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….

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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…..