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