Update at long last....

I have eventually managed to get round to update our catch report, it’s a shortened version as its been so long. The first half season of 2012 has been a hard year, very cold weather and crap conditions right up to May, however we did get out a few pb´s and some descent fishing in.

Fishing in Extremadura during June, July and August is basically a no-no, temperatures average 40 deg and it is unbearable to be on the bank during the day, however we did get some time on the bank, mainly setting up at 9pm (34 deg) and packing up around 10 the next morning.

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I have been teaching Miguel carp fishing, right from the basics.. His pb was around 5lb until he caught a 16lb common and his next fish landed was this cracking common of just under 32lb...

 

biggest fish for me was this 37lb 8 oz common. I had around 10 other hard fighting fish around 25lb

 

Antonio´s new PB of 17.5lb taken on his first ever Carp fishing session with Craig on the Orellana, unfortunately Julie, his friend, lost a fish … The lads are just a couple from the village fishing club who Craig has been giving fishing lessons to.

Late August and Chino was on holiday so I had along weekend on the Orellana with him and his family. Plenty of friends and family turned up so we let them have a go on our rods.. We had around 30 runs- 3 x30s, biggest being 37lb 8oz, plenty of upper 20s and unfortunately I lost a ´lump´on an underwater craypot. Never the less, we had a great laugh, and the visitors landed their first ever carp.

 

Even the farm hand had his lunch with us and had a go. 

 

 

A 30 plus for Chino and myself



37lb 8oz for Isa, Chinos sister. The first fish she landed was around 20lb, this one weighed in at 37lb 8oz....well done Isa .....

Chule with his first Carp

 

 

Isa a competent Black Bass angler, needed just a little advice

 

You always get one!!! ¨Chule with little Chino¨

 

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 Bob joined Ken for 4 days and had plenty offish to 36lb 8 oz. Not bad as he didnt recast his rods throughout the night... Ken again had a pb common, the last 2 trips he had a pb common at over 34lb and a mirror at nearly 37lb.

 

I managed a bit of fishing with them and banked this 38lb 10 oz Common

Ken gets a run whilst filming fish topping on the Orellana

 

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One of the 2 competitions entered on Orellana in April -May. We managed 2nd out of 22 pairs with a 37lb Common to Stu´s rods., it was hard work with cold weather and storms, plus a huge hatch that went on for the 3 days.. Thats fishing!!

 

Birds hit the hatch for 3 days, so were most Carp

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One social event went horribly wrong, but a great time was had by all.I had just fished a 3 day competition with Gary from Alicante in which only 5 fish had been banked out of over 30 pairs of anglers. Fish were all over the place, crashing like mad but weren’t interested. We worked hard at it, trying everything until one of my rods eventually screamed off -10 minutes after the whistle had gone, either way it wouldn’t of counted as I lost it, I had gone down so fine (18lb flouro hooklength)it cleaned me off –remember these are strong wild carp here. .

Next day I went for an overnighter as we had permission to fish the night in an area we don’t normally night fish, we are restricted to night fishing only a small area of the lake I got hit by a huge storm and the night was uneventful other than the crazy weather.,.

 

Moving on to our allocated pegs Stu and I drew a bad swim, unfishable due to the weed. The weather was mad, storms and rain, 4x4´s getting stuck and Spanish makeshift bivvys getting blown into the fields behind. Nevertheless, we had a few laughs and Chino and Fernando caught a few fish.  The Nissan was called for to get this one out, the Suzuki just bounced around on the spot with tyres spinning, not enough weight or power..

 

 

A typical Spanish ´bivvy´ very social events normally, all the family, pets and usually a traditional ´Paella´cooked for everyone..  Unfortunately just after setting it up, a storm blew it into an ajoining field.

 

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My really serious session with Jake Langley Hobbs on Brava ...

