CARP-ADDICT ARTICLE - The Rough guide to the Orellana

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 Carp Addict – The Rough Guide to Orellana

A recent trip down to Spain served as a harsh reminder to me just how important it can be to have everything spot on. Not just tackle, bait and location, but the trends in weather, water temperature and so on. Water temperature can have an enormous impact on carp habits, and critically, just one degree in difference can effect where they may choose to be, and can determine whether or not they will feed. This is never more evident than through the winter months, and when the transition from winter into spring takes place. Water temperature is important to carp to aid digestion, and any fluctuation in temperature can adversely affect our chances of catching.

It was hoped that the trip down to Extremadura, with my good pal Danny Ormiston might throw up a fish or two as early March can sometimes be right on the cusp of their early season feeding beginning in earnest. Alas, that wasn’t to be, as torrid storms ravaged the area a few days before our trip and the influx of a great deal of cold water broke up the gathering shoals, scattering them far and wide. Not to be totally disheartened by the news, we set out to see if we could sneak out a fish or two.

The flight from Stanstead to Sevilla is approximately 2.5 hours, followed by a journey by road of some three hours. Dave Franklin, our guide from FAT Angling met us at the airport and we were soon underway. The following morning we went into town, at Talarrubias. After taking in the number of storks roosting atop the towns ancient church, we had a quick breakfast and a couple of eyeopeners’ (strong coffee), before purchasing two annual fishing permits. Then it was off for our first taste of fishing on the might Embalse de Orellana.

Passing along several miles of unmade roads and tracks, navigating around rocky outcrops and gullies, we were instantly reminded of the sheer pioneering aspect of this trip. The whole area is very remote and beautiful, and virtually untouched in general, let alone in carp-angling terms. The few people who do fish the area are local anglers, and I am convinced that they are not fully aware of the amazing potential of this stunning waterway.

As we neared the bankside, traversing down a steep incline, our eyes were treated to a magnificent view across the stretch of the river before us. I say river, but the Orellana is in fact a dammed section of the Rio Guardiana (river) which classifies technically as a lake, or reservoir, much the same case as with Lake Meqinenza on the river Ebro some 600 miles to the east of Extremadura.

That first exciting glimpse was enough to inspire even the most sceptical of anglers, and if that alone wasn’t enough, the sight of good fish crashing out, at range, certainly was! We hurriedly organised our gear and got ourselves fishing. This particular area was a shallow bay that would serve as a spawning area in a few short weeks time, and our guide Dave Franklin had suggested that it might be worth a look as he had seen the carp beginning to gather there in previous weeks. Sure enough, he was right, and they were most certainly present, although they were very scattered. As I said previously, the influx of cold water had set back the normal biorythms, and the ‘shallow’ bay was now around 15’ deep.

The first afternoon passed without any action, even though it had looked so promising from the offset – we had witnessed some very large fish crashing out, and it was immensely exciting to think what ‘might’ be possible. But as darkness began to fall, our hopes faded along with the light, and we reluctantly packed away our gear and made off back up the long track in the 4x4. Arriving back in Mariano’s bar in Talarrubias, we greedily tucked in to a plate of fillet steak each, and boy did that taste good! - It always surprises me just how quick my mate Dan can consume his food, but on this occasion I matched him manfully, bite for bite, until every last scrap had been ravenously devoured.

The following morning, at 6.00am, we set off in darkness to a spot on the opposite bank at Puerto Pena where some pre-baiting had been undertaken by Dave the week previously. Access was this time a little easier on this side. We travelled for several miles along the concrete access road for the large aqueduct that runs alongside it for the length of the Orellana. One, short but steep and rocky track later, and we suddenly came to an abrupt halt as the road disappeared into the river. With the water level being much higher than normal, several yards of road now lay beneath the glistening ripples of Lake Orellana.

