So as I frantically scrambled around, getting as much work done as possible in south London on a cold wet Wednesday afternoon..... there's only one thing on my mind.
Big, wild & bronzy river Ebro commons is the stuff of carpy dreams.
I'd freely admit I'm a distinctly average carp angler & if the truth be told it's not totally my bag, but at times there is nothing better than chilling out bankside while watching the wildlife tick by, keeping an eye out for a few carpy signals to give me hope that one chunk might make an error & suck in my hookbait.
I'm sure I don't have the patience to be a 24/7 carpaholic & variety of fish & methods definitely keeps me sane but there's a lot to be said for setting up basecamp for a few nites, waiting for that shot of adrenaline when the baitrunner screams into life & the buzzers sing my favourite tune, the old 1 toner.
After a mad dash to pick up my Carp addict mate Mark, we sped off to gatwick & in the end had plenty of time to chill & get some grub down our necks. Over a beer we discussed all things "Cyprinus carpio" & honestly we weren't sure what to expect from the next 96 hours of carpy-camping in the wilds of mid Spain.
We had chosen Nick Shattock as our guide for our Spanish odyssey, his Facebook page is a testimony to his wealth of knowledge of this captivating & challenging river.
He & his clients have banked countless huge carp to 59lb & with the average size of 27lb, these untamed river lumps certainly fit the bill as my kind of carpy nirvana.
The idea of our trip like this all started when Mark sent me a link to a video on YouTube where Nick guided carp ledge Steve Briggs & he filled his boots with plenty of chunks up to 37lb. Both Mark & I felt this was our kind of fishing & had to give this a bash soon as we could.
Back to gatwick & typically our enthusiasm was dampened a touch with a delayed & turbulent flight. But as we landed we were buoyed again receiving a call from our guides friendly wife Mandi, she pointing out that Nick's dad Andy would be at the airport to collect us & her description of him did make us laugh "just look for the Father Christmas lookalike". She was spot on & we spied him from a large crowd as soon as we collected our luggage. Then it was a two hour journey back to the Shattock household for our last sleep in a proper bed for a while.
Weaving through & over the mountains we quickly sped to our desination as there was no traffic at all at this time of night.
The drive didn't pass without incident though, as we hit the crest of a hill, a pair of deer were standing slap bang in the middle of our lane, within a second or so we were too close & typically they just froze in the headlights. With a sharp bang one of these unfortunate beasts was under the car & possibly a glancing blow to the other deer, all I saw as I was half asleep was a leg flying over the windscreen & I certainly woke up quickly.
Andy said "ooooopppppssss" at the moment of impact & then as we sped off again he quipped "anyone for venison !"
Upon arriving at the Shattocks Andy assessed the damage to the car & suprisingly it was minimal as the pic below shows.
Some well needed shut eye was very much needed & Nick's wife showed us to our rooms for the night & we slept like logs.
Up early-ish & a well needed cooked breakfast out of the way, Andy was behind the wheel for the two hour journey to the river, as last !! We hoped for a less traumatic journey this time & thankfully it passed without incident.
Nick had been baiting up a swim for us from the night before so as we made a pitstop for food & water both Mark & i found it hard to concentrate on anything but carp but we knew we would be making our first cast into the unknown so very soon.
As Nick greeted us along a beautiful section of the river he had good & bad news.......
Good stuff first & the carp were boshing all over the place last nite as he baited up a few likely spots. He'd also flicked a rod in the margins & had a mid 20 early that morning, but........
The bad news was a group of loud cockney lads turned up at first light & set up right next to where our bait was so carefully placed & were being generally antisocial. They piled in bucket after bucket of pellet for the cats, so Nick made a decision to move a bit upstream but unfortunately meaning that we were having to start again with the prebaiting. Not a great start but these things happen from time to time, thankfully we were now far enough away to not even hear the loud racket that they were making & thank god for that.
So of course we got the baits out (Nick's homemade Prodigy boilies in three fruity flavours) at various spots that Nick had suggested & 20 odd freebies over the top of each bait, also attaching a few halfs on a pva stringer.
Mid water was just about my limit with the casting at first, but I gained in confidence throughout the trip & improved my distance a little. The far bank baits were slightly easier as we rowed them out in nick's little blowup dingy, as we sat back for 10 minutes it was not a time to rest on our laurels just yet.
Time to help Nick get the bivvys & bedchairs out so we didn't have to rush as the sun was looking to hide behind the mountains in an hour or so.
Mark did us proud with a great meal & as we sat back as darkness fell with a beer in hand, bliss.
Stargazing & watching shooting stars we pondered if the carpy gods would be smiling down on us.
An uneventful night passed but we heard quite a few big fish topping in the area & as the sun came up we watched a few jumping about. We knew the fish were in the area so that, in a way it settled our nerves & it would just be a waiting game for the first bit of action.
We waited & waited & waited some more with only a few liners here and there.
Doubts start to creep into our minds, did the rig tangle on that last cast & should I put some more bait out.......
Nick reassured us & said often the first 24 hours are quiet & be patient. The next day came & went, with hope fresh in our minds we stayed as positive as we could. Early on the next morning a chance finally came our way............
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