CRAFTY CARPER CARP FISHING IN SPAIN ARTICLE

ELLIS BRAZIER AND STEVE REDDING OUT WITH FATANGLINGTOURS

FAT ANGLING TOURS HAD A GREAT VISIT FROM CRAFTY CARPER MAGAZINE FOR THEIR COVERAGE OF US IN THEIR 48 HOUR fOREIGN COVERAGE SESSION. THE ARTICLE WENT OUT IN THE JANUARY 2008 EDITION AND IT WAS A HUMDINGER OF A STAY WITH SOME CRACKING CARP BEING CAUGHT. BELOW IS THE ACTUAL TEXT OF THE ARTICLE WITH A PICTURE. WE PLAN TO ADD THE FULL PDF FROM THE ACTUAL MAGAZINE SHORTLY.
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48 HOURS IN SPAIN !

This month Bog and Braz have decided to pack their suitcases, pick up their passports, and head to the breathtaking Embase de Orellana in Spain for a 48-hour session in the sun!

Although Spain may seem a little out of reach for the average weekend angler, to be honest nothing could be further from the truth…

Our feature has always been aimed at anyone like us, i.e. if you can manage a couple of 48-hour sessions over the course of a month, you are doing well. Matt, boss of Fat Angling Tours realises this, and caters very well indeed for anglers such as us. A three-night stay in his plush accommodation, with up to four days’ angling possible, costs only £395.00. This includes rods, reels, bait, guiding and a boat; not bad at all really when you consider the price of bait and 48-hour tickets to any commercial fishery in this country. Our flights cost us £75 each with Ryanair and that included travel insurance. We booked our flight about three weeks prior to the trip, but if you book earlier better deals are always possible. The flight from East Midlands to Madrid is around two hours, but weight limits are quite tight, so if you fancy taking loads of your own tackle and bait you may need to pay more money for extra luggage allowance.

The Venue

As mentioned, we are fishing on Embase de Orellana, which is a massive lake 34km in length that has been created by a hydroelectric dam on the Guardiana River. This river runs 500 miles from east to west across Spain, passing many old fashioned villages as it makes it way through Extremadura. There are rumours of monster commons to 38kg (831b+), and mirrors to 34kg (741b+). As things stand at the moment, night fishing is not allowed on the lake and the penalty is a 90 euro fine, coupled with the possible loss of your gear if the garde de peche feels so inclined, therefore we can only fish the days on this trip. This law is due to change soon, but don’t hold your breath! Fat Angling Tours have provided us with a brand new four-bedroomed town house for our accommodation, and food and refreshments are just a stroll away at the café/bar Los Naranjos. Here you will find Vincent, who will make sure you’re fed and watered, and he will even make you a packed lunch for the day’s fishing ahead!

Day One

08.30 Bog: After a swift breakfast, and a short bumpy ride up here, Braz and I survey the swim Matt has sorted for us. “It’s massive!” we both say.

We discuss the scale of the task awaiting us and have a good chuckle; after all we’ve messed about in big puddles together since we were born, so things haven’t changed much! Matt’s done most of the groundwork on this venue before our arrival so I’ve decided to do the sensible thing and take his advice, because he knows the venue better than anyone. As we survey our swim, we notice that the shoreline is littered with the remains of many signal crayfish, which makes me wish I’d come armed with some Richworth Crab and Mussel boilies. But fear not, I did manage to get a few bags of K-G-1 over here with me, which, when coupled with my trusty Hinders Krab ‘n’ Krill boilie pellets, should be fine. The pre-glugged boilie pellets are now harder than a stone goat, which may prove to be a winner with so many pesky crays around.

The last time I visited Spain it became apparent that heavy lines, savage rigs, and baits the size of a football didn’t always fool the carp. Indeed the exact possible opposite was the case; however, to lose the carp of a lifetime through fishing too light would be daft. I’ve decided to opt for Size 6 Swivel Longshank Nailers coupled with a 151b Fox Coretex hooklink, to create The Orellana Swivel Rig! The rig will be accompanied by the highly abrasion-resistant Berkley Snide leader and a Korda in-line lead, which I may have to change over to a lead clip setup if the sharp rocky bottom proves to be a problem. On the question of bait, I want to begin the session with what I know and have confidence in; on short sessions, something not known is best avoided to begin with, in my opinion. I will start with one rod on the Krab ‘n’ Krill boilie pellet, an 18mm K-G-1 tipped with a fishy bright yellow pop-up on another, and a single K-G-1 18mm on the third rod.

08.30 Braz: My first view of the lake is incredible. This place is huge and very wild; in fact, I keep expecting Clint and Elijah to ride over the brow of one of the many dusty hills. Tackle is provided, so all I have to sort out is the terminal end. I have brought a bits bag with me containing hooklinks, hooks, leaders, clips, etc., so all that is left is to tie some rigs. I opt for Berkley brown leaders, which match the lakebed perfectly, and a Hybrid hooklink with a Size 6 Longshank X hook. I am fishing Snowman hookbaits consisting of Sonu Baits’ Yellow Tutti pop-ups on top. I am really excited and can’t wait to get the baits out.

12:30 Braz: Although four hours’ fishing on a new lake in a different country is nothing on which to base an analysis of carp behaviour, something doesn’t feel quite right to me. Other people have received action, and on taking their baits back out by boat their echo sounders report columns of carp stacked up in 40-45ft of water. My swim has a maximum depth of 32ft and no real features and there are no fish showing up on the echo! I am constantly watching carp topping over a deep gully in front of another swim, so I am starting to think I need to move, but am I being too hasty?

13.30 Brog: After a surprisingly quiet morning I carefully slide the net under my first victim, a hard-fighting common of 171b 8oz. He came from the base of a shelf clearly visible on the echo sounder in 36ft of water and at a range of 180yds. The carp hugged the bottom and had a go at chatting up my 151b Big Game main line but failed to evade capture. I’ve been lucky but I need to change, so off come the in-line leads to be replaced with the lead clips and tail rubbers. Just reeling in is taking its toll on my tackle, and even standing high up the bank with the rod aloft whilst reeling in like a man possessed hasn’t helped my hookpoints survive a single retrieve. So, it’s fresh rigs all round each time I need to recast. There’s a lesson here – not to skimp on the end tackle you take out with you, because there’s no carp fishing shop here!

16.00 Bog: Today I’ve managed only two carp but they’ve been decent ones. In fact, they are the only ones to have come out, so I’m very happy. After setting in tomorrow morning I intend to do some experimenting to see whether I can stumble across THE tactic.

17.00 Braz: I have spent the rest of today zigzagging open water with the echo sounder in an area off to the far left-hand side of everyone else. I eventually found what I was looking for; a deep-water gully and then a huge bar on the outside of the gully. I’ve dropped the baits in my newfound feature and have already lost one and landed a scraper-20 common, so now I can’t wait until tomorrow – confidence is high!

Day Two

09.00 Braz: Rigs and baits for today are almost the same as yesterday, with only one minor adjustment, which is to change the yellow Tutti topper for a yellow Squid pop-up; Bog’s success yesterday (using strong fish flavours) has swayed me over from the fruity ones. My first trip out with the boat to drop two rods has revealed that a load of carp are stacked up in the deep gully. The echo sounder reveals that the carp are lying at about 33-37ft in 42ft of water. The huge bar/plateau beyond them has an average depth of around 35ft, so it doesn’t take a genius to work out that this is the place to position my baits. The wind is increasing by the hour and now that I have dropped two of my rods out, I place a marker on the inside shelf of the gully in 42ft of water at about 80 yards’ range. I have baited in scattered fashion with around 3kg of maize, chopped boilies, and particle mix. This spot gives me a backup should the wind be too strong to row my baits out at range because I will be able to cast them here.

10.00 Bog: I have changed over one of my rods to a yellow barrel-shaped Honey Yucatan pop-up bait topped with one of my faithful two-tone fluoros and it has resulted in a violent take straightaway. As I walk steadily backwards to gain some height on the fish and bed into it, I connect with a solid plodder. “It feels good Braz!” I shout. Braz sounds unimpressed and his reply is better not repeated! She’s in the net and I’m jumping up and down like a frog in a bucket! Lady Luck has definitely made the trip with me and has blessed me with a mint common of just under 351b. This has made the holiday – what a result! The bright baits are scoring well.

11.30 Bog: Lady Luck has clearly done one! We now have an extremely brisk wind, and it’s making the fishing conditions quite hard. Both El and I consider 8oz leads to be necessary in order to keep fishing at range without the wind pulling them out of position.

15.30 Bog: Carp up to mid-20s are coming thick and fast now, but I’m losing a few too many for my liking. I’m punishing myself both mentally and physically in an effort to find out why I’m now losing them over the same ground. “Is it the extra weight of lead?” I hear you say. No it isn’t – I’ve found the problem – it’s a crayfish pot that is attached to a 40-odd feet of rope. It has obviously drifted down on the wind. At least the problem has been addressed so I feel happier about the prospects for day three!

17.00 Braz: It’s nearly the end of day two and things are starting to look very good for me. Although I haven’t matched Bog’s magnificent mid-30 from earlier on, I have received 10 takes today, landing six carp up to mid-20s. Four of these carp came from casts to the deep water. The plateau has produced takes but is also proving to be very snaggy. Tomorrow I will be back with a plan, which, I hope, will put an end to snagged carp on this feature.

Day Three

09.00 Braz: I’m back on the point again for the final day of our trip. Last night back at the accommodation I formulated some changes to the plateau rods to avoid the snags. This consisted of taping two 4oz leads together and fishing them on one lead clip. I have then attached a Korda marker float, minus the screw-in flight just above the leader, via a quick link to act as a buoyancy aid. This setup was to enable the line to come up from the lead and be suspended in mid-water once I tighten down to it. If you cast your minds back a couple of issues to the time when we fished Sapphire Lakes, it is basically a beefed-up version of Bog’s Reed Rig! I am hoping this change in tactics will bring me rewards today.

11.30 Bog: With a few good captures under my belt I now feel the urge to do a bit of experimenting, so I am going to try out large pop-ups in a Snowman presentation. The carp appear to be feeding more confidently down in another angler’s (Steve’s) area, where he is using similar tactics. I can’t lie; Ive used Steve as a bit of a fieldtester on this trip. I gave his some baits to try out and they are doing the business for him.

14.00 Braz: All has remained quiet this morning, but as we approach mid-afternoon the action is starting to kick-off. I have hooked and lost a carp that was so powerful it left me shaking! For over 10 minutes this fish held its own at about 140 yards before finally moving off to my left and then straightening a Size 4 hook!

17.00 Braz: I have fished on since losing that monster and have managed another five carp up to around 251b mark. I was just starting to think that my chances of a Spanish biggie had gone when I suddenly received another take. Like any end to a good book or film in the dying minutes of our Spanish trip it looks as if the biggy is on its way as I play a very weighty carp. At just over 301b it has capped off a wonderful trip for me. We have both bagged ourselves 30s plus a number of backup 20s – a result that would be hard-pressed to achieve in England at this time of year.

17.30 Bog: I am well chuffed for Braz; he has fished hard all trip to catch a 30 at the death is just reward for a lot of effort, and I am pleased with my results. The big rig consisting of two bright pop-ups has worked a treat on these Spanish blighters today and I landed a number of stunners. The bright fishy baits have done the business for us both on this trip, and as the final day’s fun draws to a close, the last catch shots of this great session are backed by the setting sun as we watch birds migrating overhead and discuss the truly magical place that Embase de Orellana is. The hospitality and service supplied by Fat Angling Tours is second-to-none, and the fishing on this venue is practically untouched.

Well, what a trip this has been. Having fished hard all year on the 48 Hours features in England, it has been thoroughly relaxing and enjoyable to visit a new country and experience a different style of fishing. The cost of the trip is certainly affordable and should be something to consider this winter as you look for some prolific action in breathtaking surroundings. We have both had a top time and will certainly be returning in the near future, but for now we need to look forward to returning to the cold and wet England and start preparing for the next 48-hour session. Until next time, it’s been fun.

Bog and Braz

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