Alternative Ebro Part 2 Article & Cyprinus Chair Review on FishingMagic

I trust everyone had an enjoyable Christmas time.  I certainly did but it's only involved one fishing session, which I'll mention in my next blog post.  Meanwhile, here's something I found in my drafts folder which I thought I'd posted this a couple of weeks ago.  Better late than never, as they say...
A quick message to inform you of two recent additions to www.fishingmagic.com; firstly part 2 of my "Alternative Ebro" article is online to read at:  http://www.fishingmagic.com/features/coarse_fishing/specimen_fishing/15601-alternative-ebro-part-two.html


Part 2 covers all of the catfish fishing we did with our guide, Carl of Rio Ebro Angling, during the week we spent boat & bank fishing with him at Riba Roja.  I'm told by Carl that since we were there, some of his guests have landed catfish to 164lb, including lure-caught catfish up to 148lb!!!
 http://www.fishingmagic.com/features/reviews/15584-cyprinus-stalk-lite-chair.html

Also, if anyone has a bit of Christmas money to spend on a little bankside/backside comfort for 2012, I recently reviewed the "Stalk-Lite Mk II" reclining chair by Cyprinus for FishingMagic, and rather liked it!  You can read my full review here:  http://www.fishingmagic.com/features/reviews/15584-cyprinus-stalk-lite-chair.html

If you're impressed, you can purchase this chair for less than £30 from Tackle Discounts Online Fishing Tackle Shop online fishing tackle store.

That's all for now but I have a bit of a summing-up of 2011 lined up for some point over the next few days.  Watch this space...

Angling Star December 2011 Issue Ebro Article part 1 on Front Cover

Just a quick update folks, to let any of you who are interested know that this months issue of Angling Star has hit the shelves and part 1 of my account of our Ebro trip in September has a double-page spread inside.

Not only that, but Shane's pose with his big roach has made it onto the front cover too!

First River Ebro Catfish Video on YouTube

Last week Shane uploaded the first video of our exploits on the Ebro to YouTube.  There will be more to follow, but take a look now to see some of the action we had:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOPNqvv5WNs

Predator Fishing Article - Zander, Pike & Eel - on FishingMagic

Just posted on FishingMagic today is an article about my recent predator session, where I managed to bag a trio of Pike, Eel and Zander, all after dark:  http://www.fishingmagic.com/features/coarse_fishing/predator_fishing/15496-predator-fishing-%E2%80%93-andrew-kennedy-nets-a-hat-trick.html

I was testing out a new specimen unhooking mat from Cyprinus and the review of this well-made mat is also on FishingMagic here:  Cyprinus Beanie Mat Review

Are you the next FishingMagic Writing Star?

Are you a budding Angling Writer?  I know most of us fishing bloggers have plenty to say!  Would you like to get your musings on fishing published and be in with the chance of winning some fishing bait or even landing a sponsorship from bait company Chapel Baits?  Head over to FishingMagic and take a look at their new competition, launched this week, where they aim to discover the angling writers of the future.  Take a look at the link below and get writing, you never know where it could lead!

FishingMagic.com & Chapel Baits Search for a (writing) Star Competition

Fair Play to Fox International Customer Service

I'm writing this post as a showing of gratitude to Fox customer services.  It's easy to criticise companies when they get it wrong, so I think when good service is received it's worth praising.

I had a major issues with a set of Fox Stalker digital scales (until the faults, I'd been very impressed with their quality and operation) which I'd bought back in January 2009.  They were technically out of their warranty period but these were not cheap scales and they had suffered what appeared to be a complete mechanical failure which rendered them useless.  Due to the nature of the fault I was requested to post the scales back to Fox for further investigation, last week.  Yesterday morning, I received a parcel in the post which contained a brand-new set of Stalker scales!  There were no quibbles whatsoever and I am very pleased with this outcome and the quality of customer service I received.  I think this offers peace of mind when looking for other big-ticket items in the future.

Ebro Article Part 1 - Alternative Ebro on FishingMagic Now! Zander, Roach & Carp

Part 1 of my writings about my recent trip to the River Ebro in Spain is now live on FishingMagic.com!

Alternative Ebro Part 1 Article on FishingMagic.com

You can see some of the "sneak peek" photos from my previous post in all their glory, such as this one:

Alternative Ebro Part 1 Article on FishingMagic.com

A slightly different version of this article should be featuring in December's Angling Star magazine too.

Keep an eye out for the concluding part 2, which details all of the catfish fishing we did, in the near future.  I'll be posting that link here as soon as it's live.

I hope you enjoy the article, please feel free to come back here and post any comments.  If you're a member of FishingMagic (if not, why not sign up?), then please post any comments or questions below the article, I'd be delighted to read & reply to them.

Andrew.

Catfish, Zander and Roach Fishing on the River Ebro at Riba Roja d'Ebre

So, you knew I was going, but how did I get on, over on the Ebro?  Well, I'm going to keep a little bit back for articles (which I'll post the links to as soon as they're online), but we had a brilliant week with Carl of Rio Ebro Angling and we did catch plenty of fish!  Although the catfish took a lot of convincing to feed though and the "Charlie Boorman" tactics were almost resorted to!  But, as with all the best stories, it all came good in the end...

