited mobility will enjoy a trip out on a boat as Marga did….

Our first half of this year’s season has come to an end; temperatures have already reached 40 deg and it’s too uncomfortable to fish in the heat. We will be taking it easy through July and August, getting back to the serious fishing in September when the temperature starts to drop.

Lee and Craig did manage to get in a couple of sessions on the Orellana before the heat really set in.
On their first session, over 72 hours, they found themselves fortunate with good weather conditions and banked over 1100lb of fish to average around the 30lb mark. Over the last few years Lee has landed many 40lb plus fish and had set his target for this year at a 60 lb´er. On the few occasions that Craig and Lee have actually managed to fish this year, the weather hasn’t been too kind to them.

However this time was different, a cracking westerly, overcast with the odd shower and the fish were on the feed. Almost straight away they were into fish and they kept on coming, enjoyable fishing with such strong powerful fish. Lee was in fits of laughter as most of Craig’s fish ran down the inside edge and around the corner. Craig had to clamber over rocks, wade through bushes and pass by a couple of trees to keep in contact with them; all Lee could see was this rod tip above the undergrowth.

Most of the fish were between 25 and 32lb so they altered their tactics by changing hook baits to try and pick out any bigger fish in the area. It paid off, more so for Lee than Craig. Lee was soon into a very powerful fish, unfortunately getting cleaned off on underwater snags as it screamed off on an unstoppable run. Meanwhile Craig got into a few slightly bigger fish around the 35lb mark; biggest of the session was just below 36lb.

Lees next run was another very powerful fish, it must have taken nearly 100 yds of line before he managed to make any headway. It seemed to take a life time for the big fella to get it anywhere near the net and when he did it still wouldn’t give up. Eventually, after nearly half an hour, the lump slid into the net. Lee sighed with relief as his arms were aching, but more was to come, he then had to lift the lump of muscle for the camera.

It was to be a new Orellana PB for Lee, weighing in at a hefty 59.5lb, half a pound short of his target for the year. Lets hope he can reach his target for the year, its gonna be difficult as we have a very busy second half of the year coming up and wont manage much time fishing ourselves.

The next session was to be a 2 day´er, weather conditions weren’t favorable and it was getting very hot. As it was to be their last they stuck at it, Lee banking a couple of doubles and Craig a couple of upper 30´s.

ROLL ON SEPTEMBER…….

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Great news for us here in Extremadura, RYANAIR are now operating flights from Stanstead to Cuidad Real. Cheap flights are available 3 days a week and transfers this end are around 1 hour 45 mins

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Back to the World Carp Classic qualifier España.

Both our pairs used their knowledge of the Orellana to take 2^nd and 4^th places.

Lee and Stu took second place. They drew the peg next to the flyer, giving the eventual winners a run for their money at times but really had no chance to compete with the good anglers on the almost guaranteed winning swim. Their peg was fairly featureless, however good angling and team work produced over 270lb of fish. Unfortunately Stu missed out on the first fish prize as he lost a couple of early fish to an underwater snag.

Craig and Chino drew a peg in a very slow section where few fish were caught. It was on a rocky point teaming with crayfish so Craig decided rather than fishing to something that resembled a feeding area at around 300 meters, he would stick it out close and try and pick off any patrolling fish. Chino thought otherwise and moved to the limits of the peg to something that resembled a feeding area.

The first night Craig presented his hookbaits over tight fairly heavy baited areas in various depths. The plan was to look for fish movement over the first 24 hours and adapt accordingly. As they drew one of the 4 pegs they really didn’t want, they decided to chill and watch for fish movement over a few beers. They certainly drowned their sorrows over a few beers and then a couple of whisky’s. Andy’s face was a picture the next morning when he paid a visit, the pile of beer bottles was enough for a party.

Now the fishing was to start. Overnight all Craig’s tigernut baits had been demolished by crayfish even though he had put around 3kg of particle on each rod. Over the course of the competition, following the pattern of the few patrolling fish, Craig moved his rods from inside the mouth of the bays mid morning to the main river for the day, then back into the bay in the evenings.

