In Pursuit of the Wels Catfish - page 1/2

by Ron Woodward - United Kingdom

Hello fellow Predator anglers, you have not seen my very ugly mug in this the articles section before, but I will be adding them from time to time. That is providing I am not having my two p.c’s rebuilt again!( whys that you may ask ??? ).

Well the story goes, just after I had finally finished the lay out of my new study and refitted my two P.C's in it, my youngest son Ross 16, managed some how to wipe both of them out with a virus, God only knows what he has been importing in to them from the web, I think there was defiantly some porn involved, but that’s teenagers for you, I think I was just the same at his age 16 (wasn’t you ??).

Before I start on my Fishy tales, I would first like to set the record straight, to any one I may have offended, as I’m now very into the old fishing forums all over the world and manage to catch me quite a few anglers on them. You seam to encounter all types on these forum's, from the very serious angler (they are the easiest to hook), to the ones I prefer, they are the anglers who are more open minded and prepared to give as good as they get. (it can get a bit bitchy though) still its all good clean fun, isn’t it ?? So if I do, because of my very weird sense of humor, offend any one out there, please realize, I am never serious on my posts, as I save my serious side for when I am on the bank and perusing the monsters of the deep.

Spain - First Trip

125 lb. and 136 lb. Wels in Spain

Well that’s enough of my problems, lets get on with the purpose of this article, FISHING. If you have ever seen any of my articles as you surf the many fishing sites that are out there, you may have came across one of my previous articles, were I covered my first ever fishing trip to Spain, in pursuit of the large Catfish that swim up and down the mighty rivers over there, I went in to great detail on the journey and the results I achieved from that first ever attempt at catching a few “ salurus glanus”, with seven over the 100.00 lb barrier up to 146.00 lb and a brace of 125.00 and 136.00 lb Cats on the first night, it was a trip I will never forget.

I owe a lot to my good friend Collin on that first trip, as without his expert help and guidance, I am sure I would never have had such an excellent result. As you can imagine after results like that on my first ever trip, from that point on I have been well and truly hooked and now am not only am obsessed with the pursuit of large carp but also large catfish. I did state in the footer of that particular article, that I had won a trip to Spain at the C.C.G annual general meeting.

I also stated that I would update you on that Free Trip after I had been on it. (I never actually kept that promise). So I intend to now take you through that particular trip and some of my recent trip’s including my last one, which took place a few weeks ago, were I was privileged enough to fish with an angler who I much admire. I could not believe it when he said he was coming fishing with me. He makes me green with envy, every time I look at one of his Photo’s in Carp World or when I read about the strange destination's he has fished in, he has fished in 50 different countries for carp, what a globe trotter he is, he makes my trips abroad in pursuit of large carp look quite sick and I consider myself to be quite an accomplished angler form my results abroad. Well if you have not guessed who he is yet, you will have to read on.

Delta de l’Ebre region

German Guiding Service
I will start off with the free trip that I won to the German Bulvairian guiding service, they actually have a camp on the riverside, which is run purely for anglers. Although it is a German camp, I was lucky that there is an English guide working at the camp “Gary Allen” and he was going to be my guide for that week I was there on my trip.

Well what can I say about that week, it took place in April and on my first take on my free trip, I hooked into a 108.00 lb albino, what a result, a fish of a lifetime, (poor old Collin has been trying for ten years to catch one), must just be me Lucky B*****d, Even Gary who has been guiding for 5 years, every day of the week, said it is the first one he has ever had to his boat, (some one up there must be looking after me). I had a total of nine cats on that second trip, even though I only fished for 4 days, because of the extreme weather conditions, the biggest of the trip weighed in at 125.00 lbs. A truly magic week and it seamed that my lucky streak, when it comes to cat fishing was running high.

France - Abby Lakes
My next exploit cat fishing, was at the request of another friend Mr. Rob Hughes, who was looking for some one to try out the catfish lake, on a venue he had just got involved with, at the Abby lakes in France and yes, yet another large cat was about to grace my net.

The story goes, I was due for a Carp fishing trip with my two lads to France, something I do nearly every year. When Rob approached me to try out the cat lake on his new complex, Abby lakes, I thought that the venue would be excellent opportunity, for me to try out the catfish lake for him and also provide both my lads with some action on the packed carp lake’s, while we were there. My idea was, while the lads were carp fishing, I could try chasing a few pussy’s for Rob (as I’m known as a bit of a pussy man [editors note: not meant as cheeky as it sounds..]), it would be my first attempt at cat fishing in France, as I had only fished for them in Spain up to that point.

As it turned out, my first night on the catfish lake saw me hook and land my first ever French catfish, it weighed in at 108.00 lbs and tock my run of 100 plush fish on my first take up to (three in a row). I must be lucky !!! Three on the trot, what are the odds on that happening???, I would not like to put money on it, would you ??

