cobleyn

You've certainly been done. I'd look at your indication a little more closely. The top bead coming off hasn't helped- but (as I'm sure you know) don't be tempted to glue it on - as that could lead to a tethered fish.

I can remember Amnesia House; circa 1991-1993. Mostly Shelly's and The Eclipse in Cov. Ironically I thinks its those days that's affected my memeory .

By using a gardener one instead .

Typical...prior booking in my diary. Looks like its full too. I was discussing a wineter social with careful carping at barston later this year if anyone fancies it?

Diary permitting...I'm at the next one. Is one set yet?

Lol...well spotted Bob. We did a bit of filming while we were out there. I'll let you know when it's going to be aired.

Ive never heard of vital baits? I'm guessing they are continental in origin? We were just using pop ups and pellets tbh.

So we were up at 05:00 the next morning (before day break) trying to work out what to do. The chances were that the Spanish anglers would be down for the weekend, so we needed plan B. We scoured around the usual pegs in Mequineneza, but it was pretty much pegged up in the decent swims. So after an hour of driving around we headed back up towards the top lake. After 1.5 hours of driving around Chiprana and Escatron we found a nice little (Maybe 4 acres) bay with some fish topping on it. We had 20 minutes sitting and watching the water; but with low doubles being the only fish evident we decided to carry on the search. We were getting frustrated now. With only 3 days to fish and a morning wasted searching for a peg - we decided it might be worth going back to the area we were originally in. As if by some devine chance as we pulled off the track we saw the Spanish anglers from teh night before driving back up the track. Talk about being chuffed. So we pulled into the swim not sure if the Spanish guys had battered them all night or failed to score. Having found one of their rigs at the side of the water- I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have caught much. However, the next question was how much bait they would have put in. We decided to fish PVA sticks over our baited area. We soaked micro pellets in Krill extract to make a soft stinky stick mix and got our rods out. Dean was first off the mark with a decent 20lber. We then waded through countless cats and carp below 12lb. This got a bit frustrating, whilst it was nice to have some action its a long way to go to catch small carp when you know you have 40lbers swimming around. After a long after noon the rods peeled off at a rate of knots, nearly pulling the rod off the pod. Finally something was pulling on the other end like a proper carp. After a solid 10 minute fight (and at the 3rd time of asking) I pulled my biggest fish of the trip over the net cord. As we took the photos the weather was on the change, with 40 miles an hour winds blowing up a storm. We stuck it out for another hour, but it just got unfishable as we were being blinded by sand and dust. We packed up just as thunder and lightening started to crack around us and headed back to our digs for a bite to eat and some kip. The last day started amid heavy rain, but by the time we got up to our swim it had subsided and a cool morning greeted us. The rods went back out to our marks without any fuss. The mossie's were kept at bay by copious amounts of jungle formula and we got down to business. The final day was a steady string of fish. What can I say- timing can be the making of trips- and our timing was off on this one. It was a replacement trip for one that we were planning to take elsewhere that we couldn't get sorted. We were scratching and fishing for bites rather than baiting for a big hit of fish; which is frustrating when you have spent all of that cash and travelled all of that way. But thats fishing! All in all it was a good trip- we have a good crack and caught a few fish in very tough conditions. The fish were down on their weights after they had just spawned. Most of them had massive frames and would have been 3-6 lbs heavier later in the year.

