Spanish roach fishing Nov 2015.

Travelling to overseas fishing holidays can be something to look forward to, if it is to be a still water venue you know what to expect within certain boundaries but with rivers the weather can have a major effect.   Travelling with my usual companions for the Spanish roach trips, Pete Reading and John Found we knew the forecast was for rain on the Monday after we arrived late Sunday but we could only wait and see the effect.

Sunday evening is a time to settle in, get a bit of shopping done at the local supermarket and get a meal at the favourite café, here we meet up with our Catmaster Tours guide for the week, John Dekin though we mostly look after ourselves.  He had checked the local weather forecast and advised the river would both colour up and rise by late Monday so things did not look that good for our trip.  Anyway we could do nothing about it so it was a case of finishing the meal then retire to bed.

                                                Rooms with a view over the town

As dawn broke about 7:00am we were stood on the banks of the River Segree choosing to fish swims that had produced well for us on previous trips, tackle comprised of quivertip rods with 6lb to 8lb main line and suitable hook length material.  We use swimfeeders loaded with either pellet or sweetcorn both of which had given good results but we need to find out which is best on the day.  As it turned out the rain started and after three hours without a bite we decided to give it best as by now the rain was torrential.  We packed up and drove round the venue to seek out potential areas should the river become unfishable.

The following morning our worse fears were realised, one look at the river and with a 20ft wide continuous weed raft coming down the middle of the flow we knew that no roach fishing, and very little other fishing, would be done for days.  Fortunately with our previous days look about we had other thoughts and we quickly made our way towards the dam.  With the Top Lake very low at the end of the summer there was very little water being allowed through and it was at least fishable.  Our first choice swims were already taken by a couple of carp anglers but the advantage of fishing for roach is we could slot into swims that carp our cat anglers would struggle to use and hence we did just that.  A very big attraction was that there were dozens of roach showing on the surface in the early morning light, all we had to do was get them down to the bottom of the 25ft or so depths and feeding on the corn/pellet offering.

Once fishing we tend to use a lot of sweetcorn in the feeders, two to four cans per day are the normal and this will attract the roach into the swim and by and large hold them there.  We were each catching a fair number of roach with quite a few over the 1lb-8oz mark but that first day only saw one fish over the 2lb mark this falling to John at 2lb-7oz, a beautiful immaculate specimen.

                                               First 2lb roach at 2lb-7oz.

With clear fishable water at a premium we dropped back into the same swims the following morning and continued to catch the roach but struggled to get over the 2lb mark.  If our scales had been just a little bit out we could have called many of the big 1lb+ fish into the 2lb range but at least Pete saved the day with a fantastic 2lb-10oz rudd that equalled his English best.

                                                     Pete's 2lb-10oz Rudd.

                                           It can be quite rocky here.

The days past by very much the same with just the odd 2lb roach showing, John had a red letter session in a different swim where he took five roach over the 2lb mark, a 2lb + rudd and a number of gibel carp [a continental version of a Prussian carp] to 3lb 10oz.  All the while we were hooking the king carp on the sweetcorn but the best that was landed fell to John at 16lb-10oz.  Most of the time the carp would run the bed of the river and catch the line on rocks, zebra mussel, or Chinese shellfish and the result was always the same, a lost feeder.  Between us I think we lost the best part of twenty feeders and the local tackle shop loved us.

                                         Best of the trip at 2lb-9oz.

                                                   Thick fog on some of the mornings.

By the end of the week we had got a reasonable total of twelve roach over the 2lb mark, John’s 2lb-9oz caught on the last day took the honour of being the best, Pete’s best just behind at 2lb-8oz and I followed up with a 2lb-6oz.  The rain on the Monday had caused major problems and even at the end of the week the Segree and Ebro down from the junction were almost unfishable.  Not sure of the results for the other lads but did hear of carp to 35lb and a cat over 190lb but many of those fishing really struggled. Better luck next time we hope.

                                             My best of the trip at 2lb-6oz

2014 A review of the year.

 January.