After the mad weekend with friends, where Stu and I blanked, we were struggling on our allocated pegs, as we were fishing over heavy weed and fish were showing further up. I spoke to Jake, who was alone on Brava and he suggest i should have our first session together and fish next to him on Brava. I decided to stay on Orellana but move to the area a little further down where Fernando and Chino had runs from. After moving, within hours the fish start spawning, so the next day, I rang Jake and asked if it was still ok to go fish with him. So I headed to Brava to set up in my 5th peg of the week, I was knackered and determined to enjoy it and relax with a few beers. I did big style…, I didn’t take it too serious, which cost me several fish, as I recast rods after runs whilst making new (different) rigs up. I would normally change things first. It was a good session, plenty of runs, piss taking and we both managed to land a several 30lb plus fish….

 

 

I didn’t like the mice there though….., they must have grown huge since my last visit, they kept on nicking food n stuff, even my coffee jar… Was a great chill out – thx Jake..

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Brothers Bob and James visited us from Bonnie wee Scotland for a bit of pleasure fishing. Both being very competent fly and boat anglers fancied something a little different.

They had a little bad luck with the abnormall weather we have had this year, but had plenty Barbel and Carp on tip and waggler tactics.

 

A bite a chuck, first Barbel for the lads, and a PB double. These Carp are small, but scrap like hell on light tackle.

 

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Marty and Peter drew the short straw on their visit, gale force winds. It never stopped until the last day or so, and to be quite honest, by that time we were all worn out and beaten.

After 3 days no sleep, due to the crashing waves, Peter pleaded to swap bivvy with me so he could sleep, he was exhausted and his head drumming. I was bivvied up in the shelter of the trees a fair few meters from the bank. They caught fish, not many and not big, It was probably the hardest week of my 11 year guiding career, luckily they both were great blokes and we managed to take it in our strides, only just but we did…...

 

 

 Never the less, we had some good laughs, Peter taking his frustrations out on the wine. Two top blokes



 

Orellana Carp fishing March - Easter

 

Orellana Carpfishing

Thomas from Germany was our second ´group´ of the year out to take on the Orellana Carp. On his arrival strong easterly´s were forecast for most of his trip, so I decided to tackle the lake a little differently. The Orellana carp are very temperamental when it comes to easterly´s so we were to try to pick off patrolling fish, as they rarely get their heads down on such winds. As I had been away to the early hours of the day he arrived, I hadn’t had chance to look around and check for showing fish. So on arrival at our chosen area, I was delighted to see crashing fish, not as much as him, as I had already warned him of the situation.

36lb Common for Thomas

We had 4 runs within 36 hours, not big fish, but more than welcome in the hard conditions. Over his visit we moved pegs a couple of times when needed, there was a couple of days that the weather changed, so we adapted accordingly. One such move produced a fish within 40 minutes and 9 runs the following night. So it was worth it….

44lb Orellana Common

We both worked hard for the runs we had, Thomas and myself had well over 30 runs between us, mostly small fish around 20 – 25lb. Thomas had a couple of cracking mirrors, his biggest fish was a little under 36lb, whereas myself, ( as he was alone, I fished alongside him) I had my first 40 of the year at 44lb and a 36lber.

All in all it was a hard session, however we had some great laughs. I was practicing my German on him (´einbahnstrasse´) one of the only words other than swearwords I remember from my childhood there.   Well done Thomas (beer monster), he did well taking on the Orellana in hard conditions…..

Big Hamburg-er

36lb

 2 runs within seconds

Westerly´s set in

Over the easter period I managed time to chill out and fish with Spanish friends, it’s a little different to our style of carp fishing, I was invited to join Miguel and friends for a couple of days, The fishing was a little slow, the temperatures dropped to 5 degrees, and that’s without the wind chill, it was bloody freezing. I did warm up a little when I managed to sneak into their 6 man bivvy, watch the Madrid game on their Tv and sample a couple of Spanish drinks.  

