I first remember seeing pictures of the immense Ebro Catfish back in 1999 at a Carp Show in Paris. One of the French fishing guides had a stand plastered with photos of these leviathan fish, hundred pounders galore!!!! I remember standing aghast in front of his display, trying to imagine how one puts one of these giants on the bank.
These memories were left indelibly printed on my mind, and while I have caught catfish since, I have never had the opportunity to visit the Ebro and to see at first hand what one of these monster looks like at close quarters.

When Ron and Martyn first talked about running guided trips to the river, I immediately thought what an impressive video it would make. And so it was, accompanied by my 13 year old son, William, I headed off in mid April to join Ron on the bank of the mighty Spanish river, during the first of these Catfish trips.

The trip down in my newly acquired VW camper went off without a hitch and some 20 hours after leaving home I pulled up in the town of Caspe on the banks of the Ebro.
After a few phone calls to the guys announcing my arrival I soon was heading out in a boat with the Martin Walker, who’s set up, apartments and equipment we were using for the week, across the river to hook up with Ron and the guys out on the Angling Lines trip.

The group of four, including Ron, was on their third day, and things had been pretty quiet with only a handful of the smaller cats falling to their rods. It also transpired that Fox boss Max Cottis, who was also out here fishing, was on a hot peg and had already banked over a dozen 100lb plus fish. This news was enough to whet everybody’s appetites.

It transpired that everyone was taking turns on this productive area of river.  It had been producing a record number of big catfish to 156lb, in all probability due to the shoaling of the fish for spawning. And so it was on the fifth day of the stay that the group boarded the large 115hp boat to travel the short distance from the base camp to the ‘Hot’ swim. I think everyone was anticipating a fantastic day’s sport, but what followed has to be the most prolific day’s fishing for big fish I have witnessed in 20 years as an angler. I can only imagine it was somewhat akin to the golden days for carp on the Lac du Der.

Rods were set up, rigs tied and with no time wasted baits were dropped off to await the day’s events. Fishing was done with 12 foot 4.75lb TC Fox Cat rods, equipped with Shimano Baitrunner reels loaded with 70lb braid. Unusually the bait was large Halibut Pellets. Over the last few years the river has seen a swing away from live baits to this convenient and deadly bait. The fish, while naturally voracious predators, seem to have switched on to the easy pickings offered by the heavy baiting of the 22mm pellets. Whatever the reason for the fish switching to these high oil baits, their effectiveness leaves no doubt that they are the bait to fish on.

Within minutes of the baits hitting the water the guys were into fish… it seemed like the cats were just lined up waiting for their daily dose of grub!  First off the fish were unusually small, but by lunch time most of the six anglers on the bank had landed a 100lb plus fish. The runs came thick and fast and the hectic action was only slowed when the rods were all simultaneously out of the water. I soon lost count of the number and size of the fish banked, and indeed the number of missed runs that could easily have seen the catch rate doubled. I ran from one end of the peg to the other recording some absolutely breath-taking shots of big fish, certainly the largest I have ever had in my view finder.

After this first day in the hot swim I believe there were some 30 plus cats banked to 137lb. Exhausted but elated the group headed back to the apartments for dinner.

One of the nice things about the set up here in Caspe is that meals can be taken in the local restaurants or in the apartments where Martin Walker and his team serve up a variety of tasty dishes. That evening we tucked into a tasty curry, but other evenings we were treated to some great Thai cooking thanks to Martin’s partner Dwain and his Thai wife, or a juicy steak in a neighbouring tapas bar.

The very next day saw us all back in the Hot swim… and the action at times seemed even more hectic than the previous day. Certainly the first few fish were all much larger than the first ones from the day before and I lost count of the number of 100lb cats I filmed. Indeed at one point everybody seemed to be into a fish at the same time and both myself, Big Ron and my son William were wading in there with a glove to bank a giant cat.

By the end of a second hectic day the group’s total had moved on to over 50 fish and everyone had achieved what they had come for, a fish over the magic 100lb mark.

In all then the site offers some amazing fishing. The apartments are clean and modern and the food and drink plentiful and good value. All the tackle you would need is provided and the scenery fabulous, with plentiful sunshine and the magic ingredient….massive fish!!!

I for one will certainly be booking a trip for myself and my son, next time perhaps forgetting the filming and getting stuck into a few giant cats myself. Whether we will be able to repeat the frenetic action experienced during this week or not, I can’t say, but the thrill of hooking one of these Ebro giants has to be seen to be believed.

Gareth Watkins

Email: gareth@anglinglines.com