Ross Woodward with a 65 lb. Wels Catfish

After I had caught that first French cat, I thought I would let my son's Lee and Ross have a go on the catfish lake, as they had both already caught lots of Carp each, on the other lake’s, this would be their first time cat fishing and I thought, like me they would enjoy it. Well they both fished a night each under my supervision of course and they both had their first ever cat fish experience, with Lee landing one of 85.00 lbs and losing a much bigger one, (Rob had previously told me that the cats in the lake go up to 200.00 lbs in weight). Then Ross’s on his nights fishing, also landing his first ever cat of 65.00 lbs and he also had a 14.00 lb Pike that night, as he fished for cats. So all in all, they both had a very good week on the complex, with plenty of carp and their first ever cat’s, now that’s what's called a good family holiday.

Spain Trip - #2
After the week spent on Abby lakes for Rob, I followed that up on my forth cat fishing trip, by flying back to Spain again in April this year, to visit my good friend, Colin (Mr. Catmaster) Bunn. I had spoken to Collin last year about the possibility of a fishing trip together again for this year, as I had missed out last year fishing with him, as we had had to cancel a planed trip, for one reason or another. The reason I wanted another trip with Colin was A) He is now a good friend and B) although I had toughly enjoyed my trip to the German camp site and will never forget the capture of that truly impressive ( fish of a lifetime ) 108.00 lb albino, I could not help but feel as though I was not fishing properly, I am not sure if it is because of the Carp angler / explorer in me, but for some reason it did not feel right to have some one do 90% of the work for me and then leave me just play the fish in to the boat ( not that I am ungrateful to the German camp, as I could not have wished for a better guide than Gary, he was excellent that week I spent with him and he really looked after me, working very hard to catch me my fish, in some very rough weather conditions, which we experience that particular week ).

But I suppose, because I am used to tackling lots of foreign venues Carp fishing for myself along with my two lads and also the fact that it is (always left to me, dad ) to sort out all the tackle, travel, lakes or rivers we are going to fish etc, it did feel a bit strange, just sitting back and having some one else, do things for me.

Colin had already said he was looking forward to us fishing together again ( in fact we are also trying very hard to arrange a Carp fishing trip to France together, as he wants me to help him catch a forty pound Carp, I think I owe him that, after all the one hundred plush Cat's he has helped me catch ) , but as he is now running his trips to Spain, we would have to arrange it around his customers, he was good enough to put aside one week for me and him to fish and took no bookings for that week. As I was planning to go over for two weeks, it meant that one of the weeks I was there he would have his clients with him. I did not think that this would be a problem, as we had been planning to make a video to promote his trip's and it would be an ideal time and opportunity for me to film a few of his guests hopefully catching their new P.B's.

Well the date of the trip came around and I got the long suffering wife Lynn to drop me at Birmingham airport, it was a miserable gray cloudy day, but I was all set for another expedition, (hopefully in a much warmer climate than the one I was leaving behind). I was all ready and rearing to go, I could not wait to capture some more large Spanish catfish. I had already met three of the anglers who would be there on my first week at a CCG slide show, they were the Borgs. Three generations of anglers from one family, Jim, his son Shames and Shame’s son James, as luck would have it, they like me, were Brummies, so we had something in common straight away. The other two lads come from farther a field one from down south and the other from Cambridge, a right mixture of all shapes, sizes, accents and ages, from Jim 60 plush years of age down to James at 12 years of age. But as we all have something in common (cat fishing) we would hopefully all get on well for the week, as it seams when you all share the same interest, age, nationality dialect etc. does not make any difference.

The flight was uneventful, although I did get some excellent video footage when the plane crossed over the Pyrenees Mountains, passing from France into Spain. We landed at Barcelona and went through the usual procedure of collecting our luggage and passport control etc and as we come out in to the main air port, Colin meet us all, I had already introduced my selves to the other two anglers who were on the trip for that week, as we were walking to get our baggage, they were Justin and Jason.

Colin showed us all to were he was parked and we loaded up all the bags in to Colin's people carrier, got in ourselves and then set off on route to the river. While we were traveling to the river, Colin passed around his record of captures from the previous week's fishing and I could see from the smiles on their faces as they read thought the captures from that week, they were all well impressed, here they are: 111.00, 122.00, 124.00, 116.00, 83.00, 58.00, 153.00, 136.00, 143.00, 124.00, 135.00, 147.00, 150.00, 132.00, 123.00, 103.00, 131.00, 116.00, 166.00, 120.00, 152.00, 104.00, 101.00, 101. 00, 130.00, 19.00 & 35.00, as you can see pretty impressive reading, this was between 5 anglers. After reading the list, the lads on the trip were now discussing what was install for them over the coming weeks fishing.