My next Easter overnight session was again Spanish style with Chino, a good friend that I haven’t fished for over a year with. With friends from Madrid and family, little Carlos who had been doing overnighters with his dad since he was 3 months old, we enjoyed a lobster and rice dish, a little similar to paella, and of course a few beers. I then had a good siesta until being rudely awakened by a barrage of rock hard boilies being fired at me from throwing sticks…. I soon had revenge as they didn’t know I had another throwing stick in the trailer, I soon had them running…

So with Easter over, we are all prepared for our next group. The forecast gives strong westerly´s for the next week or so… Lets hope it stays the same until our next carp anglers are over in a weeks time………. this week the lads are over for pleasure fishing only.

March update - first carp anglers

 

The weekend away was enjoyable, I did make new friends and enjoyed the session, however I drew a blank. But at least it wasn’t only me, my fishing partner Stu and everyone else on the lake also blanked, all except 1 angler who managed to bank a 36lb common. But hey, that’s fishing…… Stu and I worked very hard for a fish, first we found out the lakes features, we tried a selection of baits at different depths, , watching crashing fish and trying to work out what depths they were feeding at, if at all they were feeding, and so on, but to no avail……..

Despite the blank, I will certainly have another go at the lake, It would be nice to fish with Gaz, a friend that fished it for 4 days last year, also blanking… We shall see…. But first there’s some huge lumps in Orellana to try and tempt….

All prepared, waiting and chilling….. Guinness now in stock at our local supermarket…pure genius

March Update

Were only half way through March, but will put on an update now as we won’t get much time to report over the next few weeks, we will be busy on the bank with clients... … This weekend however, I am taking a little time for myself and going to fish a lake I have wanted to fish for several years but never got round to it.  I have been invited to fish with a Spanish club, so I am looking forward to making some new friends and hopefully experiencing catching a lump of two from another Big Fish Venue hidden away in Spain’s back garden…

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Back to the update.. Our first group of Carp anglers out this year have just left, and what a hard time we all had. Before their arrival we discussed our approach, the fishing has been very slow lately due to the harsh winter we had and the current weather…. According to the forecast the winds would be very light, mainly easterly and cold, so they opted to go for a runs for the first few days, then see what would happen with the weather, then possibly stick it out for a good fish. Both anglers are experienced and have landed many 30 plus fish from UK, however fishing here is a little different to what they are used to but they did great with their approach and bait presentation.

We fished a venue where we would have more chance of runs, however the fish don’t quite reach sizes of the Orellana fish, but a 50 would be a possibility. Within the first 36 hours they had 5 runs, biggest fish of 25lb, small but more than welcome considering the conditions.

I even managed to get my rods out and managed a small carp, first fish of the year, so I’m off the mark...

a small 25lb for the big fella

On the second morning we discussed our approach for the following, and last, 36 hours fishing they would have. With a strong westerly pushing, they decided to hit the Orellana rather than Sierra Brava, and hope that the westerly had got the fish into feeding mode. After several hours of packing up and travelling, we reached the area that I had a feeling the fish would be in and we were happy to see fish topping. Most were small fish but there were the odd carp showing, IF only this westerly was to last.

We only had to wait a couple of hours for the Spanish anglers that were fishing the swim to vacate the area, then we were in. Our timely arrival was Sunday early afternoon, so if there were any anglers there, they would surely be leaving after lunch, and they were. Great, but we did have to contend with their winter ´filling it in´ approach, so we presented baits around the area by bait boat with little free offerings, hoping to pick up the odd run. I talked to the Spanish anglers, they had landed 7 tench to 8lb and lost a carp, so hopes were high. Both Rob´s and Steve’s baits were out just before dark, so we were happy, even more so when throughout the night we heard plenty of carp crashing around.

A little after first light the inevitable happened - the dreaded easterly, and a bloody strong one; it was bad enough having to contend with the heavy ground frost, let alone this. All hope of a run was fading away, fast, so I decided to relax and catch up on a few z´s. After 3 hours, the lads were worried, not about me, but getting to the airport the following day; however after finding the keys to the 4x4 they weren’t bothered. They were just about to check my pulse when I woke.