It was hard work fishing over 6 tight baited areas, if too much bait was introduced, the patrolling fish would move on, not enough and they crays would have everything. The counterbalanced baits approach using a variation of Enterprise Tackle floating plastics helped Craig picked up several fish over the course of the competition, all patrolling fish during the day. Unfortunately he lost a couple of fish, one a lump as it hugged the rocks on a powerful run and forced the hook to pull.

Chino in the meanwhile had a single run that produced a 8.9kg Common, it was to be his last as he had to leave a day early due to the loss of a close friend.

Our guides should prove their worth with good results in the competition and they certainly did. Lee and Stu banking 270lb of fish taking 2^nd place, meanwhile section C produced 170lb of fish, 90.86lb of these fish were landed by Craig alone, and 80.86lb to all the other 27 rods.

Once again well done to Peter Staggs and Andy McGregor for all their hard work, the competition went well. Good luck to Fran Granados and Jorge Sacristian, the overall winners, for the WCC final in France.

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George, Chris and Paul had a great introductory to the Orellana, on an overnight session they had around 15 runs between them, all with new PB´s. George hadn’t been carp fishing for around 20 years, Chris a pleasure angler and the only thing Paul knew about fish was that he is from Grimsby.

The World Carp Classic España qualifier took place last weekend.

The competition was spread over 3 sections of the Orellana, all very different, the total weight of Carp caught was 725.75kg of fish over 5kg. A couple of good anglers drew the flyer peg and caught 40 fish with a total of 369.5kg.

Our 2 pairs both did well considering, one managing to take second place. They drew the peg next to the flyer, giving the eventual winners a run for their money at times but really had no chance to compete with the good anglers on the almost guaranteed winning swim.

Our other pair drew a very slow section where few fish were caught; they redeemed themselves with a lot of hard work and managed a respectable 4th place.

We will let you know more when the official WCC site releases more information.

As ever it’s been a hectic couple of weeks and our few days off didn’t quite come off. We had 2 last groups turn up for short sessions, however we did manage to fish and had over 20 runs between us, nothing big, fish to upper 20´s.

Jay and Gareth turned up at the last minute, hoping on the off chance to get a short 12 hr session in. Rods and tackle were soon prepared for them, we even tried to sort out their choice of clothing, Bermuda shorts and football tops not quite the best dress for carp fishing. There was a good bit of banter going on over a few cold beers, they even managed to have a few runs. They took to the Orellana and will be back later on in the year, hopefully prepared a little bit better next time.

The next day novice German anglers Lorenzo and Sebastian arrived for a 24 hr session. One of their first questions was ´do you keep the fish´. – not the best of starts and it was soon explained (quite bluntly) that the fish go back. They managed to land 5 or 6 fish out of about 9 runs, both had new PB´s with most fish being 20 – 25lb.

Soon after was another group pleasure angling. Yet again a great bunch of lads. Ian, Kev Paul and Steve We´re gutted we didn’t get a photo of Steve’s two-tone forehead – look forward to seeing you next visit.

Next up was a group of 4 journalists and a camera man, another press trip from overseas with their first encounter of the Orellana. Some cracking anglers, one the record holder back home and a couple of WCC finalists, they will be back.

WORLD CARP CLASSIC SPAIN

Speaking of the WCC (World Carp Classic), Spain’s WCC qualifier takes place on The Orellana this weekend. Craig has been out helping Peter Staggs with choosing and marking out sections for the competition.

Extrema Fishing Spain has a team in; Craig is to fish the qualifier with Spanish friend Carlos (Chino). Lee from Catch Carp Spain is teaming up with another friend Stu, word has it that there’s a little bit of a competition going on there.

Craig’s comments on the matter ´ Lee and Stu – I am sure it will be down to the draw, just imagine drawing adjoining pegs, the pressure would be on then. jeje. You know how Chino likes his social fishing, we´re only taking the trailer for the beers!!!!!´

Well done to Peter and Andy for the hard work and effort gone into make the competition happen. Good luck to everyone taking part´.

