Check out Ebro Madness part-1 for the beginning of my fishing adventure where I tackle the Mighty river Ebro in Spain in search of a great leviathan. Follow me as I do 5 days of crazy bank fishing for Wells Catfish where even carp make an appearence to put the cherry on the cake.
https://steemit.com/fishing/@callmecrypto/ebro-madness-part-1
Day 1
After what was already an incredible start to the fishing trip of my dreams, I was already happy to go home knowing I bust my personal best 5 times in two days but all was not over just yet.
When I booked the trip I asked the guide to find a boat we could hire for a few days lure fishing. It turned out his friend had a boat and was free to take us out for two days in search of another prize sport fish the river Ebro had to offer. Zander!
We started out at 7am outside the hotel eagerly awaiting for "a man with a boat" to turn up . For those few moments we waited we took in some of the amazing local scenery dominated with huge historic building with, what looked like Cranes nesting.
As much as it was a beautiful sight, I had supped the last of my fresh coffee from the hotel bar "a man with a boat" finally turned up and it was time to go fishing. My self and my fishing buddy jumped aboard and began our adventure.
It was a good 30min drive meandering around the rugged unforgiving landsacpe of the Caspian landscape showing old delapidated farms peppering the hillside, each with their own path of cherry tree's, fig tree's and all other manner of fruits.
Finally after we had launched the boat we was flying down the Ebro powered by two Honda 50hp motors flat out skimming the water barely. Our guide was keen to put us on the money before others arrived and landed us tight into a bay with a steep rockface.
A known spot for the Zander gave us a good chance but with a few hours of anxious casting I was the first to get a bite. Was this my first Zander? NO! I lifted into the bite and felt the tell tail fight I had felt before. As soon as I seen its wide flanks turn in the crystal clear water I knew it was a perch. Not quite what I was after but not to be sniffed at when on the Ebro.
Lee our guide made a decision to move a few miles downstream in a bid to find a few beyyer action towards the "Dam wall" end of the river where he was confident of a few bites, sure to his word he was right.
With one down on the score board to me my fishing companion soon had his way showing his true rod skills as he racked up near 25 Zander in the first day.
I myself was struggling to find the bites but when I did they were quite small and finding the big mama's seemed like it was never going to happen so we closed the day having let my fishing buddy get way ahead with 25 fish lead to my 5 and none of those was anything to rave about. None the less, as they say. "A bad days fishing is better than a good days work!"
Here are some of the better fish of the day. 
Day two
I had spent the whole night with my friend gloating with his success and was eager to hit the money as it was the final day of boat fishing with our guide Lee.
Today Lee had chosen an area he had a good size Zander and was confident of a bigger stamp of fish, no sooner had we set the anchor my fishing buddy had got himself settled in strait away with a string of small zander.
Most of my morning was spent taking pics of his fish but I actually felt good that someone was catching even if I was competative I didnt let it get to me. I knew I would find the bigger stamp of fish, it's what I do best.
Chris yelped "Ooooh boy" I turned around and seen his rod hooped over and his reel stripping. I squinted at him with grit teeth wishing him well done! Half hoping he lost it and half wanting it to be the big mamma. 10 mins passed and it was obvious it wasnt a Zander bit a small (small for the ebro) catfish. I followed up with a few Zander that would probably be the reason the catfish was about. Food.
With the pressure now on Lee our guide sensed the tension and moved us close to a disused pump bridge with big conctete feet giving great cover for any predator to ambush.
I rigged up with the 25-40g rod and a white paddle tail shad on a 30g jighead. After a few good casts exploring the rocky contours, bumbing across the bottom of the river bed...., Whack! My rod hooped over and started to give a good fight but not one I had felt before I knew it wasnt a catfish with the fast lunges down followed by the thump, thump, thump of that huge rudder of a tail of a Zander and a good one at that. Not the biggest by far but for me it was my personal best making it 6 pb's on this fishing trip.
This was the best Zander of the trip by far making me the overall winner with my 3 x 100lb+ catfish with a biggest of 127.5lb
And now a 7.8lb Zander smashing his 3.6lb Zander.
Chris wasn't done as he cast searching the last hour of the days fishing to hit another prize fish. Hos efforts payed dividends resulting in him striking hard into a line stripping catfish to 9.8lb to seal the boat fishing story to an end and pinching the last fish.
If you have enjoyed this story of my trip to the river Ebro, Spain then follow me here @callmecrypto and done forget to upvote, and resteem
Thank you fellow steemians for taking time out to read about my adventures.
Dont forget to check Ebro Madness part-1 (link at top of this post).
those are some pretty good catch you guys got there bro! thank you for sharing your experience with us! :)
Thanks man, its an awesome place to cut your teeth with a big fish.
The thrill of knowing a fish twice your size and weight could easily grab the bait is incredible.
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Your shoulders must have been sore after this one.
We had a great time but in actual fact it would have been even more chaos had we found the big catfish o the lures however they were nesting so the only way to get a bite would be annoying them on the nest and that just not fair.
The males however are still active during the early parts of the year so it is still possible to hit some 100lb+ on the lure.
Wow, you guys look like you had an amazing trip. I love those birds nesting on the church walls, what a sight to wake up to.
Yes an incredible back drop with plenty of wildlife to keep you occupied.