On Friday after work I took a little trip to Concepción Reservoir to see if there were any black bass knocking around. It had been a busy week and it just seemed to me that a couple of hours floating around a reservoir might well be the perfect antidote for the accumulated stresses of the week. The reservoir sits in what was once the river valley of the Río Verde and the surrounding terrain is very steep-sided. It is a mountain goat country here and it is not unusual to see these animals working their way among the scrub high above.

Mountain goats or Iberian Ibex are very difficult to make out if they are still. I saw four or five together – females with young. I understand that the males live pretty solitary lives for most of the year. They often give themselves away by dislodging stones as they walk around and these may come rolling down the hillsides. Sometimes they come to a stop after a relatively short distance, but at other times, particularly where it is very steep, falling stones can make their way all the way down and into the reservoir, shattering the calm water with a resounding splash.

I had a couple of fish and lost a couple more. The fish were lovely – fierce and strong, but I would have made the journey even without them. Concepción is only a few kilometres from Marbella but, floating around in the narrow arm of the reservoir with steep-sided rock faces plunging into the water and the sounds of the mountain goats high above, you feel a thousand miles from everywhere.

This was the second of two black bass. The first was a similar size.

This was the second of two black bass. The first was a similar size.