Its been a hectic few weeks for us here in Extremadura, firstly the Irish lads came for some Carp fishing. It was a battle against the elements on Brava, everyone was struggling, not only with runs but getting to fishable pegs as the lake was overflowing. After a bit of risky driving we managed to get 5 of them onto a good section of Brava. The temperature had soared and the carp were starting to show signs of spawning, however the lads stuck at it. It payed off for Young Carl,16, his first ever Carp fishing session and he landed a 41lb Carp. Some of the other lads had a few runs, unfortunately losing a few fish; Gavin in the meanwhile beat his PB 3 times over the session.

That’s all the Carp fishing we have managed to do since, all other groups of anglers were to visit for either Barbel or Pleasure fishing.

Ken and John were the first of to arrive, considering they only fished from around 10AM til 6ish, they didn’t do too bad, well for takes that is!!! The biggest fish they were to land was only 9lb. They struggled with the strong Barbel, only managing to land around 1 fish in every 7 takes.

Bernard and his crew of pleasure anglers had a mixture of fortunes; a couple of hot humid days didn’t dampen their spirits. A good time was had by all, some Barbel and good Carp up to double figures, landed that is. These small carp fight like mad and are fun on light float tackle, Johns face was a picture on his first experience of this as the fish stripped line from his reel. The Barbel had started to spawn during the week; however they did start to feed normally, John and Phil bagged up on float tactics; they even needed to use extra nets. ´A cracking set of lads, especially for leaving some Guinness in the fridge, thanks Craig`

Next up was Andy and Chris, they enjoyed their chilled out week of pleasure fishing, so much so they told their guide to bugger off several times. They caught Barbel, some Crucians and Carp with nets to over 100lb and again lost many fish.

In the meanwhile The Orellana has been fishing its head off, friends have been bagging up with up to 12 runs a day with fish to around 50lb. Disabled Andy has had a new PB mid fourty lb fish.

We have only managed 8 days Carp fishing since November last year so we are hoping for a bit of the action this next week, our next pleasure anglers don’t arrive until next weekend, so we’re going to hit The Orellana.

Extrema Fishing Spain and the World Carp Classic Spain.

Extrema Fishing Spain is proud to be associated with the World Carp Classic Spain. We have organized several meetings with the official event organizers, Peter Staggs and Andy Macgregor, and the Extremadura Government to obtain the special permissions needed for the event to take place

The WCC Qualifier is to take place on The Orellana 28 -31 May and there are three places up for grabs in the final in France.

Visit the World Carp Classic site http://www.worldcarpclassic.com/news/news/wcc-spanish-qualifying-event-2010

Extrema Fishing Spain would like to wish Peter and Andy the very best of luck with the event.

Para nuestros amigos Españoles

Ya puede reservar su puesto para el campeonato del WCC España 2010. Si quieres más información sobre el World Carp Classic en España mira aquí. http://www.worldcarpclassic.com/qualifying-events/spain/spain-espana/inicio

Sticking at it and sticking in it

We eventually got onto the lake with Ken from UK. Morten and Daniel made the long journey from Denmark to fish for 4 days. With the bad weather and lake conditions they decided to ´stick it out´ on the Orellana, they knew fishing was going to be hard but wanted to give this impressive lake a go, they have heard so much about it.

Like most lakes here, the Orellana had risen considerably over the previous few weeks due to the heavy rains and most areas that we could get to were too coloured. The area we chose was not too cloudy and looked our best choice. Getting there, or rather getting back out, was another matter. On the way down to the stretch, Lee´s Landrover slid into a deep hole while crossing a stream, we soon had her out with the help of the Nissan and got down to the bank.

It continued to rain everyday, the weather conditions making the fishing even harder, however hopes were kept up as we saw several Carp top in the Bay. Kens only action was a missed dropback, poor bloke managed to go arse over tit when going for it. On Mortens and Daniels second night the rain fell and the lake rose, the Bivvys had to be moved back. The level came up around a meter in 6 hours, for a lake that’s 37km long and up to 2.5km wide with the dam gates open, thats an unbelievable amount of water!!