As with last year I had a number of trips abroad organised and the first of them was a trip to Surinam in South America.  This would be my first venture to that country although I’ve been next door so to say in Guyana; this fishing would be very similar being a wild river running through quite dense jungle.  Although we would be wild camping on the bank we see very little in the way of animals etc., you hear them, but the trees are too heavy to see very far and we are too noisy trying to get close.

The main target was a catfish known as a Lau Lau by the locals and the river we fished gave an excellent chance of catching them.  That was indeed the result and numerous 100lb fish were taken with my 175lb being the largest of the trip although 200lb fish had been caught on previous trips.  The fight off the Lau Lau has to be experienced to be believed, a 50lb class boat rod bent 90 degrees for 20 or 30 minutes and you’re almost ready to pass the rod to someone else, but you don’t.

                                                             175lb Lau Lau

February.

This month gave me a very good result off the local Warwickshire Avon, conditions for barbel held near perfect for some weeks and I managed a string of good doubles with fish of 11lb-6oz 11lb-7oz and an 11lb-13oz fish that I caught a second time from a swim well downstream of its original capture. 

                                                                 11lb-6oz

                                                                      11lb-7oz

                                                             Caught twice at 11lb-13oz

Even better than this was the capture of an 6lb-5oz chub from the upper Avon, a comparatively rare event when even 5lb fish a noted as very good.

                                                            6lb-5oz Avon chub

March.

The overseas bug came on again and this month I travelled back to Guyana.  Although the countries and rivers are next door to each other the fishing is totally different.  This difference is in the range of fish in Guyana, it is very wide in scope with three or more different species where a 200lb plus fish are possible and dozens of smaller species are also available.  This adventure is at the extreme end of wild fishing, that being indicated by the fact that when we finished the fishing holiday at the furthest upstream we ventured, it took four days to get back to the hotel in the capital, Georgetown.  The holiday was a big success with all anglers catching their share of fish, my personal bests for the trip was a redtail catfish of 59lb and the largest of the jau captured at 106lb.  Piranha can be a big problem here and you can see bite marks out of the jau’s fins where the piranha attacked the fish whilst it was being played, often the damage to the fish you’re trying to land is far worse and they can be lost as the main line is bitten through as they attack.

                                                          59lb Redtail

                                                         106lb Jau.

April.

I missed out on the crucians this year, taking fish to short of 3lb on the one trip I managed before they spawned.  Good size fish can be caught post spawning but I felt that I would leave it and try for a big eel.  I did catch, though the very big fish eluded me and the best in this month was a brace one night of 4lb-2oz and 4lb-5oz, pleasing but below my target.

                                                       2lb-3oz, 4lb-2oz and 4lb-5oz.

May.

Off to Spain this month for the roach fishing.   Wells Catfish are the main target here with the large carp a close second, but I along with my companions are happy to fish for the big roach that live in both the Ebro and the Segre.  Fishing with Catmaster Tours at Mequinenza we can travel about trying different areas of both rivers and over the previous trips we have built up a list of spots that produce consistently.  This trip was no different and amongst a lot of 1lb plus fish, I took ten over the 2lb mark to a best of 2lb-10oz.  We have not had a 3lb fish yet but Pete Reading came close with a magnificent 2lb-15oz specimen.

                                                         2lb-10oz Spanish roach

                                                               Pete with a 2lb-15oz specimen

                                                                       

June.

As always I try to fish on the 16^th opening day and most times it is a disappointment, this time I caught four barbel with two over 9lb to make it a good start to the season.  Other barbel would follow, but that starting day is still worth a mention here.

I also had a few days after sturgeon a fish that fights as hard as any in our waters and a favourite of mine.  The best I took out a number of 40lb plus captures was a giant of 44lb, well pleased with that although the bigger fish in the lake still evade me until another day.

                                                            44lb sturgeon.

July.

A few barbel and eels but overall a fairly quite month with the most notable specimen being a 4lb-8oz eel.

                                                                   4lb-8oz eel.

