Having read about the big catfish is Spain, my fishing friend and I decided to give it a try and teamed up with another local guy. Our trip was organised by Catfish Capers who provided the equipment, accommodation, licences, food and transport to the water’s edge. The time was late March and we were told it could go to -16 degrees at night so we wore all our heavy clothes on the plane (15kg is not much luggage weight for fishing) but as it turned out it was like summer out there.

We travelled from Luton to Barcelona by Easyjet and then hired a car to travel to the accommodation base in Caspe, Aragon, 3 hours west of Barcelona (One of Henry the Eighth's wives came from that area) as opposed to using the company’s mini bus, as our colleague said it was a long journey and would be more comfortable in a car.

About 11 anglers shared around 8 rooms in a large flat whilst 4 others shared a house on the side of the River Ebro. The accommodation IMO was basic and suitable for anglers but not really for wives although one lady was game and came with her husband.

At Mequinenza not far from Caspe there is a dam on the river and below the dam the larger catfish have been caught over 200 lbs, the fish there, had been introduced some 5 years earlier to those above the dam. This was our first experience, so we picked above the dam where the catfish had been caught up to 160 lbs.

We hired a guide between the three of us for a few days and had a motor boat as part of the package.

A cooked breakfast and sandwiches were made for us each day and they also provided plenty of drinks. Evening meals were in a restaurant where all anglers dined together and tales were told of their days fishing. In the communal area in the accommodation there was a barrel of beer which cost 1 euro a pint and one just chalked it up on the board and paid at the end.

After breakfast all the fishing gear was loaded and we were taken 10 miles in a minibus to the river at Chiprana the parties base camp.





Our guide took us down river by boat to our spot from the base camp.

Once at our spot we set up the equipment



On setting up, our rod rests were place behind rocks to stop the fish pulling them in. The weights on our lines were 6 to 8 ozs to hold the bottom of the river and we used the boat to take them out with the baits on.





It was not long before we were into 100lb fish and we took turns of taking the bites





These were fish as big as us



They took two of us to even lift them this was my best of 121lbs



This picture my friends are struggling to weigh one of 138lbs





One evening our buddy got the biggest around 18:30pm and it took an hour to land and weighed 142lb it had got dark by then



They just couldn’t lift it to take the photo



We did fish from one of the main boats but the river was high and whole trees were floating down and it was too dangerous as we were anchored.



We saw all kinds of wild life, Golden Eagles and Ospreys and even a wild boar came to the river’s edge.

This for me was one of the best holidays I’ve ever had, 3 guys and 24 fish between us, 10 were over 100 lbs and many of the others were near the 100 lbs. I have made a proper film of the trip and I’m often caught watching it by the wife.

And they were all put back safely






Anyone interested in doing this holiday please pm me for more details

That's just brill del loved it

Fantastic story Delboy, with great photo's attached. PS like your Avatar, & yes I have counted the chips lol.

Well as there has not been too much going on the forum this weekend this is my last chance to bore you all again.

The return to Caspe

Well having had such a fantastic time, the three of us along with another angler from our fishing club had to go back. This time with the experience we had gained, we did it without a guide. The food in the evening was only provided using their premier package so we just paid for it ourselves. The company were now using Zaragoza Airport, as the pick up was closer and we flew from Stansted using Ryan air for 9p each way but did have £9 and £15 airport tax to add on.

The company picked us all up by mini bus and had an enclosed trailer to put our entire luggage in

Again we went in March and the weather was lovely. Our club fishing friend proved to be a wizard at driving the boat and between the 4 of us the holiday was a perfect balance of skills



At one point being alone out there we got a little concerned as we thought a tornado was amassing but it turned out to be somebody’s bonfire.



As we were familiar with the spot, we requested to use it again and baited up the area using the boat. We had eight rods between us and again took turns when the bites came.



This time we found bites were coming about every twenty minutes. The 4 of us had to put out the baits, land the fish, lift them in a sling, weigh them, take photos and film, put them back and keep watching the other rods didn't go in all at the same time.



Playing a fish over 120lbs took about an hour and holding the butt of the rod between ones legs was well, painful.



My mate taking a breather after fighting his fish for over a hour.



Soon the fish were coming thick and fast and at one point we were in the uncomfortable position of having three fish on at once.



These fish are predators and eat, well just about anything, one of mine had a dead 15lb carp rotting in its mouth, obviously grabbed from the surface before taking my bait. The catfish have very tiny teeth in rows and face backwards. We landed them by putting a gloved hand in its mouth and one just feels a roughness on the gloves.



The fifteen angler’s that were there, including us 4, clocked up a record 21 tonnes of 100lb or more fish in the week and we all made an article in Anglers Mail

Two of bigger ones

150lbs





136lb




I produced a film of this and I am so pleased, as I actually captured a bite on film and it was used as an intro to the film before the titles came up. a a lot of the photos were taken off this film.



The company now are running trips to below the Dam and the record catch for them is now a 209 lb er.

Great stuff del looks like you guys had a great time.

But I reckon you would need more than 18 chips with one of those monsters.

Thats fantsastic great photos, this is an alternative holiday and a very good one, I loved fishing as a kid of our piers, loved mackeral season could never get into bait fishing but this would appeal to me catching giants like that, Ive also always wanted to go fly fishing a mate promised to take me once but it never happened. This is brilliant DB well done. You may be asked to organise a lads outing one day in the summer waheeeeeeeeee

fishing and drinking it sounds good to me

Yeah I'm loving these pics Del, I saw a trip to this place or a similar one, on one of the TV Travel Channels a while back, couldn't believe the size of the fish, the Wahoo we caught off the Miami Coast wern't as big as this lol

Great pics, im massively into carp fishing myself and have been for 35 years. Returned from a week fishing in france (moulin de Bley) recently, the fish are not quite as heavy as cats but still sizable, my best was 50lb 10oz.

Jeez, is that a mirror carp?

Real beauts those Ian, several guys in our club have caught them going to that size in France but my attempts with my couple of mates didnt have any such luck, see under France reviews

Bloody hell they are massive. Amazing catching one of them