Between us we caught 11 catfish, several zander and - in just one afternoon - over 50 quality roach to specimen proportions.  We fished for 6 days using baits & lures from boat & bank, so all in all there's a lot for me to write about! 

The related articles will be in two parts, the first covering the zander, roach and carp fishing and the second covering all things catfish-related.  The articles should be appearing in the December 2011 & January 2012 issues of Angling Star, with "director's cut" extended versions appearing on FishingMagic soon.  We also took a bit of video footage, including some underwater video, which I still need to edit together before putting it on my YouTube channel.  Once they're up I'll post the links on here. 

For now, below are a few "teaser" photos of the action and the fish, just to prove we didn't blank! ;)

One last thing, I happened to notice last week that the total visitors to this blog had topped 15,000 in less than two years, which I think is pretty good going considering I don't have anything even approaching profound to say!  Good work folks, I hope you enjoy what you see here.

 

You can find out further information about fishing the River Ebro at Riba Roja on the Riba Roja Tourism Agency website: http://www.riba-rojatourismagency.com/

Countdown to the Ebro... Catfish & Zander Fishing in Spain

It's now just two days until I head off with Shane and Dave for a week-long fishing trip to Spain's River Ebro.  We're going to be fishing with Carl & Angie of Rio Ebro Angling.  I know, lucky barstools the lot of us!  We booked the trip way back in February so there's been plenty of time for the excitement to build on this way overdue installment of my specimen hunting roadshow!

Between us we'll be fishing for Wels Catfish, Zander, Carp and Roach but my personal goals are mainly the catfish and zeds.  I'd like to join the Ebro "Ton Club" or better, preferably caught on a lure, although if it gets to the last day and I'm struggling I may have to resort to plan B, or as I like to refer to it, the "Charlie Boorman Plan", (to catch one "by any means"!).  Hopefully that won't mean going quite this far, but if my neck gets sunburnt and red and I pick up a bit of a Southern drawl, who knows!...

Having never fished the Ebro before, I'd be happy to catch any zander from there.  So far, this is my UK PB fish and if I could manage a double from Spain on a lure, I'll be over the moon.

I think if I can land any catfish from the Ebro I would have to be really unlucky for it not to beat my UK-best which is this kitten:

So, fingers crossed the fish gods are smiling down on us next week.  I'll be filling you in on here and on FishingMagic once we return.  'Til then, wish me luck!

Carp Surface Fishing Rig - Make your Korda Kruiser Controllers "Quick-Change" Using KOP Swivels

I know the weather's about to turn chillier for a few months, so surface fishing for carp won't be high on many anglers' agendas, but I'm going to share a rig with you which enables great flexibility when using Korda Kruiser surface controller floats.  The great thing about blogs is that they're on here indefinitely, so come next spring anglers will be searching for surface rigs and ideas and this may just help them out.

The Kruiser, which is a very robust, solid plastic controller, creates a semi-fixed "bolt-effect" due to having a rubber insert which the hooklength swivel lodges into.  I do have a few issues with this controller design - it's off-centre shape can be tangle prone on casting (despite what the packaging states) and it also makes much more of a splash than I'd like upon landing - however, it offers brilliant presentation, casts easily when coupled with a light, through-action rod and is very unobtrusive once the float has settled.

The Kruiser is available in 3 sizes and if you're travelling light around a venue, trying to locate different pockets of feeding carp, you can never say 100% which size you'll need, as you may find fish further out than you anticipated or be faced with a head-wind, etc.  So, it makes sense to carry at least one of each size Kruzer with you, but do you really want to waste time re-tying swivels if you happen upon some feeding fish?  I've come up with a solution, which involves the awesome little size 12 King of the Pond Micro Quick-Link Swivels which I mentioned a few months ago.  I've really been won over by the benefits of quick-change swivels and I'm finding ways of sneaking them into more and more of my rigs.

My little idea which puts these two products together is as follows:

1. Thread on your Kruiser, in through the top, out through the silicone sleeve.
2. Tie a small overhand loop on the end of your mainline.
3. Tie your hook onto hooklength as usual (I tend to use minimum 3 feet of low-diameter floating line, to a short-shank barbless hook between size 12 and 6), and tie the tag end to the "standard" loop of the KOP mini quick-link swivel.
4. Thread the mainline loop onto the "quick-change" hook on the swivel.
5. Pull controller float downwards until the swivel safely lodges into the silicone sleeve.

6. Attach a bait and get catching some carp!

Now each time you need to change the size of your controller, simply pop the swivel out of the silicone sleeve, unclip the loop, slide off your float then thread on your new one (a baiting needle can help here) and reverse the process.

Surface fishing is by far my favourite way of fishing for carp, so I hope this inspires a few people to either give it a try or tweak their rigs for improved flexibility.

I wrote an article about surface fishing for carp a couple of years back, on my website http://www.just-fish.co.uk/.  In the article I describe another, alternative, very vesatile rig for surface fishing.  It allows you to quickly change between controller, floating putty and freeline (well, almost freeline).  You might enjoy reading it here: Surface Fishing for Carp at Sutton Lawn Dam on www.Just-Fish.co.uk

May 2012 Update

I landed a few decent carp on this rig a couple of days ago, including this mid-double common: