We would like to take the opportunity to wish you all a

Merry Christmas

and a

Happy New Year.

It’s been a bit busy week or so with guests on short breaks and a mix between Carp and Barbel fishing.

Lee, a very experienced angler on foreign waters who has banked several fish over 50lb with a current PB of 74lb, joined us for 4 nights.
Conditions were very hard for him on his first taste the Orellana, gale force winds for the first 3 days made life difficult. He battled on as the Orellana Carp got the better of him, out of the 7 or 8 runs he only managed to land 2 fish.

Things got worse as Craig set up next to him for a day and banked a couple of fish to over 30lb, to make things worse Alan fished the following day and also had a couple of runs resulting in this fish just below 30lb.

Here’s one of the fish he did land…… and what a smile to go with it!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lee can’t wait to return to get his own back on these Orellana Carp; Craig is looking forward to fishing alongside him on his next visit.

Comizo Barbel Fishing

Barbel fishing was equally daunting for Dave on his 3 day visit, they didn’t get their heads down and he only had several takes, the best fish being this fish just scraping double figures. Alan landed a couple of Comizos and got cleaned off by a very good fish.

Overall a great time was had by all; the big fella Mick kept us all laughing with his imaginative sense of humor. I’m sure it won’t take long for “the French Man Dave” and the “Romanian guide” to get their true identities back.

Heres a couple of emails from recent guests, its things like this that makes all the hard work seem worthwhile.

Thanks again for a great trip. Fishing was a bit hard but at least I only blanked one day out of 3 which is no worse than I’d do at home probably. That’s the way it goes. I still had a brilliant time and really appreciate all the hard work you were putting in for us. I’d recommend you to anybody. Mick and Alan were absolutely brilliant as well. Top guys and very funny. We’d better credit Mick too for my Comizos as he was the one spotting my rod go off on 2 of them when I was over talking to him. He’s as good as a bite alarm and much more entertaining and a good baiter-upper. Every angler should have one.

Dave

During the course of the trip we had six upper 20's and four 30's, up to a PB 37lb scale perfect common. One fish, the one I lost, took 100 yards of line on a tight clutch and after an epic twenty minute battle the hook pulled. My guide Craig Reid, told me that it was a huge huge fish, one in a life time! Seeing that the record is over 79lbs my flight is booked for next year.
Will also be returning next year as Craig is a top class guide and will bend over backwards to put the customer first.

Thanks once again for the pictures and for teaching me so much new stuff, I appreciate it.

see you next year for the capture of General Sherman (and not the bull)
Brendan

Orellana Carp Fishing

Last week was slightly easier, despite the light easterly winds, Carp fishing on the Orellana. Brendon was on his own for most of the week then being joined by Stu for the weekend.

Brendon, who has fished smaller 50 acre lakes in UK and France, adapted well to this huge lake. The fishing was quite slow with erratic feeding times and areas; we had to work at it to get runs however when we did most were good fish.

Heres a couple of fish landed, including a new PB Common.

Unfortunately as he describes it, he ‘lost Captain Sherman’ due to a hook pull as it tore off from the margin after a long battle.

Stu, who had an encounter with a large Orellana Carp on his first trip a few months ago, got the better of the fish this time; he converted all the runs. Here's a couple of his captures.

Even Craig managed to fish, heres a couple of his catches.

Extremadura Tourist Board Press Trip

We’ve have had a busy fortnight with a wide variation of guiding. We were employed by the Extremadura Tourist Board for a four day Press trip with guests from Holland and UK.

The trip was based on lure and Fly Fishing for Barbel and Black Bass on four different venues throughout the county that is larger than Holland. The group consisted of some top class anglers / writers from Holland and UK

Two days of heavy rain just before the guests arrived didn’t help matters; however in the tight schedule with only a few hours of fishing on each venue, we did ok. Bob and Robert stuck it out on the fly whilst the others fished the lure.

6.5lb plus Barbel taking dry fly

Bob was well chuffed with landing a Barbel around 7lb on the dry fly, the other guests banked Barbel to over 6lb, Zander and Black Bass on lure tactics.

The lads were a great bunch; they all loved the area and the fishing it offers. We are looking forward to seeing them again soon as they are already planning future trips..