Arnold

Field Tester

0

The end of august 2013 was a hot month with temperatures of well over 40 degrees recorded all over the Spanish Costas. In the dry arid lands of Caspe and the surrounding area, it was with great joy that I can go fishing and enjoy some of the cooler weather. Being a full time guide does not allow you to fish. Sure, you go fishing, but you don't actually fish. You take the baits out and use the boat, land the fish but hardly get to wind them in or fish for yourself. So, with the great news of the all-new SBS consultation in place, I received my first batch of bait in time for the trip.

It turned out there was a social competition with the federation of fishing, so the two things combined made it even better.

The Riba Roja area in the town of Mequinenza has never really been in my heart to fish but I thought ‘well at least I get to learn how they feed below the dams and get to see what the great SBS bait are truly like’. Speaking to a good friend and guide there, Gereth, he kindly took me round the areas that were cut off for the competition saying the jet ski swim would be the best one to fish. With the location ready for me and fishing buddy Javier, the Bivvy was set up and rods all ready to go. I had previously made a good batch of PVA mix and had the squid octopus and strawberry jam bolies along with the premium wafters.

Gareth was showing me some of the locations he had previously fished there in this particular swim and the trees sticking out of the water were an obvious but very cautious area. There was an old orchard to each side with a deep channel running straight out in front of us. The first rod was baited and cast to the trees on the left side of our swim followed by a nearer tree just on the side of a very small bay that cut in next to us on the left side.

The first night we saw lots of fish crashing out, straight out 200metres and off to the left. I thought I was in with a good chance of plenty of fish. Nothing had been caught at all so far but I knew I could do well. FIRST BITE - 12.45 a drop back and a missed fish… I thought here we goagain, no sleep. But it was not to be, as the next time I woke was at 07.00am. I was amazed that it had been a fishless night and to see so many fish crashing out, it simply blew me away. Through the next day the weather increased to 30+ degrees again but shelter from the willow trees provided me with some comfort. With the birdlife, like the herons and the vultures, it was a sight I never fail to tire of… it’s always nice to see and I can truly say it makes a better day.

Javierhad to go work, arriving late in the day to find me with no fish. He looked amazed to say the least, as he expected me to have at least a few fish. I said to him “you have to fish to the right hand side”. There were some bigger fish over there, so hopefully that was the key… I said “lets not bait it up as much as they are not going mad”. Which was the case for sure. He cast out with just a pva bag and pellet on one rod and squid octopus and strawberry jam on the other. We again had a fishless night, it was not looking good, but then we heard it was the same all over. 25 anglers had only caught 5 fish. Well, we stand a chance, just have to change baits. I was to now fish premium wafters on one rod, never putting all my eggs, as they say, in one basket. It was not long before I had a screaming run…  off it went towards the orchard that lay only meters from where I had cast. Gratefully I landed a 6.00kg fish and we had not blanked which is always great news.

The same rod was cast out with the same bait only 1 meter from the exact location as previously, thinking, I have to bank one more fish. The hours passed only to find that we now had another day of hot sunshine. It is times like these you get to thinking ‘what next?’ then all hell lets loose. The same rod on the super premium wafter baits. A fantastic 13.50 kilo common… now we had top weight, it’s amazing how it turns around.

That feeling of never wanting to give up, but feeling down, happens to us all in fishing and this little article can show you just how that happens. Our rigs were pretty basic with 10 inches of 35lb Dyneema braided line, and size 2 and 4 hooks with a standard hair rig. Also, the basic pop up rig with wafter premium baits.

All lined up with a fluorocarbon leader, the tactics we used were just reading the swim, which tells you all you need to know. Just looking at places like this, the telltale signs of trees, weed, little bays etc. are all the places carp love to swim and find their natural food. It is up to you to present it in the right area with the right source of good food that they will eat. SBS wafters proved that they do what it says on the packet ‘real big catch’. Good luck on your next fishing trip and I will be writing my next article after our trip to Italy in October thanks again.

By: Gary Sheridan