Orellana Carp Fishing

Robert, Craigs nephew, has been helping us out over the last few weeks and he managed to get some time on the rods when Dave went off for a shower. A couple of years ago on his last visit, he had a 34lb PB Mirror and he’s been at it again. Another new PB Mirror of 36.6lb, and what a beauty….

As you can see most Orellana fish are fin perfect, they are wild fish and we have never seen the same fish caught twice.. Craig on the other hand has landed this 38lb 14oz Common that has to be one of the ugliest fish we have seen. Well its quite pretty next to Craig…

Novice Carp angler Dave decided to dive in at the deep end and take on the Orellana.

With only 18 months fishing experience and a PB of 16lb, he beat his PB several times. In total he had fish of 18lb, seven 20s, most around 26 – 28lb, a 34, 36, 37.5 and a cracking 45lb 14oz Common

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George joined us for a couple of nights, keeping us well entertained with his antics. On his previous overnight visit he took his PB to 28lb, this time he joined us for 3 days and had three 30lb plus fish out. The fishing went a little quiet for a couple of days due to a brisk easterly wind, however George kept us from getting bored. Mauld wine was brewed, steaks cooked Flambé style, you can imagine what happened when far too much Vodka was poured on… When Dave returned from the shower run he found he had a lovely garden around his bivvy – and Dave wants George to join him next year, can’t wait….

Were that busy and no time to update our catch reports, so heres a small sample or some of the fish our clients have been catching. We will update as soon as we can.........

We are really busy at the moment, we will get all our updates on as soon as possible, still more catch reports to come.

Jean from Holland gave us a call on the off chance he could get to fish the Orellana. He was on his way back from a trip to Morocco that was cut short due to problems.

After what seemed a long wait over the weekend, due to not being able to obtain licences, we were soon on the bank Monday lunch time.

As Jean was on his own so Craig managed to fish with him for part of the duration. After a couple of days in one area, they decided to move into the peg being vacated by another group of guests.

The new peg had produced many fish including many 30,s, a couple of 40´s and a fifty only days before. So leaving the first area with a 31lb and a couple of upper 20´s under Jean´s belt, one a Mirror, they settled into the new swim. Craig had already taken a 36lb Common from the first swim and was confident that between them they would land something bigger even though the full moon was lighting up the area like a search light. . It wasn’t to happen; they had around 7 runs each per day, mostly with the hard fighting 20lb plus commons. Several times Jean would say, íts a big fish´ as the wild fish would scream off time and time again. These fish are wild, most have never seen a hook before and do not give up - even when in the net.

Between them they lost several fish, pulling out of some and loosing others into snags. Craig managed a slightly bigger stamp of fish, several just below the 30lb mark whilst Jean had fish mostly around 20-25lb.

We’ve since had a few days away from the bank now, preparing for the next groups that arrive this weekend, time to catch our breaths and organize the office, Great!!!

Next up more Dutch anglers, 1 new group and the return of the 3 flying Dutchmen, looking forward to this…

Next up was the return of Ken. This was Kens second visit this year, unfortunately his first was in March when we had the horrendous weather conditions and the Orellana rose 1 meter in 6 hours.

This time he didn’t bring too much rain with him and managed to get into the Wild hard fighting Orellana Carp. He again, like the others, lost several fish in the process but still managed to land a new PB, this 36lb Mirror

Our new season has started; the first group have been and gone. It was a cracking week as the lads worked hard and got into the fish. Between them they managed to land, and loose, some cracking Orellana lumps and all but 1 of the lads getting new PB´s on the Orellana.

Cliff experienced what the Orellana is about, he hooked into one fish that ran and didn’t stop, he eventually lost it after it took emptied half the line off his LC reels. As the week went on he returned many twenty pound plus fish, naming each one as he did, (something I can’t publish on here) He banked many fish to 34lb throughout the week, however on his final morning all the hard work paid off and he banked a stunning 51lb wild Common PB. Good angling Cliff.

Sumo has landed 2 or 3 40lb plus fish in France, however he still managed a PB, this long wild 42lb Common. Again good angling, after working through every possible rig imaginable - (and unimaginable)........

Mark was first to beat his PB with a 20lb Common, he upped it throughout the week several times ending up with a mid 20.

John was so unlucky not to take a new PB in amongst all the runs he had, however he did land around 4 fish about a pound below his current PB of 36lb.

Next time mate, look forward to your next visit lads – a great bunch.

WHAT OUR GUESTS SAY....

john said... What can i say mate apart from thanks for the trip of a lifetime. Although i didn't manage my pb i know i will be back to beat it. Can't complain about the amount of fish and size i had it was superb.
I know the group agree that you was a great guild and you made sure we had the best week possible. Anyone reading this i recommend purchasing the meals from Craig we ate like kings for the week.
Were all looking forward to returning and smashing those pb's.
Thanks again pal!

Thanks John.

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.