When I decided to try a self organised holiday tour of Spain's Mediterranean Coast (avoiding the obvious tourist hot-spots of course), I hadn't intended to do much in the way of fishing. From past experience I knew that the sea was pretty much a barren wilderness. They kill and eat everything there regardless of size, leaving just a scant scattering of juvenile fish which would certainly go the same way if they could catch them too – a lesson fishery scientists ought to bear in mind and learn from elsewhere in the world. It wasn't until I started looking at the map for our starting point around Barcelona that I suddenly realized how close we would be to the town of Tortosa right at the heart of Wels Catfish country in the Ebro Valley, which I could hardly be expected to drive past without at least a token wetting of a line. Not only would it be my chance to add a new and particularly exciting inclusion to my fish species list, but also possibly to chalk up a new freshwater personal best. So I fed the obvious key words into Google, and bingo, it came back with a seemingly endless stream of pictures of monster cats and carp, plus the contact details of Paul Savil and Dave McCoy, a couple English ex-pat catfish and carp specialists based in the village of Tivenys around 8 miles to the north of Tortosa where they operate under the name of Millennium Fishing offering guided trips with some particularly impressive results. The perfect short cut to a very real chance of instant success. Paul handles the boating side of things while Dave looks after the bank fishing. So I contacted them and set up a couple of days out in the boat in the hope not only of catching my first ever Wels, but if I got particularly lucky, maybe even bettering my current freshwater PB of 155 pounds (White Sturgeon), a target that is genuinely within demolition range every time a bait is cast out into the waters of the River Ebro.

We stayed in a small beautifully adapted ex-farm building next to the main house in the middle of an orange grove owned by English couple Lyn and Ian Baker actually on the banks of The Ebro out in the sticks a mile or so to the south of Tivenys. Paul and Dave dropped by for a chat the day we arrived, then took us down to the river, which while it was quite big, wasn't as wide as I had imagined, despite the fact that the level was still a couple of feet due to snow melt and rain from the surrounding mountains. Certainly a beautiful spot with lots of little slacks and back eddies to ease the boat into, and looking directly out onto a small island immediately downstream of which was a nice area of quiet water with 'ambush' written all over it. I couldn't wait. But when we finally did get afloat the following morning, that turned out not to be our starting point. Instead Paul motored his 30 hp driven 12 foot skiff up river to a bend with another reed fringed island splitting the flow. There we tucked in tight under the steep tree lined main bank anchoring the boat by tying up to an over hanging branch. This was my introduction to the tackle and tactics of big cat hunting. Paul had brought along three stout rods of around 10 feet in length not too far removed from light weight uptiders with ABU Ambassaduer 7000's on two of them, and a 6500 on the other. The only problem was that because most of their clients are coarse anglers used to operating left hand wind fixed spool reels, he had bought in left hand wind multipliers, which for a seasoned sea angler like myself is a weird concept to get your head around. Having their level winds removed meant that they could have been turned around for right hand wind, but that would have meant cranking the handle the wrong way. So for anyone uncomfortable with left hand wind, I would suggest taking along your own gear. But be sure the spool is well loaded with 110 pound bs braid.

Down at the business end, things continued to have a sea fishing feel to them with a 4 ounce wired breakaway lead on a zipp slider and a 6/0 to 8/0 hook backed up with a couple of single booby beads. The trace itself, which was rigged as a running leger, was a short length of even heavier braid as cats don't have much in the water of biting or chafing teeth. One of the rods was also rigged with a huge sliding float with an on line stopper set at around 6 feet. And sticking with the sea angling theme, the float rod and one of the bottom rigs were baited with a huge dollop of squid. The third rod however was baited with two chicken legs, bones and all, and it was this set up that saw the first spell of action with a short reel screaming run that ended as abruptly as it had started, and that unfortunately was it so far as catfish activity went over the two days. Paul tried every little slack and back eddy we could find. The weather was freezing, the wind was blowing, and as I said earlier, snow melt was still coming off the nearby mountains after what had been for this corner of Europe as much as back home (2009/2010) one of the worst winters in living memory. Tortosa had even had snow. It was early season and the fish were still not back in feeding mode. The other guides were finding it equally tough with the exception of one who drifted by trying to drag a cat of around 80 pounds into the boat. And that as they say was that. But if anything, it has made me even more determined to go back at a more appropriate time and bag myself a big cat.

Catfish it seems are not indigenous to the River Ebro. They were introduced along with zander around 40 years ago by German engineers working on a dam building project upstream, and finding a larder well stocked with food and an environment conducive to rapid growth and expansion, have come to be the dominant predator in the Ebro system. But they are not the only Ebro predator, nor are they the only potentially big fish in the place. Paul tells me that the zander here are not easy to catch. So too are the huge barbel, chub and roach. A far easier proposition are the carp which are about in excess of 30 pounds. There are some big crucian carp here up to 5 lbs too which if they are not too big in terms of keeping under control make excellent live baits for the big cats. Equally appealing to the cats are mullet which abound in the area, despite the fact that by river, Tivenys is maybe 35 miles away from the sea. Vast shoals of the things can be seen grazing the walled banks of the river at Tortosa where they form one of the staples of the local catfish diet. Black bass are another species present. But more interestingly, probably even amazingly for me as a sea angler, is one of the other fish quite regularly taken on squid and live baits, particularly after dark while fishing for the cats. They actually get 'salt water' bass this far inland. And not just the odd small one either. They don't expect to catch them all the time. But nor are they surprised by them either, with some of the better specimens topping a mind blowing 15 pounds. Okay, so 110 pound braid may well be over-gunning things 'a little'. But a 15 pound bass is a fish of a lifetime and one I would welcome even on such a heavy outfit rather than never catching one at all. As amazingly, they also pick up the odd wrasse too and another marine species which Paul thinks is some sort of jack.

To be honest, even though we blanked, the fishing is very simple if you can get access to the swims which is where the boat comes in, and the cats when they do come along I'm told don't mess about. When they feed it's usually all full on stuff. No finicky bites. Just a quick gulp and they're off. Then 'all' you have to do is lock up the spool solid with your thumbs which can get very badly friction burnt as a result, and stop the thing at all costs from taking you into any available snags, which as most of the best fishing comes after dark is easier said than done. Even if you opt for a few days to a week bivvied up on some suitable stretch of bank, the boat will very likely need to be used at some stage to get the fish. And several feet of angry cat in a boat barely big enough to fish two people in a fast flowing river after dark has to be an experience in itself, and one which sooner or later I intend to sample. The usual approach by Paul is to grab the cat by the bottom jaw using gloved hands and quite literally drag it in to the boat. Back on shore the fish is then tethered using a stringer and left until the following morning for weighing and photographs, by which time it will have fully recovered. So the handling 'fun' starts all over again. After weighing, all fish are released except for a few small carp or mullet which may be used for bait. The first 200 pound Ebro cat is not that far away.

Lyn Baker accommodation contact details -Email
Millennium Fishing contact details -Email