Just back from the Ebro chaps and though I'd do a quick write up. We went out for a long weekend,. Dean flew in from South-end and I fly in from Eats midlands- meeting up at Barcelona before a 2 hour journey out to Mecquinenza. If you are thinking about the trip- Reus is a better option as its only just over an hour. With the long bank holiday flights were difficult to get and double the normal price of what they usually are. With the fish in the process of spawning in the Segre we decided to head up towards the top end of the top lake. The top lake is a slight misnomer, as its a piece of water over 15 miles long and in some places a mile wide. Location is the first issue as the fish can be any where and the river was carrying around an extra 10 feet of water. We settled on a swim that was around 300 yards wide and dropped down into 30 feet in the middle. The bottom was fairly clean, with only a couple of snags. Rigs were very simple I was on Kryston 35lb combi braid and size 2 Fang x's.... Dean was on Korda 30lb combi braid and Size 4 Wide Gapes. Both tied using knotless knots- nothing clever needed. We used Safezone leaders- now I know that this have come in for some flack and I for one was cynical in using them. Actually used correctly- I feel that they aren't as unsafe as we might believe. The trouble I think would come with anglers using them incorrectly- but that's a debate for another day. Baits were simple. Big hallibut pellets topped off with half a pop-up. I used Nutrabaits Pineapple and Nburic, Sea monster (pellet shaped) and Plum and coperic acid. Deano was on Mainline grange with some soaked in the goo. There was plenty of cat activity in the swim- and the odd carp rolling. What was obvious early on was that the fish weren't having it properly. A couple of the swims where the fish were holding up were completely inaccessible due to the water levels- so we were scratching for bites from the off. Our tactic was to row out coconut sized method balls of scalded pellet and drop them at around 120 yards into 20 feet of water. It has to be said the first day was very tough. The temperature was up to 42 degrees and we were suffering. At around 2PM I had to get into the river as I was struggling to regulate my temperature. Sweat was pouring out of me and I was starting to pant like a dog. Not good. Five mins sat neck deep in the river cooled me down though and it was back into teh fishing. The fishing on the first day was patchy. We had a few carp to just over 20lb and loads of small cats and carp to 10lb's. Most of the fish unbelievably coming through the middle of the day in the hottest part. It felt like we were in the right place though so as it was getting later on we dropped around 20 KG's of method balls out over our marks ready for the next day. As we were packing up- the mozzies decided to kick off. I can honestly say I have never encountered such aggressive mozzies anywhere and in such high numbers. We were literally swamped by them within minutes we had been hammered by thousands of them. I've still got around 100 bites on me from that first night- even biting through clothing. As we hastilly pulled down the track the worst possible thing happened- we passed a car full of Spanish anglers heading down the track for our swim. - Not good. I'll write up the rest later.

Les fortinerres is pretty good.

Uk or Abroad...what budget?

Well carpelescu thanks for your first and last post. I suspect that you were just spoiling for a fight. I've just got back from the Ebro and at the moment it is a flourishing fishery. Having caught umpteen small cats and carp I agree that taking a couple of small carp for the table is not going to hurt anyone or anything and is probably less than a big cat eats in a day. Taking big carp and cats though is self defeating for everyone. The big breeding fish won't be able to reproduce and produce further year classes. As long as every one is sensible about what they take it will conserve the ecology for everyone to enjoy. Just because English anglers choose to observe catch and release it shouldn't be derided. The biggest threat to the fish of the Ebro and segre is from the politicians in Madrid. Being so far away they cannot appreciate the money that has been brought into the area by sports fisherman from all over Europe. They have now passed laws to make the RETURN of catfish illegal and punishable with a 300-3000 Euro fine, as it is an non native species. I am disgusted by this...but then I look closer to home and we are doing the same thing.

Thanks for searching Jay much appreciated. I'll lock this now- please post on the listed thread.

If its your first trip I would seriously consider a guide. It's a huge piece of water and the fish can be temperamental and nomadic. Some places demand a boat and two of you to get your bait out. Other places a pub chuck over 20kgs of bait will do the job. Theres a chap called Ed Brett out there who knows the segre and Ebro as well as you can and is worth hiring for a few days to get you into the swing of things. Pitching up on mecquinenza front is easy fishing but not very adventurous and can resemble Blackpool pier.

It's not too far off now. I'll put a report together when we get back. It my 6th trip out there over the last 10 years, so I've got a good feel for the place now. The plan is to head up the top end near escatron...as the fish have been stacked after spawning. They may have headed back out though. So we end up nearer caspe. Where are you heading for in sept?

Its very supple stuff, so I can't see it having the same issues as lead core. If you get a length of it and put it in the margins the stuff literally disappears as its so heavy it sinks into the top silt layer. I've never seen a hooklengths like it either. I've only used it in the heavier strengths (80lb I seem to recall) for cats in Spain and for redtails and arapiama. Very abrasion resistant!

It's awesome stuff. Used it for leaders and for hooklengths for big stuff.

Same as you Gaz. -I would hope that I sleep through it. It won't end well if I get up....probably for me...I'm sure these folks don't travel alone or un-armed.

Yup- I remember that story. Hopefully its all crossed wires and its not true.

Just spoken with a mate who's been on for a few days. Reckons he was sleeping with one eye open after he heard. So I reckon its straight up.

Just heard someone has been hog tied and dumped into a ditch whilst they had their tackle pinched. Anyone else heard this?

So we've settled for 3.5 days on the top lake of the Ebro. The "top lake" is a slight misnoma...it's about 12 miles long and a mile wide in some places. A Report will be delivered when we get back...unless we blank...and then I'll pretend we never went!

sorry my mistake. I didn't get the Leicester reference.

I went around 4 years ago. Nice place. I had one of the lodges for the family and I bivvied on the lake just outside. It had some teething problems in the lodge as it was a relatively new place and the surrounding area is a bit quiet. Fishing wise I scored quite well- with probably 6-10 fish a day and a few decent cats thrown in. It was quite a hungry water and I got through probably 50 KG of bait whilst I was there.