John Phelps rounded off a successful break to the Ebro with this 60lber caught close to the end of the session. The cats had been scaring the baits all day but seemed reluctant to take one in the rapidly cooling water, until around 5pm when this one nailed a huge mullet. An impressive fight for a 60 was experienced, with some of the runs more typical of a treble figure fish!
Some crazy conditions on the Ebro today with the session beginning in a torrential down pour before a gale force northerly wind arrived in the afternoon. The river initially looked in good nick for catfishing with over night rain colouring the water to brown and dislodging banks of weed. The fish seemed to be on the feed from the off and it was not long before John Phelps got his first experience of an ebro giant with this impressive specimen of 141lb. The wind then arrived in a concerning manner with some of the strongest gusts ever witnessed by the guides, making the fishing tricky. 2 further cats in the 50’s completed the day’s catch.
A session in the Delta yielded 2 cats for Snowy today, with these 2 lively scrappers of 76 and 89 providing the action. Both fish were caught close to a margin stuffed with bait fish, with mullet accounting for the first one and carp the second.
The seasons are changing rapidly with cold night time temperatures resulting in a quick decrease in the water temperature, currently dropping at around 0.5 - 1 degree celcius per day. Despite this an excellent result was achieved today for Ian Pickford and Ian Quinn. Snowy got the ball rolling with a majestic beast of 142lb, a new PB, caught on an enormous mullet fished in the vacinity of the Amposta chicken factory. The day was completed in excellent fashion with a cat of exactly 100lb falling again to mullet, this time in 25ft of water, to Ian Quinn (the one in the hat).
After wednesday’s big cat blitz it seems as though the big cats have sated their appetite and the going was tough today with brisk northerly winds doing little to help. Despite covering similar territory the cats seemed to be right off the feed, until around 5pm when this welcome 58lber accepted a mullet to put a smile on Pekka’s face.
A real ‘red letter’ day for our Finnish visitors Veli-Pekka Honko and Jari Hahto. The fish were on the feed in a big way despite no apparent change in the conditions. All of the fish were found lurking on a notorious drop off from a shallow weed bed into a deeper channel. Both anglers smashed their personal best’s with Jari bagging a 90lber and Pekka hitting the jack-pot with a brace at 133 and 144!
A great start to the session for Keith Tidey today when he bagged this personal best ebro catfish of 129lb from the Big Cat Alley drift upstream of Amposta. The fish accepted a small carp presented static tight into the margin and put up an arm wrenching battle after we were able to clear the line of weed.
It looked like lost fish tears for Jason Cissell when this 96lber snagged him in a tree during the fight. The fish appeared to know what it was looking for as it ran at speed into the underwater structure. Fortunately, after a lot of wrenching and pulling, the branch the fish was snagged on came adrift and the fish was boated for the delighted angler.
Pictures to follow…..
An early morning stint paid dividends for Andy Cissell with this 117lb lunker taking a caged zombie in around 15ft of water close to the chicken factory at Amposta. The fish was a welcome reward after the last few days had yielded only kittens.
Deep down the Ebro Delta there are not vast numbers of catfish, but when you do hit one they can be extremely large. This whacker of 131lb took a small mullet at around 5pm and put up a phenomenal scrap, towing the boat almost the width of the river with some really powerful surges. The fish ups Rogers personal best from the 116 he caught at Amposta yesterday. The fish looked like it would easily have surpassed the 150+ mark but for an empty girth.
