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…

OCTOBER

Dom and Mal returned, this time both wanted to stick it out for big fish. Last trip Dom had a PB Mirror at over 43 lb and a Common around 40, but it wasn’t to happen this trip!! They managed 3 days fishing out of the week due to very heavy rains, storms and high winds, what a nightmare, good on the ´office boys´ for sticking it out.

The kiss of death was probably Mal asking ´when was the last time you had a group blank?´   ´The only fish was to my rods with this 41.5lb Common, hope you get better luck next visit boys.

Dave was back again bringing a great present with him. Most of our prepared meals do have vegetables in them; however he thought we could do with a steaming kit. It’s now so much easier to prepare a meat n veg dinner, just like this Lamb dish.

This dish was prepared inside a bivvy whilst a storm was brewing outside, however we managed to get the meal over before the full strength of the storm hit us. Dave slept on a chair in my bivvy as the storm hit us, why he thought mine was safer than his I don’t know. It was crazy with wind gusting to over 80km/hr, a couple of times we ran round all the pegs to make sure they hadn’t vibrated loose – we survived it.

Enough of that for now, about the fishing  - Dave suggested a little bet (he was alone I was going to fishing with him), probably because he did so well last year as he had plenty of fish to 46lb on his first Carp fishing session.

He suggested a 2 way bet between us, biggest fish and total weight. Loser of the bet would pay for the final night T bone steak and the other pay for the nights beers. He got off to a cracking start – at one stage he had around a 85lb - O lead. Heres some of his fish, at one stage he had 4 fish for over 110lb, one being a Barbel at 30lb 8oz, nice surprise. 

It didn’t last for long; I caught steadily with most fish over 30 lb to take both biggest fish and most weight with these fish. The fishing was hard, however we had plenty of laughs and good food. The question is will Dave suggest a bet next year? We will see, looking forward to his next visit, it was a great steak, even better being bought for me lol

Stu came up for a 3 day session, again bad fishing conditions, easterly winds and hot. Whats going on with the weather, when’s it going to give us a break???? The session was hard,  I couldn’t get a run whilst Stu´s only run was from this 15.5lb Comizo Barbel, the first Comizo out of Orellana I have never seen  in 7 yrs, so what a surprise, especially for 5pm in hot sunny conditions. Well done Stu

What another hard week, easterly breeze, full moon and hot everyday with temperatures around 34 deg every day. Nevertheless the Dutch lads did ok considering.

 

 Erwin banking a new PB again, last year he had one at 46.5lb and this year he upped it a little to 48lb and a lovely looking fish too. Erik had 4 fish all 30´s, biggest weighing in at 38.5lb a couple of pounds below his PB, well done Pretty boy.  It was, as always great to see the lads and enjoy a few beers with them, they like to enjoy their time here, catching fish is a bonus. See you next year lads.

After the lads left, Craig managed to get an evening fishing with mate Chino.

Chino was with his missus and little Carlos (18 months) so he thought he would join them for a couple of beers and chuck out the rods. Chino found the smaller fish were moving and even starting to feed a little, he had 6 runs with fish to 28lb, Craig baited up with Vital Baits boilies and had one run, this 32lb 8oz common, Not bad as it was a finca they haven’t fished for a couple of years and no prebaiting.

Let’s hope the weather changes soon, regular Stu is coming up for a social but fresh easterly winds are forecast for the week.

SEPTEMBER UPDATE

We have had a high pressure drifting over us for weeks now, no wind, hot – up to 38 degrees and no rain for months. The water needs oxygenating, but we are struggling on.

At the moment we have out a couple of pleasure anglers, they’re getting the odd fish- small Carp, Barbel and Crucian Carp. Mikes had several Carp to around 12lb - great fun on light tackle -  whilst ´ugly bloke Ian´ has had up to 18 fish a day consisting of Crucians averaging over 3lb and carp to double figures.   

I say ´ugly bloke Ian´ as he was called this by a little English boy whilst enjoying a beer in a bar. Ian said ´Fancy travelling all the way here to b e called ´ugly´ by an English Kid  - an ugly English kid at that´

 Next week sees the return of the 3 regular daft Dutch lads and back to Carp fishing, let’s hope theres a change in the weather, not that it’s forecasted another week of the dreaded easterly winds… Either way we are looking forward to seeing them again.