Our first port of call when we reached Mequinenza, was to the two apartments that Colin has acquired for his customers, they are only minuets from the rivers edge and have only just been built, they are excellent with all the facilities you will require, during your stay, they are that good I am even taking the wife and son back in July/August. I thought that the luxury apartments that the German camp provided, were excellent when I stopped with them, but I must say the ones which Colin has acquired are to the same excellent standard, so if any of you, have stopped in the Germans apartments, you will realize how good of a standard they are.

the route from Barcelona to Mequinenza

We quickly split in to two sets of anglers one set, the Borgs in one apartment and me and the other two lads Julian and Jason in the other apartment, each apartment has two bed rooms, one single and a double, I clamed the single because, if one of the other two anglers had to share the double with me, they would have had no sleep all week, as I can snore for England. I quickly unpacked my luggage and hung it up in the wardrobe, then went and sat in living room and thumbed through old Whiskers mag's, while waiting for the others to sort them self out. Once every one was ready and unpacked, we set of to the river, with one stop on the way, this was to Emmies, which is a local bar / restaurant which Gary introduced me to last year, it is frequented by lots of catfish anglers and defiantly beats cooking on the bank, in my opinion, Emmie will do anything on the menu as a take away and Colin usually does a couple of trips a day for anything you require to eat or drink if you do not wish to cook on the bank. We ordered several lomos and one for Paul who was already in the swims, waiting for us.

When we got to the swims on the river, the three Borgs were to fish with Paul in swim one and myself, Jason and Julian would fish with Colin in swim two, this situation would be alternated each day so all the anglers would fish with each guide and also in each of the two swims, the idea being if one swim was producing better than the other, everyone would have a chance in the more productive swim.

I had already predicted to all the lads in the group that one of us would have a 100.00 lb plus fish on that first night, I had also asked each of them individually, what they would like to achieve from the trip, They all seemed very surprised when I said they would all achieve their goals from the trip, for some reason they found it hard to believe how confident I was, of achieving that statement I had made, but I knew what the river can and does produce when Colin puts the baits in the right places!!

Jim Borg ( 60 + ) had Never had a 100 +, that was his aim, his son Shamus, had had Cats to 90+ from France, so his aim was also to have a 100+ also, Shamus's son James was just there to fish as long as he had one bigger than his personal best, he would be happy, Julian also wanted one over his current personal best , the one which was going to be the hardest to achieve, would be Jason's, as his brother had a fish of 152.00 lbs and he desperately wanted to beat that, so he could rub his brothers nose in it ( sibling rivalry I suppose, my two lads are the same! ), as for me I just want a bend in the rod, if it is a big one, that is an added bonus as far as I am concerned.

The two parties of anglers steeled down into there separate swims and the 6 rods and baits were put out, our swim was covering an island that we were to fish to, then Colin asked who will fish which two rods, we all looked at each other and I said straight away to the other two, you can fight it out, I will have which ever two are left after you have both made your choice's, they looked each other up and down and Jason said "you go first to Julian", (I would have said the same, as Julian works as a bouncer on the doors and was built like a brick S_ _ t house. As we had previously seen fish showing to the left of the island swim, when setting up, Julian chose the last two rods on the left hand side, Jason then chose the first two rods on the right hand side of the island, leaving me as piggy in the middle.

As we settled down to watch the rods, Jason said to me, how come you are so confidant that a 100 + will come out to night, my reply was, I am that confident that it will happen, I will even give you odds on a bet, Jason said O/K then lets shake on a fiver, so we did. Not long after, we could hear the Bells from the other swim. I said to lads it looks like I'm in for a bit of extra spending money this week, but not long after Paul rang up Colin on his mobile and informed him, that it was only a small on of 50 odd pounds. Jason then commented, it looks like I will have some extra beer money tomorrow and I replied, there is still plenty of time yet its not even dark. Not long after that one of my two rods sprang back, I picked it up reeled up the slack line and struck in to the take, I felt no resistance so carried on reeling in line, just in cast the fish had swam to wards us after the initial take, we seen the float come up and realized it was a missed take. The bait was brought in and from the marks on it, you could see that the fish had struck at the bait below the hook, this is a regularly problem when you are only fishing one single hook on you rig.

Colin and I then quickly put the bait back out to the exact same spot and within 5 minuets the same rod went again ( I wonder if it was the same fish ??). I quickly picked the rod out of the rest and followed the same procedure, wound down to take up any excess line, then struck into the fish, this time there was a totally different feeling, as I felt the heavy resistance to the strike, I straight away applied as much force and pressure as I could, to ensure that I get the fish away from the island and the snags, once they are away from the snags you feel a bit happier, I could tell from the amount resistance the fish was putting up, it was defiantly a good one, after an extremely hard fight with the fish taking line when it felt like it and me consistently fighting to get it back, the fish came close to the bank and we got our first look at it, Colin climbed into the boat which was moored in the water at the front of the swim, I then guided the fish to the boat, still playing it from the bank, as it broke water again quite close to the boat, Colin announced to the other two who seemed mesmerized by the fight, that it was defiantly a good fish. I turned to Jason and said " it looks like you owe me some money mate ". Colin eventually gloved the fish from the boat, I then passed the rod to Jason and placed down the large sheet and weighing sling by the waters edge so I could help Colin slide the fish straight in to the weigh sling. As we pulled the fish out the water you could now appreciate the size of it for the first time. We quickly unhooked it and started the two man task of weighing these large monsters. As we attempted to lift the fish in the sling, the scales broke.

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