Ken left 2 days before the Danish lads; on leaving Craig took him up to the top of the track where Lee was waiting. The rains had worn away part of the hard ground and the Nissan slipped onto the soft waterlogged ground, leaving here laying on her belly and axles. Lee came to the rescue only to fall into the same trap. The next day we managed to find a farmer with a tractor and both vehicles were rescued.

Craig returned back down to the lake with the Danish lads. The lads were to leave the next day, a worry, but we had permission to use a private track that was in a bit better condition. When leaving the Nissan started to sink again, another part of the track was sodden. The trailer was taken off and pushed back down the hill, the Nissan then managed to reverse downhill to be hitched up with the trailer again. The Nissans new engine was tested as it was hammered up through the mud and we were away.

What a week!!!!! Needless to say the fishing was poor, but the lads stuck at it and never gave up.

´Las Jornadas Internacionales de Turismo de Embalses´

Extrema Fishing Spain were asked to give a presentation at ´The International Conference of tourism of reservoirs ´based around the project ‘Los Lagos' -´The Lakes´
´Los Lagos´ is a project to promote tourist resources in our local area of Extremadura and has a budget exceeding the 2 ' 5 million euro’s. Some of the objectives included in the project are: creation of new jetties or adapted fishing areas, provide a network of viewpoints and bird observatories and expansion of areas of accessibility for disabled persons.

Craig´s presentation was based on the fishing in the area and its related tourism.

The two day event was quite nerve-racking for the shy Craig, the presentation was given in Spanish in front of around 150 people, some being important Government Officials. Many questions followed along with interviews by Canal Extremadura TV and National Spanish TV

At last we have actually managed to get some time on the bank. Ralph, a tackle shop owner from Holland, decided to get away from the freezing weather back home and come for some winter fishing.
On a short session on The Orellana, he managed to bank a 25lb Common before moving to concentrate on Sierra Brava.

¨Beaten up on Brava¨
Fishing during daylight hours only, and considering the constant change in bad weather conditions, he didn’t do too bad having around 20 runs resulting in some 20´s and 2 x 30lb plus Mirrors. One fish he did loose was a very strong, during the battle Ralph managed to gain line only to be cleaned him off on a snag on the third powerful run.

Ralph was totally gutted, as we all know the loss of a good fish is always disappointing. He soon got over it after Lee and Craig had cracked up at the volley of English swearwords in a strong Dutch accent….. After all there’s no point beating yourself up even more.

We are pleased to announce that Extrema Fishing Spain and Catch Carp Spain have teamed up and are to work alongside each other. Not only do we feel the combined experience and knowledge of these already well established companies is a positive move for both parties, but more importantly, beneficial to our guests.

We now have more known productive areas to fish, 60 years fishing experience under our belts and 13 years in the Guided Fishing business.

Guests will be starting to arrive soon as we enter into a busy period, we will be getting some hours fishing in. Apart from Ralphs visit, it’s something we haven’t managed to do over the last month or so... We’ve been a bit busy organizing, attending some important meetings with government officials and running around the country looking for a replacement 4x4. Unfortunately the Nissan developed engine trouble, probably due to the thrashing it got a few weeks ago on our rallying excursion.

Well the weather men didn’t get it all wrong, it did rain heavily over the following week, but temperatures didn’t drop too much.

We decided that the Carping can be put off for a week and that we would have a look round at a couple of Barbel swims off the beaten track. We headed off on a 3 night excursion armed with a Nissan Patrol, Land Rover, shovel and a strong towrope just in case.

As we set off the rain had eased a little, but the thought at back of my mind was what was ´laying in wait´. I was thinking of the rain that had already fallen that will be working its way down the valleys to the lakes. Our first port of call was a section of the lake at the bottom of a steep hill through a farm; hopefully conditions were going to be ok to fish there, and not too much colour in the water.

