Ebro Catfishing

Martin Eyres and Brad Hughes ended their trip on a real high today with a fantastic double capture of a 78lb albino for Brad and a 134lb monster for Martin. This beautiful albino is one that we have only caught previously before on a single occasion, back in 2005 when it weighed 62lbs. The location has changed significantly as the fish was previously caught some 2 miles south of Amposta, with todays capture a similar distance north of the town.

The final fish of the trip was a dramatic capture in a full electric storm of this magnificent 134lber for Martin. The rail bridge was hit by fork lightning during the tussle!

A successful final day for John and Laurie today with the morning capture of a fish each at 72 and 92, both coming from deep water on mullet. The day would have been even better but for the loss of an unstoppable monster mid afternioon for Laurie!

What a fish today for 70 year old Laurie Holland with this monster cat of 145lb caught on a live mullet fished in a 15ft area upstream of Amposta. The fish is Laurie’s biggest to date, exceeding his previous best by a full 10lbs! This capture offers further confirmation that the Ebro’s big boys are ready to feed again after the lull of the previous week, with perhaps cooler temperature’s being a contributing factor.

A change of scenery today for Martin Eyres and Brad Hughes with a day at Tortosa yielding some good sport. Brad caught the fish of the day with an aggressive chomper of 86lb, whilst there was a 54lber for Martin along with 2 smaller kittens (both to Brad). Perhaps the most comical moment came when a fish estimated in the 70lb bracket came to the surface and smashed the float, ignoring the live bait being presented 9ft below!

The big fish are beginning to feed again after a ‘week off’ and the lucky guy today in the right place at the right time was Martin Eyres who was over whelmed with joy to catch a new personal best of 151lb. The fish snaffled a mullet shortly after a slight depth adjustment by specimen angler Martin and put up a monumental battle in one of the rivers more notorious deep sections. The cat eclipses Martin’s previous biggest by 14lbs and is his 7th over the 100lb barrier. 2 smaller cats completed a highly successful day for Martin and fishing buddy Brad.

John Atter has enjoyed a good deal of success on his visit’s to the Ebro fishing with Al and Martin and today was no exception when he hit into this excellent specimen of 109lbs, his 6th over treble figure fish in 4 visits to the river. The fish took a mullet fished on the ‘Big cat alley’ drift in around 20ft of water and was lively around the boat!

It’s been really tough fishing of late, with just a sprinkling of mid to small size fish being taken. The contributing factors seem to be extremely high temperatures, with days reaching upto 37 degrees celsius, which is unseasonably hot for mid june. The river is also running very clear at present, which leads to the mullet being both scarce and also difficut to catch.

Day 1 today for Martin Eyres group of regulars and the first fish of the trip was this 68lber which fell to the rod of Brad Hughes, caught on mullet.

After a tough weekend of fishing at Amposta, with only a small fish and a lost monster to show for our efforts, it was decided that a change of venue was called for. This proved to be an inspired switch as Tortosa fished really well over the last couple of days with 7 fish for Lance, Dale and Fitz, including 2 80’s for Lance and a 90+ for Dale. The highlight came on the tuesday when Fitz hooked into this mammoth 134 from a known hotspot which put up an incredible scrap in the fast, shallow water. Overall a great conclusion to the lads marathon 8 day session.

Just 5 minutes before we were set to reel in, Mark Fitzpatrick’s float shot under and he latched into an epic battle with this awesome fish of 156lb. The fight had some unforgettable moment with the cat at one stage running from centre channel into the margins, having to be stopped with thumb pressure on the back of the spool in order to prevent it reaching snags.

Other fish on the day included a 76 for Dale Blowes and a kitten of around 20lb for Lance Kempster.

A problematic session today resulting from the overnight theft of all our mullet from the bait cages! Still eels can at times be a successful substitute bait and this whacker of 145lb was taken early in the session on a ’snake’ fished tight to the bottom. The fish improves Jon’s personal best from a 126lber taken 3 years ago. Pete Harrison also got in on the action later in the afternoon with a respectable fish of 89lb.