My husband, Chris and I had decided to book up for a weeks catfishing in Spain targeting the rivers Ebro and Segre both home to monster Wells Catfish (Silurus Glanis).
The Wells Catfish are not an indigenous species to the Spanish river system but were in fact stocked back in the 1970's and since that short passage of time have managed to establish themselves with nowadays making the capture of specimens 100lb + fairly commomplace.
Hubby Chris and I searched the web looking for the guiding services available and decided to go with Catmaster Tours run by Colin Bunn operating in the town of Mequinenza which stands at the confluence of the Ebro and Segre rivers both noted for their monster catfish.
We had booked up the holiday just before Christmas but since booking it I had suffered from 'Golfers elbow' -basically the inflamation of the tendons - the other side of the tendon than 'Tennis elbow'. But in preparation of the holiday, I had taken the precaution of having steriod injections and was dosed up to the eyeballs with Ibuprofen as per my doctors instructions
We flew from Luton to Barcelona and there was met by Colin who then drove us for just under 2 hours through some of the most spectacular Spanish scenery to arrive at the small town of Mequinenza and onto our apartment which was to be our home for the week ahead.
After freshening up from our journey and taking a short walk along the river we later met Colin in the Bar Ebro to discuss the fishing and tactics for the week ahead.
We were a little anxious at the sight of the river as it seemed to be in full flow with a great deal of weed being swept through in thick rafts along the water’s surface and wondered whether we would in fact catch anything during the forthcoming week.
Colin said that although the fishing might be hard going he was still quietly confident that all 4 of our party would catch.
The following day we were collected from our apartment at 6.30am by Gareth who drove us a few miles outside the town to the pumping station to meet our guide for the day Danny Davies who had already set up camp.
When we arrived conditions on the Segre were far from ideal as there was a lot of water rushing through with branches and even trees coming down in the flow and we had been warned that fishing would be tough.
Danny showed us the equipment, and rigs that we would be using and demonstrated the baiting up of the 22 mm halibut pellets, 7 of which were loaded onto each elongated hair rig. Soon we had mastered the setting up of the rods and waited for the cats to hopefully come on the feed.
The first of us to catch was a young lad by the name of Jonathon who after a very spirited battle landed a catfish equal of his size.
Considering the length of the Johnathon’s fight and the exertion I was extremely concerned as to how my golfer’s elbows would stand up to the rigors and thrashing of such a leviathan. Within a few hours I was to find out!
Danny had just kindly gone back into the town to pick up dinner for us all but had shown us how to safely hand and land Johnathon’s fish on the bank it so we know what to do. He had also given us his mobile number if we needed him to return sooner.
Shortly after he left, the alarm screemed off and the vertical tip of the 7lb test curve rod began to violently nod in it rest.
“Fish on! Fish on! HIT IT!!” within seconds I had the rod snatched from its cradle pushed forward the ratchet clip, wound down and hit it hard with all my might. It sure felt different than my previous best catfish which weighed in at 16lb!
The pain in my elbow and shoulder was excruciating and I must admit I thought I was feeling that the pain was due to my infirmity and not the fish (as I couldn't see it at that point) and felt that this would be my first and probably my last fish of the trip and my dreams would be in tatters and my holiday ruined due to my gammy elbow.
I fought the fish for about 25 minutes, and on several occasions was fully convinced that I was going to be dragged into the murky depths of the Segre to join my newly attached piscatorial friend. When I first saw the fish I must admit I was’nt sure I wanted to be attached to that monster! but at the same time was relieved as I realised that nothing else would test my arms again that week or perhaps ever again to the same extent as that fish of a lifetime had done!
Hubby Chris wadded into the water and grabbed the bottom jaw of the fish with his gloved hand as Danny our guide had shown us, then Chris and Ron then secured the fish as Danny arrived back, (having received a somewhat frantic request for him to do so), and as he looked at the fish for the first time he congratulated me saying that he believed it to be in excess of 200lbs.
After a lot of heaving and repositioning by the 3 men, the giant fish was placed into the weighing sling and when held above the ground the needle settled at 209lb. A moment I will never forget for as long as I live.
I've since been informed that at 209lb, it is the largest Wels Catfish caught by a woman, and most probably the largest freshwater fish caught by a woman too!
During the week in total I caught 5 Catfish: 103lb, 117lb, 124lb, 150lb & 209lb, managing to lose one other fish that I felt was a very good one to a snag, whilst hubby caught 4 catfish ranging from 85lb - 166lb and his new PB carp of 35lb 2oz.
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