As the day unfolded, much as the previous afternoon had, there was no action to the rods, despite plenty of carp activity out at range. Some of the huge fish we saw crashing were enough to make a grown man cry, simply because they were quite obviously not in feeding mode! We sat it out, hoping upon hope and praying, but I think that we all knew deep down that the conditions were wrong, and it just wasn’t going to happen for us. The realisation that the carp were not going to feed spurred a rethink, and it was decided that a trip to another, very special, venue was in order.

This Lake (another dammed river section, or reservoir) is a true big fish venue, with some of the incredible fish that it has thrown up so far being of gargantuan proportions. I have been asked not to name this venue for the time being, but fishing there will be on offer to clients of FAT Angling in the very near future. Night fishing is not currently allowed on any of the venues in the area, and of course, we stuck stringently to the rules (cough), so I won’t talk too much about our experiences on this trip, but suffice to say, we witnessed the awesome potential of this area, and can’t wait to get back down there again!

The rest of the week proved to be very difficult, and try as we did, not a single fish was to trouble us. We needn’t feel too embarrassed by our failure to catch though, there were reportedly only 3 fish banked that whole week, as the fish totally switched off. Food for thought here, though, one of those three fish was a 21kg common! In the bar, on the night before our departure, a chance encounter with a Spanish angler further fuelled our thoughts – he pointed out a photo of a fish that had been caught just prior to the ensuing storms of the previous week. A huge great linea-scaled mirror of 32kg.!

Am I going back down there again? - Of course I am! Please watch out for follow up pieces on this truly, new frontier for carp anglers. This is possibly one of the most incredibly exciting destinations anyone could ever wish to visit in the quest for a huge carp!

To give you a slightly better insight into the potential of the area, here is an account of the harsh winter period as experienced by tour guide Dave Franklin. Accompanied by a couple of his fish shots, and a few shots that I took myself whilst there, Dave’s diary entries reveal little as they tell only of the hardest times, so you would be well advised to bear that in mind, and keep your eyes peeled for future articles that, I have every confidence, will blow your mind! Ed.

It’s a hard life, Dave Franklin

Matt of FAT Angling suggested that we needed a big winter carp, a 501bs plus, and that would be our goal until spring. Winter was a lot colder than I had expected and heavy snow in January, which was only the second time in 30 years in Extremadura and with a combination of high winds, rain and thick fog, with only occasional sunshine, it would not be easy. After returning to Spain from a week in England in mid December to attend the Sandown Carp show, our hopes were high. Wrong, it didn’t take too long to realise that Embalse de Orellana, had shut shop. No longer was it the prolific fishing we had enjoyed up until December, with 42 carp in the week before coming to the UK, topped off with fish to 35.21bs, 2 low 30s and 25, 20s between Myles, Matt and myself.

Matt and I headed for Puerto Pena, an area about five km downstream from the dam at the foot of Embalse de Garcia Sola. We had been fishing here just before returning to England and it seemed the logical place to continue our quest, but after seeing, nothing for a week it was time to go elsewhere. Experience has taught us that if we see nothing, we move, as many of the carp travel in large shoals and are easy to spot. We moved to an area around 20 km down, close to a place that had been productive in autumn. Dave, a client, had a 421b common and James a 321b common , and had up to six runs each a day close to an old riverbed.

All looked good, but Matt and I, even after seeing a few fish, were not happy fishing in 60 feet plus of water, we had both had enough. The area to our right had become inaccessible and with it being so cold and windy it was not possible to boat out baits to the shallower area (averaging 34 feet) that we had caught from in the past two weeks – time to think again. 16 km down was good – Myles and I had fished it on the other side in November and caught, and had thought it would be a good area to try in winter. But again, the weather made it impossible to get baits out to 250 yards where the fish were showing.

