When the cats are not active sometimes the static approach can produce a result, and that was the case today with an excellent capture of 121lb to John Hoad. After a morning on the drift without so much as a sniff of a chance, we opted to hole in on a known summer hotspot late afternoon and this approach proved to be a success with another lower Ebro heavy weight, and John’s first entry into the ‘100 club’!
Mullet often hold the key to success, but have been extremely scarce over the last few days, not even showing on the chicken factory outlet at Amposta. A switch to the Delta proved to be an inspired move today, and some extensive cast netting yielded a couple of the rarer thick lipped mulls in the 3lb category. Both baits were accepted, again in the lower Delta margins, by two real heavy weights of 166lb and 134lb. Both fish put up an immense show of power in their efforts to snag us in the margins, with Dean being dragged across the front decking on his knees as he clamped down on the 166! Khan was the captor of the 134, and both guys were delighted with their new personal bests!
An afternoon session down on the lower Delta proved to be successful for Brian Griffiths and kids Gabby and Rigo. The session began with a fish lost almost immediately in the margins, but this was all forgotten at around 5pm when Gabby’s float shot under and she hooked into a giant silure. The fish was determined to snag us in the margin, but with a little help from dad Brian we were able to halt the run and play the fish out in the safety of the mid channel. The fantastic specimen weighed in at an astonishing 156lb and adds to a growing list of huge cats to be caught right down the bottom end of the river.
We are taking a break for a couple of weeks in August this year, latest catch reports will resume @ 20th August….
An interesting day well down the Delta today with some good margin action, including fish of 108lb to Reg Purton, 63lb to Paul Purton and also the loss of a toothy sea predator (probably a blue fish) which bit us off having taken a carp fished on a shallow rig!
Chances have been at a premium lately, but you don’t mind having to wait for a bite if the fish are in this category! This monster of 157lb came from a known productive area deep down in the Delta and gave a spectacular take as it chased a small mirror carp to the surface before rolling with the bait on the top. The delighted angler was James Purton, who has fished the Ebro for many years and improved his PB by a considerable margin.
What a thrill today for youngster Lucas Carter who managed to join the ‘100 club’ with a little help from dad Gary. The fishing has been tough for the last few days so it was a major result to latch into this fine fish at the end of the final session of the trip. Lucas has caught some big cats from Essex still waters back home, but this is his first experience taste of an Ebro lunker and it tipped the scales to 132lb!
A return to Amposta for an afternoon into evening session produced the goods today with a 3 fish haul, including one of the lower Ebro’s true giant catfish of 173lb falling to the rod of Neil Wickstead. This gargantuan cat took a big mull of around 3 and a half pound and put up one of the season’s most scintillating battles with some incredibly powerful surges. The session ended on a high when David Wickstead latched into his second ‘ton-up’ in 2 days, with a 116lber completing a dream come true trip for the Stoke lads.
After an uneventful day at Amposta yesterday, a change of location was decided upon with Tortosa the chosen venue for the day. This proved to be an inspired choice with the capture of this monster of 135lb for Stoke-on-Trent angler David Wickstead, who arranged the trip at short notice to celebrate his 50th birthday. A mullet fished in a deep drift close to the town did the trick.
It’s fiesta time over in Catalunya at present and here are a few images from the Bull run in Al’s home village of Camarles!
Al took time out from matadorial duties to guide Ian Stanley to a first ever cat of 58lb from lower Amposta, the day almost ended with the fish we were after but sadly a hard running Ebro giant slipped the hooks right at the finale. City fan Ian was still ‘made-up’ with his first ever siluro!
