Gary Allen's Regency Angling

Archive for July, 2010

I had promised myself a holiday with my father for a couple of years and when we talked about destinations we agreed that Mequinenza would offer the Carp fishing we both love, and the chance of a big Catfish. Now we did not do ourselves the best of favours with regard to time of year as due to work commitments we could only go in early June. With this being in the spawning time of both the carp and Catfish we took a bit of a risk!

We then came to the quandary of who to book with. After a recommendation from a guy at work we chose to go with Gary Allen’s Regency Angling. The reason for this was the exclusive accommodation and use of a boat and engine, in addition to this you can book guiding from Gray when he will take you out in his own custom fishing boat. Now before the more suspicious of you are thinking I got a free trip in exchange for an article, I can reassure you all I paid with my very own hard earned!!

We flew into Barcelona and rented a car but you can fly into Zaragoza which is much closer. When we got in the next village I rang Gary and he nipped out in his car and guided us back to his house. The accommodation was a two bedroom static caravan with all amenities, cooker, fridge freezer etc. As we arrived very late Gary had even put a few supplies in the fridge so we could have a cup of tea and a sandwich, a really nice touch. I then checked the bait I had sent out in advance of our arrival which was from a new range of Berkley Gulp boilies soon to be launched in Europe. There was a fair amount missing which I was informed had been used to prime a couple of areas over the previous couple of days? Now that’s the kind of welcome I wanted!

Next morning after a quick stock up at the supermarket we all jumped on board Gary’s boat for our first excursion carp fishing. Now Gary’s boat is totally customised to this kind of fishing, with fish finders, GPS, rod holders etc. All of this is pushed along by a 80hp four stroke outboard. This means that you do not waste valuable fishing time travelling from spot to spot. We pitched up at a reed bed area that Gary had already baited with some boilies and expectations were high. We had travelled light and chose to hire the tackle we used from Gary, all of this was of the highest quality right down to the JRC connections range of end tackle. We had been in the spot not even an hour before Gary was suggesting a move, apparently if you don’t get a bite within an hour they are not there! We had barely started to pack away when one of my rods was off and my first Spanish carp rolled in the net an 18lb Common. Although Dad and I were pleased to be off the mark Gary was not impressed and declared we were still doing the off. After an exhilarating blast up the river we spotted some fish leaping in a shallow bay.  Gary carefully positioned the boat in an area which covered large numbers of Carp that were patrolling between large weed beds. Confidence was a lot higher her and it only took about ten minutes for Dads  rod to be away and this resulted in a personal best 35lb 8oz common, followed in quick succession by a 33lber and the a 27lb 6oz Mirror, an extremely rare fish for the area. I had a 14lber a 21 and then a beautiful high backed 34lb 3oz Common. Now this was amazing and it all happened in about three hours fishing.

Whilst returning to the slipway we discussed tomorrow’s plans. Dad and I had decided to spend the morning and most of the day fishing from the smaller boat, and the maybe have some guided trips for Catfish in the evenings. The boat Gary supplies is a very stable beamy aluminium punt style with a four stroke 15hp Yamaha which is a dream to start and use. Once a time is agreed Gary will take you down launch the boat for you and then at an agreed time come and pick you up. You may want to return for lunch or fish right through to the evening which ever way you want it happen Gary will accommodate. One important point was that Gary’s time keeping was exceptional! If you wanted picking up at 1pm, he was there at five to with the trailer reversed down the slip way. This is a small thing but not once in the whole week we were there was he late and that included 6 am starts and late finishes.

Anyway back to the fishing, the next day Dad and I returned to the same area and had an exceptional days fishing taking seven fish, Dad and I had a 37lber and a 38lber respectively and I topped off the day with a 42lb big long river Common, a dream come true. As the week went on the fishing got better and better the more and more bait we put in. On two occasions we had all four rods go off at once, and landed them all.

We asked Gary to guide us for Catfish on a couple of evenings and despite the conditions being bad he managed to get us a fish. Unfortunately it only weighed about 30lb, but it did represent the only Catfish we saw or heard about to anyone in the whole week we were there. You can’t catch what is not there, and a lot of the cats were still up in the spawning areas.

We took the decision to focus on the Carp as they were feeding well and we managed to accumulate over forty fish, 9 thirties 16 twenties including three 29lb pluses. These fished were topped by my forty two, and then on the last but one evening Dad hooked played and landed his dream fish. It was a Common of 43lb 6oz’s and I will never forget the look on his face as it sat in the net waiting for a picture.

All of the carp we caught fell to either Berkley Gulp Tuna Spice or Halibut Crab Boilies. Tactics were fairly straight forward, strong line, long rubbing leaders and then lead core. Strong sharp hooks are essential and despite the fish having very soft mouths the smaller hooks seemed to get a better hold. Sourcing locally you can only get size 2’s and 4’s, Gary had pre-tied rigs to get us going even going to the trouble of shrink tube line aligners, what other guide would go to that much hassle for his customers! I settled on size 6 Connection MTB3 long-shanks to 35lb Cocoon braid.  Dad and I fished these with a single 20mm boilie and hooked directly on a PVA bag of chopped boilies and small pellets. All our fish on this trip fell to this tactic.

In conclusion we had a fantastic trip in amazing surroundings. On our sessions we saw Vultures, Marsh Harriers, Hupu’s, Storks, Purple Herons etc, if you are not sure what they are Gary is an encyclopaedia of the local birds, the only negative from the week were Gary’s jokes!!

I am still hankering for a big Cat and will go back to Spain during a different time of the year when the fishing can be better; I only hope I do not get way laid by the amazing Carp fishing again. When I go back I will definitely book with Regency Angling again, and I would not hesitate to recommend them to others.

Thanks and see you soon regards Simon.