As we passed through the farm, the builders renovating it suggested we did not go down the track due to the conditions. They were bewildered at my answer ´puede con un Nissan´ poor blokes didn’t have a clue what it meant. They soon got the gist, my cheesy grin said it all as I jumped in the car and headed down hill …………. What I did say was ´ You can with a Nissan´

The descent was very interesting; Lee managing a couple of sideward slides that Torvill and Dean would have been proud of, the scary thing was still to come! When we reached the lake, we decided we didn’t like the conditions and we were to head off to another location.

Turning round was our next task, we were on a narrow track cut out of the hillside with wet grass each side, the only thing below was a wire fence and a long drop to the lake. I was first to go, thinking that my new tyres would have a little more grip to help Lee out if needed. Nah, they didn’t even help me. As I tried to reverse backwards up the hill the backend wouldn’t go up, slipping all the time. After a couple of failed attempts, that was it, I had boot it to go for it. It was going to be either get that back end round and uphill or slide on the mud into the drink.

I was away, the 6 cylinders growling away, tyres spinning on the sloppy ground and the 1.5 ton vehicle going sideward towards a tree, not good, but it got there, the back end had managed to work up the bank. All that was needed now was to get the front end round without slipping over the edge. The task turned out to be fairly simple, the adrenaline rush was over as the vehicle was now facing the way back out.

It was now Lee´s turn, his face said it all as he clambered into the Land Rover , I´m sure he was wishing it was his car sat waiting for someone else’s to do the maneuver . Off he went, same approach as I had just done, the expression on his face changed, aggressive, it will go. Eventually, after a lot of sliding, the arse end went round and up and he hit the brakes, then the locked wheels started sliding, but how far would they slide? A couple of rocks were at hand ready to be thrown into the wheels path if needed as a last resort, but weren’t called for. That was it, he was turned around.

After a well deserved fag break we were off again, all we had now was to contend with a steep climb over gullies, streams of water and soaked grassy areas. We soon reached the farm, to be welcomed with a couple of smiling faces, the builders had heard us skating about across the fields and were impressed that we had made it.

We headed for another area to check out, dodging dozens of deer on the way. After negotiating our way through bulging streams and mud on our next ´camino´ (track) we came unstuck, the pressure of a streams debris had dragged a wire fence across the track and we had to turn back.

On arrival at the next lake, things didn’t seem too bad, the water was well up so the plan was have a couple of drinks, food, an early night and start fishing the next morning. Well that was the plan. After dragging out the Nissan from a soggy patch of ground, the vehicles were eventually parked up for the night. Sorted.

I placed some beers and a bottle of wine in the margin to cool whilst we had a chat and a laugh about the day’s events over a beer. After a while I went to the car get something only to be surprised by the water being up to the rear of the vehicle. The vehicles were quickly moved to higher ground, our plans to where we were going Bivvy up soon changed. Suddenly Lee remembered my beers in the margin, well what was the margin. My only stock of beer was now well under water, about 1 meter under to be exact. Out came the wellies and a long bank stick to no avail, they were lost.

Plans changed again, we were to travel to another lake in the morning, with the water rising so much in such a short time, it was sure to be coloured.

The morning soon came after the well deserved rest, it had been a long hard day driving. As I woke my first thoughts were whether we get any fishing in, no hassle Carp fishing on Sierra Brava also ran through my mind.

To our surprise the water had receded again, my small stash of wine and beer sat just above the water’s edge, were things were starting to look up for us?

We arrived at the next lake we were to try, access was not so bad and the water was not too coloured. We soon found out the Barbel weren’t feeding and we struggled. Lee managed one small Barbel of around 7lb.

The rain had stopped by the time we packed up; however the ground was very soggy. These soggy bits soon turned into deep mud pools with the weight of the vehicles on it, but the serious problem was again the risk of sliding down the bank with no chance of getting back up.

Our problem was a bend in the track that was like ice, as soon as we hit the patch the vehicles would slide onto the grass at the side and every time we hit it the mud got deeper.

I eventually got the Nissan up after using the limited 10 yard of fairly solid ground to get some speed up. Lee on the other hand had slid sideways onto the grass area and no matter what we didn’t work. Even using the rope to tow him up over the grass failed, the Nissan that was on flat ground couldn’t get any traction.

