Ebro Catfishing

Another Ton Plus fish!

As some of you already know I had the pleasure of fishing the Fraser river in Canada B.C last October.

The trip was awesome with some of the best fishing I have ever experienced. I am in regular contact with a great guiding service out there and have experienced their professionalism first hand.

I am organizing another trip out there in October 2009. If anyone is interested in joining me on this trip then please contact me on mf175@hotmail.co.uk.

Tight lines,

Martin Fawcett.

What a trip it’s been for London boys Dave Couzens and Tony Scott. After recording personal best’s of 127 and 129 on their first couple of days, the guys have faired equally well yesterday and today. Yesterday’s session was another great result with fish of 96 (Tony) and 87 & 84 (Dave). The icing on the cake came today, late on, after a grueller in a bitter northerly gale. The last hour of the session yielded these two fantastic catfish of the lower ebro, firstly to Dave with a 103, followed shortly after by Tony who nudged his personal best up with this monster of 132!

Big cat alley was the location with mullet the successful bait.

The river is highly unsettled at present and today had risen approximately 2ft with plenty of debris washed down by the extra water. Initially this seemed to have had an adverse effect as the first 6 hours passed with no action on the floats, but just when you least expect it, this beast of 129 hammered a mullet and gave Tony Scott his first experience of a treble figure fish.

After a couple of tough days with just a few small kittens, it was a relief to get back amongst the big fish again today. The river level dropped dramatically over night and this seemed to encourage the better fish into feeding again. Dave Couzens, returning to the Ebro after a successful trip last November, bagged this fantastic Personal Best of 127lbs on a mullet fished in shallow water close to a weedy plateau. Fishing partner Tony Scott also enjoyed his first taste of the Ebro catfish, with an 86lber followed by a mid 20.

Andy Phillips completed his best ever trip to the Ebro today with another huge cat, this time weighing 138lbs. The fish is Andy’s 13th 100lb plus fish caught with us since he first started visiting the Ebro in 2003.

Unfortunately, due to an untidy hooking arrangement, we had to release the fish immediately without photograph to avoid causing any unnecessary stress.

John Miller got in on the act today on the party’s final day. John managed to snare two Delta cats, the first a pristine 35lber, followed by a very aggressive 81 which put up the sort of fight more associated with treble figure fish.

A marathon fight for Jamie Layzell which lasted over 40 minutes from this Amposta fish of 142lb. The fish took a mullet close to Amposta town and put up a dogged battle with long, surging runs before finally giving in. The fish represents a new personal best for Jamie, beating his previous biggest of 117lb.

The stag Andy Phillips had a magnificent result today with a monster brace of catfish from the Ebro Delta weighing in at 143lb and 149lb. Also sandwiched between these two beasts was a 97lb personal best for Kenny Gates.

The 149 gave a memorable take, smashing the float under at high velocity with absolutely no warning before blasting off on a high speed, powerful fight. Check out Kenny playing his 97lber in the background of the photo of Andy and Lee with the 143!

Lee Doctor Hornsby is one of our more prolific catchers of ton up catfish and this was his 6th in just 3 visits to the river with www.ebro-catfishing.com. This beauty weighed in at 108lb and was taken early in the session. There was plenty of drama as the fish found a mid channel sunken tree on the bottom, but was successfully manouvered out. The fish also shed the hooks just at the point of gloving but fortunately guide Martin was able to cling on!

Some pleasant sunny weather has warmed the river up a couple of degrees since we were last out and the cats have begun to wake up. Andy Phillips , out on his Stag do, had an excellent day today with fish of 81, 95 and 30 caught in both shallow and deeper water. Mullet was the bait and all fish were located close to Amposta town. Fishing partner Kenny Gates, on his first visit to the river, also boated a 59.