In mid January I would be fishing alone, or at weekends with our Spanish friend, a great young guy called Ismael. Plan B had been forming, and it was time to look at another ‘pond’, about 1 hours drive away. The fish here had only been stocked about 12 years ago – we’ve been told 1,500 of them. After seeing several photo’s of some huge fish to 31kg of Ismaels and a couple of other Spanish carp anglers, it seemed like the place to be. It is about a third of the size of Orellana, and at a mere 12 km long, maybe location would be easier, and surely, looking at the size and shape of the fish they would be feeding.

We had fished there twice before, with Matt and I having a couple of little stockies and Myles losing a good fish. Ismael hade been doing OK, though, with commons of 351bs and 441bs in early December at the time when we were still back in England. I arranged to meet Ismael at the café to buy our day tickets on Saturday afternoon and fish through till Sunday. Ismael was keen to try a new area near the dam where he had caught his fish from. This was in one of the many huge bays, and well tucked away from sight, as the local police had been visiting the area.

After going down quite a bad track for 500 metres, we found a nice tucked away spot, but as we started to unpack our gear a huge fish erupted from the water on the opposite side of the bay. 15 minutes later we were setting up in full sight of the dam and sticking baits out, where the fish jumped.

It had been a warm day, sunny and flat calm, so I set up a bedchair with a Trakker cover, while Ismael decided to kip in the back of his van, its not illegal to sleep out, but tents aren’t allowed. Besides, we had a clear view of any cars heading our way, and assuming we were awake, we had plenty of time to reel in.

At around 11pm we saw headlights at the top of the track but by the time I got my first rod snagged and straightened the hook they’d turned around, so I put on a new rig and recast slightly left to avoid the other rods, and back to bed. It was cold and I slept lightly, strirring to the sound of a dozen or so huge fish crashing through the night. We saw a few fish during the morning but all at range, and quite a bit of bubbling vortexes near the baited area. At 11am I decided that a re-cast was in order, so I turned off all three alarms and started reeling the rods in.

Two down and one to go, and the only rod left out tore off. The drag was smoking and tip pulling around, nice, straight into a big carp! It kited left with the line pinging over rocks so I kept the tip high, and with steady pressure soon had the fish coming towards me. Ismael put on my waders and was ready with the net but after a bit of trouble netting the carp in the shallow water, he simply grabbed at it, picked it up , and placed it in the net! My heart was in my mouth at this point – Ismael’s English is not bad, but I think my swearing and shouting may have confused him a little! - but at last, my first carp of 2007, beautiful common of 37.41bs.

The weather turned much for the worst after that, and after a few day-sessions the following week, where the only carp I saw were at silly ranges, I spent some time fishing back on the Orellana in hope of seeing carp, perhaps even a barbel. This area near the dam produced a 441b barbel last January, but unfortunately, it now seemed quite lifeless.

Matt returned on a Saturday night and it was snowing as we drove back from the airport. Monday morning we were back out there to fish all week, leaving at 7am each morning to arrive at the venue before light, to have a good look at as much water as possible. We felt that the area where our friends had been fined to be the best bet, although, very little was showing apart from a couple of small stockies, and one lump that crashed. By Thursday, not a touch – so on the Friday we decided to move into the area I’d caught the 37 pounder from, just to have a look.

As we began to set up on Friday morning it was a nice bright day and a fish came straight out of the water 90 yards in front of me. The first rod landed in the rings on the surface before it had got its tail back in the water, the other two were positioned either side of that, and a couple of handfuls of boilies were ‘sticked’ out for good measure.

At about 10am it was off, just a few bleeps and it stopped, but the line was still twitching. Possibly one of the stockies? As I lifted the rod it tore off…great! The carp gave a good account of itself but it didn’t feel massive. Matt helped me into the waders and in I got in to net a very pretty 251b mirror carp. I was really very happy with the fish but, to demonstrate our expectations of this place, it’s the smallest we have heard of other than stockies. Isn’t it nice to think that you’ve more chance of a 401b than a 251b!

