October saw the return of the Dutch trio, their 4th year with us, its always a pleasure to have them, crazy buggers!!! 

They worked hard sticking it out on boilies in an area of the Orellana where Carp are not really used to them.

Over the last 2 years Erwin had fish at 21.5kg and 22kg, this year it was Derek and Erics turns. They both had new PB´s, 22kg ( 48lb 8oz) Mirror for Eric and 23.3kg (51lb 4oz) Common for Derek.

 

In all they had 16 fish with an average of 15.45kg - thats over 34lbs, all wild Carp. 

 

Dereks PB Common of 51lb 4oz

he also had this 32lb Mirror, equalling his Mirror PB

 

Erics (pretty boy) had a new PB, a cracking Orellana Mirror at 48lb 8oz

 

 

Craig wet his lines for a couple of nights and banked this 36lb 8 oz Common

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In recent months I have managed a couple of social sessions with Jake, the guide at Sierra Brava Dreams. Not that I get much free time during the season, but when I do, it’s nice to fish with someone.

This time was to be on Orellana (the Bitch as he calls it) Jake is a cracking angler, his baiting and casting is spot on, and like me everything has to be right. He tackled the Orellana by himself without picking my brains, ok he might have cast a couple of sly looks whilst I was baiting my rigs…..

This session on Orellana turned out to be hard, we were on the fish but they were being very finicky. I changed my hook baits to try and entice a take and it worked, however I kept on dropping fish. Of course I got the ´piss´ taken out of me, but as I said, at least ´I´ was getting runs.

35lb

It wasn’t long before Jake had his first Orellana carp at 22lb 10oz, it had taken 16 days for him and he deserved it.

I was on a run of dropping fish, normally I would change things, however everything was good, I was happy with my end tackle, and it was only because the fish weren’t having it, an Orellana thing… I was concerned, but nothing I could do would change this……

42lb

 

The runs were few and far between, I had banked a couple of upper doubles and a 35lb common, however the hard work paid off on the final morning. I had landed a common at 42lb and Jake was into his second fish, a cracking common at over 39lb, well deserved that man…. In all I had only landed 5 carp out of the 9 takes, but hey, that’s fishing….

Jakes second Orellana carp at over 39lb

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.