Quiet on the river today with few signs that the cats were interested in feeding, despite conditions still appearing to look favourable, ie. water coloured, around 20 degrees and good quality mullet bait. Still, there is usually a reward for perseverance and this came at the end of the session in the shape of a 90lber for Jamie Penfold.
With England in action in the World Cup at 16.00 CET we opted for an early start today, fishing 7 until 3, and this paid dividends for Jamie Penfold who was rewarded with another lower Ebro monster of 145lb. The fish nailed a large mullet drifted in a 20ft trough south of Amposta and put on a great battle for the onlooking rowers in the early morning stint.
The fish falls just 1 lb short of a personal best for Jamie, and Byron Aston also notched his first of the trip today, an 86lber.
Great fishing continued today with some more sensational fish being boated down on the lower Ebro. The biggest fish of the day was a massive 158lb for non-angler Mark Harvey, drafted in for the trip as a last minute replacement for a guy who broke a leg! Mark could scarcely believe his luck to catch a monster of these proportions on his first trip and the fish put up an epic battle.
There was a second successive result for Rob Penfold who caught another huge fish of 142lb, part of a double hook-up with Mark Varley who bagged an 86.
More pics to follow….
After a weekend away from the river it was nice to return and get straight back into a bonanza of monster 100lbers, with the Delta again being the productive area. The river had dropped over the weekend but was on it’s way back up again and still carrying some colour - a critical factor.
Byron Aston’s party were delighted with the first day of their trip which included whackers of 156 (Rob Penfold), 146 (Jamie Penfold) and 131(Tony Gilbert), oh…. and a 24 to Mark Varley. Mullet was the successful bait for all the fish today, most of the big ones coming out late evening.
Fantastic June fishing down the Delta continued today with a further 3 tons being caught on mullet. Kevin Ellis profited from a dawn raid to take an impressive 118lber in the early morning session. On the other boat there was again drama as a memorable double header took place, both cats accepting zombies drifted just off bottom. John managed to snare his fish at 131, but Pete sadly pulled out of his after a long fight which easily eclipsed the battle from the boated fish, so who knows what that one may have weighed! There was, however, the consolation of a 112 late afternoon for Pete, which took a baby mull.
With the water level still high the Delta has been fishing really well, perhaps due to the drifts being slightly more sedate in this very wide section of the river. Pete Escott scored a fine double today with a brace of fish at 86 followed by a personal best monster of 131, a first entry into the 100 club for the novice angler . Perhaps the most dramatic part of the day occured during the fight with the 131, when BOTH the other rods received takes, but BOTH were missed by John Sartin and Al, denying the possibility of what could have been a sensational treble header!
Martin Campbell is one of our most prolific customers when it comes to snaring those treble figure cats and he managed to add to his tally this evening with a ’scraper ton’ of 103lb caught from a rarely fished deep water drift in Deltebre. The fish is Martin’s 14th ton up caught with Al and Mart over 11 year’s of visits - a fine achievement. Other smaller cats caught today included a 65 for Martin, 40 to Kevin Ellis and a 50 for Pete Escott.
We opted not to photograph this one due to pouring rain at the time of capture!
John Evans and Steve McDonald rounded off their trip in good style today with another excellent result, 119 to John and 87 to Steve. The cats are readily taking mullet at present, making the bait catching element of the day just as important as the fishing! The Delta was once again on song and produced the 2 fish today, along with a brace at 89 and 40 for father and son combination Don & Don Whitney.
Pictures to follow…..
John and Steve were back into the action again today as the Delta switched on in a big way in dull conditions late in the afternoon. A 4 fish haul could have been even better but for a number of missed takes as the fish went ballistic again in the coloured water. Best of the day was a hard scrapping 130 which fell to Steve’s mullet and is a PB catfish for the experienced worldwide angler.
No sign of any feeding activity today until around 5 in the afternoon, and then incredibly two ton plus fish in the space of around 30 minutes! The delighted captors were John Evans and Steve McDonald on the first day of their trip, John’s fish weighing in at 114 with Steve’s a 104. The Delta section was the venue and both fish pot up impressive fights in the extra flow.