August.

Yet again I had agreed to do the northern leg of the barbel challenge arranged by Gerry Gleeson and accomanied by Paul Floyd.  Last year was a very limited success for me with just one double off the six rivers I fished, this year was different.  Starting on the Dove I feared the worse when I blanked while the other lads caught barbel including the hoped for double to Paul.  We move every 24 hours so the next day saw us on the Derwent and this time I was smiling by the following dawn with two doubles of 11lb-12oz and 13lb-5oz, time to move again. 

                                                            13lb-5oz  Derwent

                                                           11lb-12oz  Derwent

This spell was on the nearby Trent and yet again I got a brace of doubles in a catch of seven barbel, these went 10lb and 10lb-14oz.

                                                             10lb Trent

                                                            10lb-14oz Trent

The following move saw us on the Soar and I fished a swim that was new to me though it proved a good choice when I landed eight barbel.  One of the early fish in the spell looked good but when Paul gave his comment it was at 9lb-10oz.  Later in the session my grin returned with yet another double at 10lb-11oz.

                                                                  10lb-11oz  Soar.

Now we moved across towards the Nene near Peterbough a river I had been targeting for a new river double, so far without success.  Now riding my luck I put a fish of 10lb-14oz on the scales and the local bailiff Mark Smith was delighted to take the photos for me.  He was even more delighted when Paul took the largest known fish on the stretch at 14lb for a new pb for himself.

                                                          10lb-14oz Nene pb

With five rivers down it had been agreed we would split up, Paul and Jerry going onto the southern leg while I went onto the Warwickshire Avon to try for the double off that river.  With the way things had been going for me it was almost a foregone conclusion and sure enough amongst other barbel on the session I took an immaculate 10lb-6oz specimen to end my contribution. 

                                                             10lb-6oz Wark Avon.

I had fished six rivers with a brace of doubles off two of them and a single double off another three rivers.  Add to this that the Nene double was my 24^th different river double and you can see why I was a happy lad. 

September.

I continued to catch barbel through this month and a couple of highlight were the capture of four doubles with a best of 12lb-8oz off the Trent.  This does seem to be the inform river and it will be interesting to see the results from it over the coming months. 

Coming up to yet another trip abroad I took the chance on a 200 mile round trip to the Goyt since conditions were perfect and even though it was only for the day I just felt the need to go.  That feeling proved true when I slipped my net under the 25^th river double, this one going 12lb-6oz.  Saying I was pleased just does not do the feeling justice.

                                                                     12lb-6oz Goyt pb.

                                                          12lb-8oz best of four doubles.

October.

In a year where I travelled abroad far more than usual it will come as no surprise that yet again I was overseas, this time to Canada.  As mentioned, I love sturgeon fishing so it stands to reason I would have to try the Frazer River for the monsters that live there.  I did fall ill with some bug for three days but never the less the guides looked after us and we had 21 sturgeon between us.  My best was one inch short of the five foot mark which gave an estimated weight of 110lb, each fish gave a tremendous fight and I’ll definitely be back there next year.

                                                                      110lb Sturgeon

November.

Now I was off to Spain but this time it was a two pronged attack.  Catfish and roach were the target and since it seemed the cats had been mostly caught at night it fitted in with our plans quite nicely.  One of the reasons for my trip to the Goyt just two days before the Spain trip was the severe drop in temperatures that had been forecast, sure enough just one day after we arrived there was a ten degree fall in temps and it did us no favours.  Unfortunately there were four groups of anglers for this week and only three baited swims, it worked out that we missed out on fishing the baited areas and foreseeably the cats would not move too much resulting in an almost total failure for our group to catch.  John was first on the rods and at the end of the fourth night he took his chance and landed a 214lb cat, the largest of the week.

                                                               John's 214lb cat

The roach played a little better and even though our time was limited to between 9am and 4pm we did catch a good number of fish.  I managed five over 2lb with a best of 2lb-12oz so it did save what would have been an inglorious blank week.

