Tag Archives: wels catfish

Footage of wels catfish being caught whilst fishing on the River Ebro at Riba Roja d’Ebre in Spain, including underwater footage shot with a waterproof camera. Read all about the exploits of me, Shane Calton and Dave Newby-Thornley in my articles: Alternative Ebro Part 1 – Zander, Roach, Barbel & Carp and Alternative Ebro Part 2 – Catfish, and also take a look at the River Ebro catfish video Shane shot during our trip.

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I trust everyone had an enjoyable Christmas time.  I certainly did but it’s only involved one fishing session, which I’ll mention in my next blog post. Meanwhile, here’s something I found in my drafts folder which I thought I’d posted this a couple of weeks ago. Better late than never, as they say… A quick message to inform you of two recent additions to www.fishingmagic.com; firstly part 2 of my “Alternative Ebro” article is online to read at:  https://www.fishingmagic.com/features/coarse_fishing/specimen_fishing/15601-alternative-ebro-part-two.html Part 2 covers all of the catfish fishing we did with our guide, Carl of Rio Ebro Angling, during the week we spent boat & bank fishing with him at Riba Roja.  I’m told by Carl that since we were there, some of his guests have landed catfish to 164lb, including lure-caught catfish up to 148lb!!! Also, if anyone has a bit of Christmas money to spend on a little bankside/backside comfort for 2012, I recently reviewed the “Stalk-Lite Mk II” reclining chair by Cyprinus for FishingMagic, and rather liked it!  You can read my full review here:  https://www.fishingmagic.com/features/reviews/15584-cyprinus-stalk-lite-chair.html If you’re impressed, you can purchase this chair for less than £30 from Tackle Discounts Online Fishing Tackle Shop online fishing tackle store. That’s all for now …

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Fishing on the River Ebro at Riba Roja d’Ebre in Spain, courtesy of Shane Calton. Watch as we get a treble hooker on the catfish rods! Read all about the exploits of me, Shane and Dave Newby-Thornley in my articles: Alternative Ebro Part 1 – Zander, Roach, Barbel & Carp and Alternative Ebro Part 2 – Catfish, and also take a look at the underwater Ebro catfish footage I shot during our trip.

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So, you knew I was going, but how did I get on, over on the Ebro?  Well, I’m going to keep a little bit back for articles (which I’ll post the links to as soon as they’re online), but we had a brilliant week with Carl of Rio Ebro Angling and we did catch plenty of fish!  Although the catfish took a lot of convincing to feed and the “Charlie Boorman” tactics were almost resorted to!  But, as with all the best stories, it all came good in the end… Between us we caught 11 catfish, several zander and – in just one afternoon – over 50 quality roach to specimen proportions.  We fished for 6 days using baits & lures from boat & bank, so all in all there’s a lot for me to write about! The related articles will be in two parts, the first covering the zander, roach and carp fishing (Alternative River Ebro part 1 – zander, roach & carp) and the second covering all things catfish-related (Alternative River Ebro part 2 – catfish cannonade).  The articles should be appearing in the December 2011 & January 2012 issues of Angling Star, with “director’s cut” extended versions appearing on FishingMagic …

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It’s now just two days until I head off with Shane and Dave for a week-long fishing trip to Spain’s River Ebro. We’ll be fishing with Carl & Angie of Rio Ebro Angling. I know, lucky barstools the lot of us! We booked the trip way back in February so there’s been plenty of time for the excitement to build on this (way overdue) installment of my specimen hunting roadshow! Between us we’ll be fishing for wels catfish, zander, carp and roach, but my personal goals are mainly the catfish and zeds. I’d like to join the Ebro “Ton Club” or better, preferably caught on a lure, although if it gets to the last day and I’m struggling I may have to resort to plan B, or as I like to refer to it, the “Charlie Boorman Plan”, (to catch one “by any means”!).  Hopefully that won’t mean going quite this far, but if my neck gets sunburnt and red and I pick up a bit of a Southern drawl, who knows!… Having never fished the Ebro before, I’d be happy to catch any zander from there. So far, this is my UK PB fish and if I could manage a double from Spain on a …

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Catfish are amongst the most difficult fish to target in the UK. Certainly in the East Midlands, not many fisheries are licensed to stock them and they can be sporadic feeders with a tendency to feed primarily after dark, and predominantly when the water is warm . Add to this the species’ abrasive pads lining the mouth and throat, along with a reputation as a strong fighter, and you have a highly prized and very worthy adversary. My previous two outings targeting catfish – both night sessions at Willowbank Fishery and Shatterford Lakes – had yielded me nothing. So when I saw a report on the Anglers Today website – detailing an unbelievable capture of 810lb of catfish and carp in a 48 hour session from Willowcroft Fisheries, near Wisbech in Cambridgeshire – I was more than a little intrigued! Upon contacting the fishery, I was pleasantly surprised by the friendliness of the staff, who duly answered my (many!) questions about the fishery, its fish, its recent form, etc. As luck had it, the cats were feeding well following a recent warm spell, so a date was arranged. Accompanied by Craig Croft-Rayner I made the trek down to Wisbech for …

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