The last resort was to drive flat out over the scattered rocks protruding through the soil, the little grip from them might be enough to get up the 30 yds to the solid track. We hoped that the tyres would cope and that he wouldn’t suffer a blowout in the process. I was cringing as the engine roared, tyres spun and the vehicle bucked over the rough ground. The heavy vehicle was tossed about as it hit another rock, then another, but that’s what it needed, traction. It worked without suffering any injury, we made it, the only thoughts now were of a nice hot shower, a drink and the weekend at home….

Sierra Brava

This last week, after the adventure the week before, we decided that we would go to Sierra Brava for a bit of Carping, give the Barbel venues a sometime to settle down and dry out.

The lake had changed so much, the water level so high, we hadn’t seen it this high for around 3 years so we took a little time to look around for fishable swims.

We set up camp for our visit on the mouth of a bay, not too many trees in the area as I remember. We worked hard at first for the runs, the fish were in the area but wouldn’t get their heads down. One type of boilie, one of Lees preferred winter flavours, seemed to be working and we started to get runs.

It was an enjoyable session, much needed after the events of the week before. In total between us we had over 25 runs with fish into the 30´s, not to bad for a 72 hour session with the water rising at a rate.

The Rain in Spain

We have only managed to get down to the Orellana a couple of times over the last few days.

Firstly helping and giving advice to Andy with his new Microcat Baitboat. He decided to buy a boat with fish finder to help him get the best out of the limited pegs he can fish due to his disablement.

He ´s well chuffed with the boat as he soon banked this 42lb Orellana Common.

Our second trip put was equally eventful.
As he tried to leave the swim he found the rains had softened the ground and his van sunk into the mud. We soon got him out, but he was soon to sink again, and again, and again, our Nissan Patrol nearly copped for it too.

Eventually we managed to get him to the track and it was straight to the pub for a few well earned beers.

It’s not looking good to get any fishing in over the new week or so, there’s more rain to come and temperatures will be dropping dramatically.

Happy New Year

Extrema Fishing took advantage of a quiet period during December to travel to Scotland, England and the coast to visit friends and family.

It has been 3 years since our last visit; we were welcomed with freezing temperatures and fluffy white stuff everywhere.

One good thing was not being thrown out of the boozers before 11; it took us some time to get use to the NO Smoking ban in Pubs, What’s that about? - Apparently Spain is supposed to follow suit from Jan 1^st, we shall see.

Mean while in Spain, December been a very mild month and The Orellana has been fishing very well. Spanish friends that have fished have all done well with several fish over the 20kg (44lb) mark.

Well as the saying goes ´you got to be in it to win it´ never the less, we all had a great Xmas seeing friends that we haven´t seen for years and will soon be back on the bank fishing.

Extrema Fishing are looking forward to an exciting year ahead and are currently looking forward to the arrival of our additional fishing Guide Alan. Alan has fished both Sierra Brava and Orellana over the last year or so and will be joining the team to help us in providing the professional service that we have given over the last 10 years.

We would like to take the opportunity to wish you all a

Merry Christmas

and a

Happy New Year.

It’s been a bit busy week or so with guests on short breaks and a mix between Carp and Barbel fishing.

Lee, a very experienced angler on foreign waters who has banked several fish over 50lb with a current PB of 74lb, joined us for 4 nights.
Conditions were very hard for him on his first taste the Orellana, gale force winds for the first 3 days made life difficult. He battled on as the Orellana Carp got the better of him, out of the 7 or 8 runs he only managed to land 2 fish.

Things got worse as Craig set up next to him for a day and banked a couple of fish to over 30lb, to make things worse Alan fished the following day and also had a couple of runs resulting in this fish just below 30lb.

Here’s one of the fish he did land…… and what a smile to go with it!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lee can’t wait to return to get his own back on these Orellana Carp; Craig is looking forward to fishing alongside him on his next visit.

Comizo Barbel Fishing

Barbel fishing was equally daunting for Dave on his 3 day visit, they didn’t get their heads down and he only had several takes, the best fish being this fish just scraping double figures. Alan landed a couple of Comizos and got cleaned off by a very good fish.