The wind stayed with us all day, dropping slightly as night drew in, then with no warning it turned to a gale. Early hours Rob had a take and landed his first Orellana Wild carp. Only small at 17lb, but again a more than welcome fish, I was at it again, sleeping, the walkie-talkies had gone flat and I slept through the commotion of Steve filling the wellies as he landed the fish.

A little after first light the wind dropped and even, for a few minutes, blew from the west, hope for a run in the dying minutes had risen. We quickly sent out the bait boat with a couple of rigs in it (one each) and before we knew it Steve’s baitrunner was screaming, he was it to an Orellana Carp. Unfortunately the hook pulled as the fish made a strong run from the margin, it wasn’t a bad fish either. 

It was back to packing up as the wind got stronger, yes easterly again, when out the blue Robs alarm started screaming. I immediately looked at the rod that had just gone out, but was surprised to see it wasn’t moving, it was his right rod that had been in since our arrival. As he fought the fish, we made a quick change of wellies, Rob had the dry ones on that I wanted to help land the fish, all went smoothly and after a steady battle the fish was in the net.

Over the 5 days the lads had 11 runs, biggest fish a 41lb 12oz Orellana Common – a new PB for Rob.

Robs new PB, a 41lb 12oz Orellana Common

Well done lads, was a trying few days. Craig

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The week before, Simon and Chris ventured over in pursuit of large Barbel.
They spent half their stay on the Orellana hoping for the huge elusive Barbel that reside there, but with no luck… The other days were day sessions in 3 other lakes, they had decided to look around on their first visit and check out the variation of venues we have here. They were surprised that we had such a large choice of lakes to fish, all so different, not only in features and landscape, but baiting tactics’. Some baits work well in one lake but not the next.

 Chris caught steadily; nothing huge however Simon had the luck of getting into the big fish, unfortunately he had bad luck trying to land them. He ended up losing 3 large Barbel, unlucky mate.

Heres a couple of Chris´s catches, unfortunately he is too ugly to show his face.  

Seriously, theres justiied reasons we cant show him.

It was a cracking week with lots of piss taking, especially as Simon had glitter in his suntan lotion, what a sight he was glistening away in the sun. He emailed me a couple of days after getting home and said he was still covered in it, it wouldn’t come off. I am beginning to wonder about that lad, he said he got it half price in a sale, but it I think he picked it out of his secret cosmetics’ cupboard by mistake. haha
Simon, who is a qualified fly fishing instructor, and I showed each other casting techniques, He gave me tips on the fly and for him it was distance casting on carp rod, needless to say he improved more than me. Another great week with cracking lads….

If you looking to buy quality branded fishing tackle, check out the following site, there prices are unbeatable.   

http://www.cheshirefishingtackle.co.uk/    

February update

February news

We didn’t get time on the bank much through Feb; and the cold front did manage to affect us, it was freezing.

First off Andreas took time out and braved the freezing conditions for came for a couple of days Barbel fishing. His first visit with us last year was for carp, he smashed his PB of 8lb several times, over the 3 days he banked fish to over 36lb. This time, the talented fly angler wanted to pursue Barbel of over 10KG, 22lb.

We fished for the elusive Orellana Barbel, on the swim that Dave had the 30lb Comizo out late last year, even though the temperatures dipped to an incredible -8 on the 3 day session he still had a take, but unfortunately didn’t make contact with the fish...

The only other session was on the Orellana when Stu popped up for a few days. He was very confident with the new bait he had with him, the well proven Essentialbaits B5, I would also fish with a cracking bait, Vital baits k12.  

On arriving at the bank, there was the odd fish showing but not many, however, 24 hours into the session, as night fell, we noticed the warm sun had brought out the midges and other flying insects too. Throughout the night, we had liner after liner, carp crashing and topping all over the 100 acre bay and over our baited spots, but none of the rods burst into life. Nothing. The fish had come in and feasted on the hatch and weren’t interested in anything else, even the selection of quality baits from Vital and Essential.

