fishydreams

I have spent a few hours recently stalking barbel and carp at the point where the river Ebro flows into the Embalse del Ebro. This is a beautiful place and I have been fortunate enough to have it all to myself.

There are many carp and barbel here. Both are species that I rate highly but that are frowned upon by the local Ebro fishermen. This is trout country and trout are considered to be the only fish worthy of pursuit. Not just one, one but two of the fishermen I chatted with, told me that carp are good for one thing only – as a bait in a crayfish trap!

One of those two belittlers was a grandfather who was supervising a couple of grandsons as they cast soft bodied lures in the river. He was a nice fella and so we chatted for a little while. He told me that his fishing days are pretty much over but that he might make one or two outings a year. He was on duty supervising as the boys tried for trout. He noticed that I was carrying fishing gear and asked me how I had fared. I told him I had been up at the Embalse fishing for carp. I remember feeling pretty pleased with myself because I had just caught quite a large one. I offered to show the picture on my phone. He looked disdainfully at me and said he was not interested!

The Ebro is such a long river that if you follow it away from its source, a few kilometers upstream at Fontibre, all the way to its delta you will travel almost a thousand kilometres and descend over 900 metres to reach sea level. There will be a point on that journey along the river where the cool oxygenated water need to sustain trout is no longer available and many more species will appear. Famously, there are huge carp and giant catfish that thrive well downstream and draw in fishermen from all over Europe.

For my money, carp are as exciting a fish as you can catch on a fly rod in fresh water. They tick all the boxes: they grow large, they are very powerful and they can be individually stalked. They are pretty too, particularly the fully scaled common variety.

The only problem I have encountered with the fishing here is dealing with the heat. Waders are essential because there can be a lot of crossing of river channels involved. My problem though is that my chest waders are not breathable and it can get very hot. Initially I wore light leggings underneath these waders but they became saturated with perspiration and so now I have dispensed with them.

On my last outing it was again very warm and as I tackled up under the shade of a tree I decided to leave my gear, beyond what was absolutely essential, hidden behind a stone wall to be collected on my way home. I figured that when things were this hot the less you had to carry the better.

What is the minimum you need? For me at least, I figured it would be my reading glasses for close up work, a landing net, something to take a photo with, some forceps for unhooking, nippers, some spare tippet material and a box of flies. I filled my shirt pockets and the zip pocket of my waders with all of these things but was left with my fly box. There was no room for that. In the end I figured that those flies would just have to take up residence in my underpants!

And so, despite this little fashion faux pas, I strode out manfully to see if I could outwit any of those fish cruising around in the shallows and enjoyed quite an adventure under the unrelenting summer sun.