Well its soon come round and it was nice knowing James and Paul were to be the first in and that rather than looking after them I was to have a little fish with them. The trip was arranged last year where we had a carp only trip up at Riba Roja, lots of fish to 26lb but no Ebro Monsters so the plan was to head upstream and give the Famous Mequinenza a try. A bit of pre season looking around found some lovely looking swims away from the concrete of the Town stretch and it was here where we headed managing to get into my preferred swim,
Weather was ok, the main problem we were going to have to tackle was a faster than normal flow of very cold snow melt, but with a fresh batch of my favourite Pineapple boilies I was confident. We soon had camp set James and Paul to the right and me upstream to the left, rods out mug of tea (thanks for my new mug James) in hand, Happy Days 2016 had started in ernest. All day we kept an eye out for any signs of fish showing…well I say we I mean me and James as Paul was deep in his bag rattling some weird noises out!!!!! Ouch he can snore!!! That evening we saw very few signs of fish we kept the rods out till 12pm (no night fishing allowed!!) and got them back out first thing. Nothing through the night and apart from kippers and poached eggs for breakfast nothing in the morning either. All day we watched the river for any signs but very little to show us where they might be, I had a Red Squirrel in a pine tree above me, nice to see even though his discarded pine cones were landing rather close!! Second evening approached and apart from a huge roach coming to Paul (think it was James that pointed out that the continual alarm bleeping and rod bouncing was a sign!!!!). As dark was upon us James had a screamer ….proper head shaker and a surprize as a mid double cat popped its head up……not the intended target but James and Paul off the mark!!! We had all now changed rigs, baits etc and although no need to panic yet, ive always said when it gets hard go back to basics and my tried and tested yellow snowman is just that. So out went both my rods over the baited area and there they would stay until time to reel in. 11pm and I get a bleep then a screaming take I pulled into a very heavy fish which took off straight out into the middle of the river. The other two where in competition for who can snore the loudest so after a really good scrap I climbed down the bank to land what looked a very good carp. I put her in a retainer over night and kept an eye on her a few times before time to get the rods out for the morning. Morning came and time to wake up James and Paul, Paul was already awake but James was buried deep in his bag……obviously Paul won the snoring contest!!!!!! So both of them hadn’t a clue of my efforts last night so time to have a good look, weigh her and take some pics. Big fish which went 37lb 1oz
37lb 1oz
The morning passed with nothing else but there were fish showing now, mainly down the margins so I put some bait out down towards where they were showing and my left hand rod over the top. James could also see the fish show along the margins and quite along way down, quick look and he had found a nice little swim right on top of the showing fish so with just this night to go he up sticks and moved. late afternoon and my margin rod was away, Paul who was awake!!! came to give me a hand slow plodding fight with the odd shake of the head not a big fish I said. Paul climbed down the bank to land it and as it came to the net we realised it was another corker. This one totally unmarked absolutely stunning fish and at 39lb 2oz so close to magic 40.
39lb 2oz
Little later I get a text from James to say he had lost a big fish to a straightened hook !! could he be on the fish as well. Paul moved a rod to the margin and we settled in under the oval shelters with a kebab as it started to rain. Boy did it rain but at about 11pm my margin rod was away again……strong fish screamed off down the margin another good fish and soon with help from Paul it was in the net. Bigger this one incredible session as the digi Rubens said 42lb 8oz that’s a new PB for me.
42lb 8oz
The wind and rain were brutal all night, we were planning on rods out at 5am but we were cold very wet, I woke at 8am and the rain had eased so it quickly got both rods out as it was also time to start packing up and everything was soaked. As we got the ovals down and were loading up the truck I noticed a tap on the margin rod and it wasn’t long before it was away, Paul who was next to me and only a roach to shout about was onto it, another good fight and as it came to the net another good fish. 32lb 12oz and a really great way to finish a fantastic session.
Paul 32lb 12oz
So the end of a hard but great trip, yellow had done it again, possibly could have had more fish in the end, James had no further action in his swim.
2016 off to a flyer, 4 stunning big Ebro Carp and a new area to fish this year, we’ll not be neglecting The Fig Tree but for those who want a crack at the Ebro’s huge carp a trip up to Mequinenza is well worth a shout.
until next time Paul
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