Sunday evening we’re back with a small inflatable boat and a couple of big buckets of bait. After finding a fairly good clean area of lake bed (it is incredibly snaggy with rocks and sunken trees jutting six feet off the bottom in many places) so a good hour was spent with a marker float. Matt found a spot to my left on the end of the point we were fishing from, and I stayed close to the spot I’d had the 251b’er from.

After a quick trip over each spot in the boat it was time to go and get ready for the morning. As we set off on Monday morning, again, the weather had changed, now thick mist shrouded everything. It never cleared, and on Tuesday as we set up to fish for three days and two nights our confidence started to sag. By Wednesday it was raining and didn’t stop until we left on Thursday. We saw no carp but most of the time it was impossible to see more than 50 yards, some days it just isn’t easy. We are now into February as I write and I can’t stop thinking about Orellana.

It was slowly warming up and that weekend it was sunny, so Saturday afternoon I decided to chuck the rods out and watch the water at Puerto Pena for a few hours. Just before dark I saw a tail break the water, wave, then slip away near some half-sunken trees about 150 yds out, then two more. Sunday, Matt and I were back marking and spodding, the water level is high (around 20 feet) and about 350-400 yards across, but by the end of summer its no more than two streams with a little water trickling through from the dam and the lake bed is a meadow for cattle and sheep. We set up on Monday and fished to the near edge of the first river – the area that had been so productive for us in the past – but at 4pm I had to go back to Talarrubias to have the sump guard bolted back onto the 4x4 (and a few other bits looked at, as I’d given it a bit of a knock on the rough terrain and it was now being held together with rusty fence wire) when I received a text message from Matt telling me he had counted 32 carp jump on the far side and hurry up!

I returned at 9pm – there are now words for ‘hurry up’ in Spanish! Only half the work had been done, but I somehow managed to explain ‘its urgent’. As I left, I promised to drive carefully and return Friday pm as the 4x4 needed to be off the road for a couple of days. The track on the far side is not easy to find in the daylight let alone at night, and it has a small stream to cross and gullies running the length of it deep enough to get stuck in, so we decided to fish over the baited area and move at first light. After a restless night of hearing massive fresh fish jumping along the far bank, as we packed up, I kept seeing carp jumping on one spot, just behind a treetop sticking out of the water. Interesting.

I broke my promise to drive carefully and half an hour later we were bouncing and spinning down the track towards the water’s edge. The treetop I had seen from the opposite bank was about 130 yds out, and after about a dozen big chucks I managed to get it right and felt the lead hit the bottom with a thump 20 yds short. I ‘sticked’ out a couple of hundred boilies and set up the other two rods at about 50 yds in a clear patch in the weed with 101b of spod mix. It turned cold and most of the fish seemed to have moved out, but you know sometimes, you just have that feeling, and I could hardly sleep. So at 4am, when the range rod screamed off, I fought my way out of the sack, forgot my trainers and leant into one big lump of carp.

The fight was slow and heavy and to start with I thought there might be a lot of weed around it but when I got in the shallow margin all hell broke loose and it tore straight back out again. Now my arse was really going when it got snagged around a bush about 10 yds out, but a quick walk down the bank and a couple of flicks of the rod tip and it came free. Matt was good with the net and after getting his feet wet she slipped in first time. We balanced the wet sack to the scales and Matt lifted the carp, there it was, 501bs 4oz of very fat common carp. I placed her in a deep margin and waited until first light for the photos. After much tea, and smoking everything I had for two days, it was time to hold her up. After three hours in the sack it was not easy, and she was a little lively at times, but we got a few good shots before I slipped her back. The dam had now been opened and though we sat it out for another night it became impossible to fish as the flow was too great and the weed kept taking the rods out, and the influx of cold water pushed the carp out, but never mind, job done!

Dave Franklin

Thanks for the report Dave, and for looking after us. I look forward to flying down again soon mate, and you’d better believe that I just can’t wait to set a hook into one of those huge lumps I witnessed! When I do, you will hear about it here, but in the meantime check out www.fatanglingtours.com for further information.

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