Comizo Barbel being the objective and being what we got!

Before the end of the year I set an objective for the CARPdiem team. We had to snag a few Comizo Barbel. I had the urge and it was growing. Since my first fish of the year was a Barbel, why not end the year with one too?

We planned an escape, made some calls and off we went in search of these wonderful creatures. It’s always great targeting fish from new places. This adventure was no exception. With the help of local man machine ‘Blas’, of team Passioncarp, we loaded up 3 boats and took ourselves to a very remote wild quite spot. It felt as if we were isolated from the rest of the world. The view was like something out of Jurassic Park during a quite spell! It was perfect to just sit there and look at the dark, wide water. We were in deep, in the heart of peninsular and tucked away in the Spanish countryside real Don Quixote stuff.

For this time of year December it was mild, really very much so. This region is know for it’s clear ice cold nights during December however we were not confronted with any type of cold, far from it! It was still warm enough for those critter Cray fish to be out, many of which were wondering about in-front of our pods. They looked liked they needed Mother nature to kick in cold and hard and give them the final signal to tell them winter is here go dig a burrow and enjoy a winter sleep!

The fishing was not easy, it did not matter one bit, eventually the fish came. All the Comizo came at night. Not one graced the net in daylight although some carp did come out in the day. It was a suprise that the fish were being caught so deep, we were catching these barbel at such extreme depth that they came up with the bends! Actually it threw me at first as I never imagined fish would come from such depths but they did and not I may add from anywhere else!

The traps we planted were simple.
Bait was applied liberally and hookbaits were dropped from boats onto those same spots. Most fish were landed from the boats. The lake at this time was very high almost at max capacity this ment that in-front of us we had some serious timber and submerged trees. You could get fish through these snags but I didn’t risk it. Raul and Pablo did and managed to land fish. We did not catch any of the monster Comizo Barbel but we all managed fish from 7kg to 8kg, so Barbel from 16.5lbs to 17.5lbs bracket. We were all more than pleased with that outcome. Actually this was young Pablo’s last session fishing with us here as he has since moved to Bristol on my recommendation and is about to take up fishing in the UK, come on! I was well chuffed for him during this session and wanted nothing more than him to bag up which he did! Pablo has great potential to be a fantastic Angler. I wish him all the success in the world whilst fishing in Bristol, no doubt he will catch his fair share of fish whilst exploring tbe UK scene! Watch this space!

All in all it really was an outstanding session or should I say two sessions? I did not mention this before but the night before this trip, myself and Pablo slipped in a very fast short session at a local water in Madrid. Pablo caught a known fish the friendly common at 9kg as I was arriving at the lake! This was actually the second time I had pulled upto the lake, jumped out of the car and been given duty of net-man on this lake! I will tell you another time about this, either here on the blog or inside the magazine. Strange enough this fish was actually still spawning in December. Yet the fish as normal was in fin perfect condition, it always seems to be this way. He really is a handsome fish and this time as you can see was no exception. What we need to work on now is getting Pablo to smile. He is happy enough but never smiles on the camera! Anyway he got the perfect send off and fishy gift from Madrid and La Mancha.

It was a cracking way for us all to end the year, plenty of lovely fish, and the best Paella a man can eat! Well, until the next time may the fish be with you!