Overall a great time was had by all; the big fella Mick kept us all laughing with his imaginative sense of humor. I’m sure it won’t take long for “the French Man Dave” and the “Romanian guide” to get their true identities back.

Heres a couple of emails from recent guests, its things like this that makes all the hard work seem worthwhile.

Thanks again for a great trip. Fishing was a bit hard but at least I only blanked one day out of 3 which is no worse than I’d do at home probably. That’s the way it goes. I still had a brilliant time and really appreciate all the hard work you were putting in for us. I’d recommend you to anybody. Mick and Alan were absolutely brilliant as well. Top guys and very funny. We’d better credit Mick too for my Comizos as he was the one spotting my rod go off on 2 of them when I was over talking to him. He’s as good as a bite alarm and much more entertaining and a good baiter-upper. Every angler should have one.

Dave

During the course of the trip we had six upper 20's and four 30's, up to a PB 37lb scale perfect common. One fish, the one I lost, took 100 yards of line on a tight clutch and after an epic twenty minute battle the hook pulled. My guide Craig Reid, told me that it was a huge huge fish, one in a life time! Seeing that the record is over 79lbs my flight is booked for next year.
Will also be returning next year as Craig is a top class guide and will bend over backwards to put the customer first.

Thanks once again for the pictures and for teaching me so much new stuff, I appreciate it.

see you next year for the capture of General Sherman (and not the bull)
Brendan

Orellana Carp Fishing

Last week was slightly easier, despite the light easterly winds, Carp fishing on the Orellana. Brendon was on his own for most of the week then being joined by Stu for the weekend.

Brendon, who has fished smaller 50 acre lakes in UK and France, adapted well to this huge lake. The fishing was quite slow with erratic feeding times and areas; we had to work at it to get runs however when we did most were good fish.

Heres a couple of fish landed, including a new PB Common.

Unfortunately as he describes it, he ‘lost Captain Sherman’ due to a hook pull as it tore off from the margin after a long battle.

Stu, who had an encounter with a large Orellana Carp on his first trip a few months ago, got the better of the fish this time; he converted all the runs. Here's a couple of his captures.

Even Craig managed to fish, heres a couple of his catches.

Extremadura Tourist Board Press Trip

We’ve have had a busy fortnight with a wide variation of guiding. We were employed by the Extremadura Tourist Board for a four day Press trip with guests from Holland and UK.

The trip was based on lure and Fly Fishing for Barbel and Black Bass on four different venues throughout the county that is larger than Holland. The group consisted of some top class anglers / writers from Holland and UK

Two days of heavy rain just before the guests arrived didn’t help matters; however in the tight schedule with only a few hours of fishing on each venue, we did ok. Bob and Robert stuck it out on the fly whilst the others fished the lure.

6.5lb plus Barbel taking dry fly

Bob was well chuffed with landing a Barbel around 7lb on the dry fly, the other guests banked Barbel to over 6lb, Zander and Black Bass on lure tactics.

The lads were a great bunch; they all loved the area and the fishing it offers. We are looking forward to seeing them again soon as they are already planning future trips..

Orellana Carping

After a week away visiting family Craig managed to get back onto the Orellana for a couple of short sessions. The first a social with Chino and Marie Jose, Chino works with his Dad and doesnt get a lot of free time to fish so he wanted to squeeze a few hours fishing in over the bank holiday weekend. They fished 2 days with Easterly winds but still managed a total of 13 runs between them. Only 2 fish were below 20lb and Chino banked a 14kg plus fish that he will be loading onto the TOKS competition to help him in securing the 1st position he holds.


Most of the other fish were mid to upper 20´s.

The second overnighter, Craig went alone, a much needed break away from organising another Tourist Board Trip for Tour Operators and writers from Dutch and Uk fishing magazines. Conditions were far from perfect with the easterly wind still blowing however he still had a couple of runs resulting in this fin perfect 14.5kg Common and.......

this cracking half Albino Carp.