We stuck it out, with the hope of a winter lump, but after 3 days, with seeing fewer fish every day we thought about just getting our first fish of the year. There was 2 choices of venues for us to get our first fish of the New Year, one being Sierra Brava. As we were discussing our options, a Spanish angler approached us from out of nowhere, we chatted and found out that he had been fishing Brava for 3 days and it was as equally as hard there, he and his 2 friends had blanked and thought they would move to Orellana. After he left, I made a quick call to Jake at Brava who confirmed the fishing was slow, so we took a 3^rd option, go home and live to fight another day. At least I did get the chance to dust the cobwebs off my fly rod and practice my diabolical casting, and of course it’s always great to be on the bank…..

January Update

It’s been a crazy January for us here, travelling all over the place visiting friends and family, getting the vehicles through their tests and serviced for the new season ahead. Therefore we haven’t managed to get any time on the bank.

The weather, up to now, has been mild with little rain over the first part of winter; the water levels are still quite low, but warm, so we´re looking forward to getting some fishing in, that is when this freezing front clears off. Luckily we are on the edge of the harsh weather, its cold but not as bad as some areas of Spain,  there is loads of snow about and temperatures have dropped down to -12….

So until we get time to get back on the bank and get some fish out, we will leave you with this video. Just a few fish we have caught from the area over the last year or so.

We would like to wish everyone a Happy and prosperous New Year.

We haven’t had much opportunity to fish for a while, with or without guests, except for Stu and Kevin who visited in December, however we are looking forward to an exciting new year ahead.

Over the next couple of months we won’t get much time on the bank, amongst things like maintaining vehicles, boats and fishing equipment, skiing etc etc etc   we will be designing a new website. The new site will be simple to follow and explain everything new we have to offer.

Stu with his PB Orellana Carp of 53lb, taken in December.

Just to wet your appetites, heres a few of the fish we have had the last part of the season.

AND FINALLY!! We have many new groups of anglers that will be fishing with us this year, and as ever our regulars that come year after year, so if you think you have what it’s got to take on these wild Extremadura fish, let us know, availability is getting tight.

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Its been hard fishing this second half of the season, lack of winds – well except for easterly’s, the abnormal long summer with temperatures well into the 30s till late October. And when the weather did change, it went to the extremes with horrendous storms and a lot of rain, however we have had some good fish with several lads still getting new PB,s.

Sunrise over the Orellana

The biggest Carp banked over the last few weeks took the scales round to 59 lb 12oz, we’ve had several 40s, plenty of 30s and even Comizo Barbel to over 30lb.

A typical Orellana Sunset

November

 

The water temperature actually dropped over 5 degrees the last week when Mal and Dom were here. It’s now down to 15 degs, so when Dutch Biker Martien arrived things were slow and it carried on like that. Again mainly easterly winds with the odd rain storm, but we kept at it scaling down to try and get runs off the many fish topping in the area. I managed a Carp of around 28lb and Martien one at 31lb early on, then one of my baited areas produced a nice surprise for me, a new PB Barbel at 24lb. Soon after another bigger fish, lost to an underwater crayfish pot and then another PB at 26.5lb. Not the Carp I was after but a couple of good Barbel.

We struggled on praying for one of the lumps crashing in the area to take one of our baits, but it wasn’t to happen. Martien lost a couple of fish on long distance rods but managed to land the 3^rd run from the feature, a new PB at over 41lb. Continuing with the small hook and bait approach he also landed a 37lb Common and I finished it off with yet another Barbel at just over 20 lb.

20lb

24lb

26.5lb

Gaz  and the lads were also up a couple of weeks ago, they had fished the Orellana with us several years ago and had a fair few fish to around 30lb. Over the last few years they have hit the Ebro, and did well, once they had 5 x 40s in a weeks session. This time they took on the Orellana alone but to no avail, after a few days with no runs they moved to waters they knew. Hope they come back next year, would like to do a social session with you all…