                                                          Best of the trip at 2lb-12oz.

                                                        Caught on the last day 2lb-9oz.

That was at the beginning of the month and was followed by three days on the bank of Chew Valley Res, unfortunately for one small jack pike.  Then the weather picked up and I decided on a trip to try for yet another new river double, this time the River Mole.  I had already been down for a single day where a local lad was good enough to show me how to access the water on the club ticket I was to use.  Unfortunately many clubs produce maps for their waters that almost defy your ability to find the water and then the access, this was such a case so a big thank you goes to that lad.  The trip was for two days, I’ll sleep in the van overnight and with the M25 to negotiate I either leave home very early or after 9am to avoid being in the traffic jam at peak times.  I decided on the 9am start and arrived about midday without too much traffic hassle.   The river, when I finally settled into my chosen swim looked perfect and I could not believe that at the very worse I would at least catch barbel off this new river, at the best one of them would be a double.  The write up of this trip comes immediately before this update to the blog so sufficient to say that over the two days I caught two doubles of 10lb-9oz and 10lb-14oz, river 26 completed!

                                                                              10lb-9oz

                                                         26th river double 10lb-14oz.

December.

December seemed to fall off a little and while I caught fish there were none of particular note.  I have highlighted some of the more noted fish and of course there are many I’ve left out.  With 21 doubles off seven different rivers I’m well pleased with the season.  Add to this there were three new river doubles among those numbers and I can increase that to very pleased.

A big advantage of my style of fishing is that there are always new horizons and targets to be met, next year will be no different and I’m already set with trips to Surinam, Canada and Spain, add in UK and there is no shortage of places and species to set my eyes on.  I hope your year has been as enjoyable as mine and I wish you all the very best for the next year.

Big river roach.

John Found and I had booked a week roach fishing at the Lochnaw venue but a couple of weeks before we were due to go it was closed down for a period to allow checks on the fish to take place.  Obviously very disappointing, but these things happen and after a consultation with John and Pete Reading I was on the phone to Colin Bunn who runs Catmaster Tours in Spain.  It was very short notice and I believe Colin had to do a bit of juggling about to fit us in, but he managed it and we were set for yet another attempt at getting a 3lb roach from the River Ebro.

                                                    Griffon Vulture ready for its morning flight.

We used the ‘Meet and Greet’ system at Gatwick and flew with EasyJet to Barcelona where our guide for the week John Deakin, pick us up and took us on to the Mequinenza venue.  It all went without a hitch and it does seems the best way to travel.  Arriving in the town we were dropped off at the apartment that would be home for the week with arrangements made to meet up later for a meal at a local bar.  During this meal we made arrangements to hire a van for the week at a very acceptable rate.  We like to travel around to different sections in the search for the roach, unlike the carp and cat lads that stay in one area and hopefully bring their target fish to a bed of bait.

                                                 The accommodation is great but we had to leave.

                                                John did complain about the walk to the van at times.

Another difference is that while the usual customer has tackle available, we were after roach and as yet this option is not available though if more anglers were to travel for the roach fishing I’m sure Colin would quickly cover that need.  Whilst both John and Pete had decided on fishing with quivertip rods I had gone for a bobbin fishing approach though this proved less effective and I changed over part way through the week.  My tackle started as two 12ft 1.25lb test Drennan Avon rods with the standard top, this was changed as mentioned to one of the Avons with a quiver top matched with a 13ft Drennan feeder rod using 3oz quivers.  A pair of Mitchell 300’s were loaded with 6lb main line and a 50grm cage feeder going to a 12 inch length of 4lb fluorocarbon hooklink and a size 14 Drennan wide gape hook.  As will be mentioned I used sweetcorn while fishing the River Ebro and the bait was placed directly on the hook, at other times I fished 8mm Sonubaits soft halibut pellets and these were fished with a very short hair rig.

                                         We had very changeable weather both sun and rain.

                                          The Segree rig, corn straight on the hook for the Ebro

                                                    The feeder mix for both rivers.

