wels catfishing on the river ebro, spain

[niall_b73 41]

so myself and the young lad (who i brought along for company) arrived at our destination tortosa along the river ebro, about an hour form where we were staying at salou in spain

 

we set of about 10am and were told by andy who we hired the boat from that the river was in flood, up about 1 meter or so due to melt water from the snow in the mountain and rain water.

i have to say the water was the most magnificant green/blueish colour i have ever seen anywhere.

 

so he took us up the river a short distance just out of town and told me to throw out the anchor.

the rods were already set up and as he opened up the bait box i seen him pull a couple of lumps of raw chicken (kinda like the big bargain bags from lidl). so i asked him what were they for. he proceeded to tell me that the chicken was a natural bait for the catfish due to the large amount of chicken rearing farms up river. when they kill the chickens all the waist goes into the river and the fish feast on it !!

so who was i to argue.

 

ok so the 3 rods were baited up and cast out all not far from the boat just beyond the main current of the river.

about 10 minutes in one of the rods started to hop about in the rod rest the tip was all over the place, so here i was all excited and wanting to strike only to be told that it was a channel cat and not a wels cat. appearently the channel cat are smaller and only nibble on the chicken but never take the bait. this went on for another while and then all of a sudden bang. the bait runner started to run and the line was being taken steadily from the reel it was then i was told to lift the rod and strike.

having struck i kept the line tight and just kept reeling (very excitedly) there was a good tug on the line but i knew it was not a big fish but it was a fish all the same

i got the fish landed and weighed it was only a small one at 10lb, so i now thought things could only get better.

 

so we moved a few more times each time anchoring up and trying that spot for a bit but were getting nothing but these annoying bits from the channel cats.

 

time was moving on and still nothing it was about 5pm ish and as you can imagine my young lad was bored off his tits. i had been telling him that he could reel in the next fish caught (just to keep him interested) and boy did i regret saying that.

so it happened again, the baitrunner started to let of line and it kept going so dean (my young lad) jumps up all excited roaring and shouting that it was his turn and that he wanted to reel this fish in, so i had to give in to him amd let him take it.

andy the boat man struck it and handed the rod to dean.

i had been telling dean previous to this how to reel in a fish if he did manage to catch one, a perch was the only other fish he had ever caught ever.

i have to give credit where credit is due he played a blinder, and took the fish in like a natural.

 

having weighed the fish it was 25lb took a few snaps and put it back.

nothing more happened for about half an hour or so then the bait runner went off again and it was now my turn again to reel it in.

i struck the fish and started to reel in but shortly after that it managed to get off, i was fuming. it felt like a better fish than the one i had caught before but still not a monster. ahh well.

 

we decided to call it a day after that and head home.

by the time we got to the jetty the water had risen another meter or so again.

 

so all in all it was good craic when the fish were on, tho boring when nothing was happening and i was a bit annoyed we did not land bigger or more fish, but hey thats fishing.

 

but i would definately love to do it again

ohh yeah and as for dean i still have to listen to him cackling on about his bigger fish !!

will the torture ever end

 

niall_b73

["Earth!" 503]

good read that you jammy barstuard ..id love to and will one day catch a catfish,i hope! did you only spend the 1 day at them?

[CO CHISE 330]

GOOD WRITE UP AND CRACKING PICS, WELL DONE YOU AND THE YOUNG UN, ATB

[Malt 379]

Excellent stuff pal!

[fmwtc 12]

excellent read i go with catfishcapers well worth a trip we have had em up to 186 lb and carp to 38 reccomend it to any one

[mushroom 13,180]

The smile on the boys face says it all :clapper:

 

that grin will last a lifetime

 

bien hecho get him a 200lb'er next time :laugh:

[niall_b73 41]

good read that you jammy barstuard ..id love to and will one day catch a catfish,i hope! did you only spend the 1 day at them?

 

unfortunatly only the one day, i had to spend the rest of the week drinking sam maguel and sangria by the bucket ful with the rest of the family. you no how it is lol

 

niall_b73

["Earth!" 503]

good read that you jammy barstuard ..id love to and will one day catch a catfish,i hope! did you only spend the 1 day at them?

 

unfortunatly only the one day, i had to spend the rest of the week drinking sam maguel and sangria by the bucket ful with the rest of the family. you no how it is lol

 

niall_b73

 

ive been known to multi task

[all.rounder 3]

good one niall

[runforyourlife 361]

good read that you jammy barstuard ..id love to and will one day catch a catfish,i hope! did you only spend the 1 day at them?

 

unfortunatly only the one day, i had to spend the rest of the week drinking sam maguel and sangria by the bucket ful with the rest of the family. you no how it is lol

 

niall_b73

 

ive been known to multi task

 

 

Earth, theres many places to catch them here in this country... or go dive on channel tunnel, you can be on some untouched cats in no time at all over there...

[bobcullen79 1,495]

Nice one mate. Better luck next time fella.

[consett lad 43]

great report that fella looks like u had a grat time

[bullmatt 5]

we used to live in el perello, my wife had our second baby in tortosa hospital, shame i didnt have time to do any proper cat hunting but did have a few carp off the bank.great pics of a great day i recon.