 Arthur (A young 72) visits us once a year with friend Tony (68) and fish an area of the lake where there’s lots of smaller fish around the 25lb mark. Due to the conditions they struggled and only had 9 runs in 5 days, however every now and then the area produces a bigger fish, and it was Arthur who got lucky with this PB 40lb Orellana Common. Well done mate.

As it was slow due to the abnormally hot weather, they joined Craig in an area for bigger fish. 

It was also hard work; however Craig managed the only 2 runs in the 3 days, one being the 59lb12oz Common that nearly dragged poor Arthur into the lake when it was in the landing net. We are not into naming fish, but this one was nicknamed - Tyson.

It never stopped fighting, even in the cradle, an animal. Not the best of looking fish at 59 lb 12 oz, but Craigs Orellana PB.

He has the luck this year, in 9 days fishing Feb and March he had 48lb, 46lb 4 oz, 44lb, 41lb 12oz, 40lb

Craigs 48lb Orellana carp, biggest of a 60 hour session in March. Also had a 39, 38.5, 36, 33, seven 20s and a couple of upper teens

Craig was asked to do a presentation on Carp fishing at a Fair in the area. Pedro Luengo, president of local Carp fishing Club Talacarp had asked us the last couple of years, but we never managed to get there due to being busy. Arthur and Tony wandered around as Craig showed anglers end tackle and explained about counter balanced baits and pop-ups.

Here´s Craig talking to a local Police officer about bait presentation, but what’s that face about!!!

Were back on the bank and into the new season after the summer break

Our first group of the season sees the return of John, Cliff and Mark - and what a hard week it was…..Temperatures in the upper thirties, little wind - the fish just didn’t want to feed, but they certainly showed themselves.

We literally had hundreds of fish topping in the area every day, and some were very big lumps. Cliff had 8 fish in total, 5 within six hours on the same rod. Then after a move to the mouth of the bay a couple of days later he had other 3 within two hours, again all on the same rod. In total he had 4 x 30lb plus fish, biggest a 37lb common, nothing like his 52lb Common last year, but he did have his first Orellana Mirror at 31lb.

So frustrating for Mark and John, seeing so many fish crashing over the baits but with only 1 run each, Johns on the first morning, and Marks on the last night. Well done to the lads for sticking it out.

Craig had a social session early September, just really checking out to see if the fish were showing and the features as the water level has dropped so much. They had several runs between them, mainly upper twenties with Craig and Philipe landing the largest fish of the session with these at 35lb and a 36.5lb for Philipe.

It’s been a busy summer for us and we didn’t get time to update our blog, so heres a brief look at what some of our guests caught earlier on in the year.

Lee, Tom and Tony ventured over, the second trip for Lee. He turned up late as he went directly from Seville to Madrid to watch his team get thrashed by Madrid. The bad luck wasnt to change. The lads had this Common within the hour of casting out, however the Carp went into spawning mode and even with moving to the lower end of the lake, the fish just wouldnt feed. Probably one of the worst weeks we had.

Colin with his irst Barbel ever. He had plenty of action on the tip and float, bagging up with Carp and Barbel.

Dom and Malcolm travelled together but each had different targets. Mal was after runs and Dom was just after the bigger fish. To begin with, things were hard with an easterly wind, however things got better as the wind changed. Dom managed to land a PB Mirror at 43.5lb and a PB Common just under the 40 lb mark. Mal on the other hand was so chuffed with so many runs from fish well into the 20s, he actually wound in his rods at lunchtime one day, he had around 15 runs that morning.

Fly angler Andreas wanted a go at carp fishing so he visited us for 3 days. With a PB Carp of 8lb under his belt it wasn’t hard to beat. He took to it like a duck to water and hammered his PB several times with several 20lb plus fish and this 34lb Common.

It’s been quite a difficult time for us lately, the weather had hounded us again, this time its easterly winds. Sven and Antonio from Germany managed a few runs before the wind changed and came from the east, they will be back later on in the year to do a follow up article in one of the big magazines they write for.