Our reason for this difference is straight forward in that the section of the Ebro we fished there is very little catfishing done.  It is the local’s match fishing section; hence it would get a fair amount of sweetcorn thrown in, but very little pellet.  This is opposed to the River Segree section where there is loads of pellet put in for both the cats and the carp and it seems the roach have gain quite a taste for them

.

On the Monday morning were started out attempt on the town front and at 9:00am John went off to collect the van.  We fished up to 11:30am and decided that the combination of the number of people about, and the fact that we had not had any indications suggested a move was in order.  On previous trips we had considerable success on a section of the Ebro known as the Mines, so called after the carbon mines situated in the immediate area.   This appears to be a purpose made section blasted out of the rock that is used by tourist and anglers alike, it is also a favourite place for the local anglers to have their matches.  Like so much of the region the banks are either natural rock or rock placed to protect the bankside edge, hence rod pods are essential.  Again from previous experience we knew that the fish on this section were at distance and the first hour or so was one constant recasting exercise to get plenty of feed out into our chosen swims.   The local supermarket must wonder what has happened when we descend and pick up twenty tins of sweetcorn to get us going.  After about two hours I got my first bite and landed a fish of 1lb-9oz which was at least a start.  As mentioned I was fishing with bobbins and by and large I only got a positive bite which resulted in a fish.   Pete meanwhile on his quivertips was seeing lots of tiny pulls that would not show on the bobbins and even at that early stage I did wonder about changing over to the quivertips though I stayed with the same method for another couple of days before changing. 

                                                      My first roach of this trip.

While waiting for the bites to come you observe many interesting sights, John noticed that the ants were behaving in a strange fashion.  Lines of ants could be seen all over the place and when you checked the ants going one way were carrying a seed head or some such food item.  The ants following exactly the same track in the opposite direction were apparently heading out to get such a food item, not rocket science but interesting at least!  Then there was the passing snake and the bee eaters flying overhead, too high as fast to photograph even with my 20x zoom, it all adds to the experience of the venue.

                                                The ants going left are clearly carrying food.

                                               Fortunately he stayed in the water.

The following day we tried towards the dam, but again no bites by 11:30am so we moved this time up onto the River Segree near to where the lads were fishing for catfish.  This would prove a reasonable change in that I caught seven roach with a best of 2lb-7oz.  Back to the same swim the following day and this time I took nine fish with three over the 2lb mark, again the largest of these was 2lb-7oz.  We had been told that the cats and carp were spawning and it did appear that at least some of the roach had also spawned giving us a resulting drop in the number we caught compared to previous trips.

                                                One of two at 2lb-7oz off the Segree.

Having the van gave us the chance to move about quite easily and the following day we decided to return to the Ebro.  I had put a rod out for the chance of a carp and the bite I did get produced a little catfish not quite as small as the one shown though!

                                                      Not all the cats are big!

The day proved quite difficult in that very few bites came our way but one did produce the largest fish of the week to Pete, at 2lb-15oz it was a new Spanish pb for him and it equalled the best we have had from the venue.  With the slow sport we moved back to the Segree at 2:30pm but it only gave us a couple of fish and it was a case of maybe if we had stayed they could have come on where we were in the morning.

                                               Pete with his 2lb-15oz specimen roach.

                                     Pete checks his latest capture with John Deakin looking on.

Back on the Ebro the next day and this time they did show and I took ten fish to a best of 2lb-10oz a new pb for me as well.  As mentioned the numbers were down, but the average was up and many of the back-up fish were in the 1lb-12oz to 1lb-15oz range, good fishing by any measure you like to apply.

                                                    My 2lb-10oz Spanish pb.

As you will have noticed I’ve commented on my catches but obviously the lads were doing their own thing and catching just the same.  John did not have the fortune of Pete and I having both less fish and losing one very big roach right on the rim of his net, he still managed fish to 2lb-3oz though so not too bad.

                                                   John's 2lb-3oz specimen.

                                              A little smaller than the one above but a much better photo.