CARP FISHING CAMPEONATO DE ESPAÑA 2009

This weekend I managed to get down to El Vellon (in the photo right), for the big match or should I say the CAMPEONATO DE ESPAÑA 2009 Carp fishing. It was great to walk around the lake close to Madrid and meet those fishing. The atmosphere on the bank was great with lot's of carp being caught all through the day. All in all the event went very well, certainly much better than last year, but still some way to go. It was nice to see that proper toilets had been arranged this year round, a sure sign that those involved are getting it together and tackling issues like sanitation on the bank.

The boys competing caught more than 2300kg of Carp in 3 days, with plenty of smiles and only one blank! Many fish caught something like 6 out of 8 were valid fish, by this I mean they were more than 5kg in weight. This was a great step forward too, I think that maybe the protection the lake has had in the last few years has helped fish survive and increasing weigh, great! Still another 30-40% of the fish caught would have been under the official minimum weight of 5kg, so it was a big haul match indeed. Finally it was the Madrid teams who won both first and second place. 1st place went to Luis Diaz and Daniel Sanchez who caught a staggering 258kg of fish. The other places 2nd, 3rd and 4th were all close actually between the Starbaits team and that of Christian Borjasson and Fran Grandados it could have gone anyway with a singular fish.. Finally here at the results and the top 10 qualifiers and weights:

1º Luis Diaz y Daniel Sanchez. Peg A35. Madrid. 40 Carp. 258,140 Kg.
2º Jose Antonio Matute y Sergio Vera. Peg A14. Madrid. 25 Carp. 153,060 Kg.
3º Angel y Roberto Rodriguez. Peg A21. Castilla la Mancha. 22 Carp. 137,670 Kg.
4º Crhistian Borjasson y Francisco Granados. Peg A5. Castilla la Mancha. 23 fish. 133, 140 Kg.
5º Jonathan Robles y Jordi Zayas. Peg A17. Cataluña. 17 Carp. 119,710 Kg.
6º Carlos Sasot y Xavier Martos. Peg A15. Aragón. 20 Carp. 118,800 Kg.
7º Pablo Dominguez y Rafa Ruiz (Pablo y Chinche). Peg A3. Madrid. 17 Fish. 116,600 Kg.
8º Pedro Lopez y Juan Jose Garcia (Kzale y Miraflores). Peg A2. Madrid. 18 Carp. 114,475 kg.
9º Felipe Carrasco y Carlos Pajuelo. Peg A4. Extremadura. 17 Carp. 98,750 Kg.
10º David Flores y Ismael Gonzalez. Peg A31. Madrid. 16 Carp. 93,550 Kg.

The premio for the biggest Carp went to Rafa y Pablo, In 7th position. with a carp of 10,100 Kg.

In total those fishing caught a staggering 2.312,065 Kg of CARP!

Madrid and it's Entrono for Carp Fishing

I have been fishing for Carp in Madrid now for quite sometime. As each year passes, we see progress and bigger fish being landed. It's fair to say that Madrid has at least 7 venues now with 40lb carp in. All of which are good and bad for wild and varied reasons. Some of them have no or limited access, others are policed too much, the others are large waters with many small fish. One of the better lakes in the city a small park lake I am very fond of. I can say this for several reasons but the main one being that it has some cracking fish with a good average weight of 24-28lb. Actually I have never caught a fish smaller than 20lb for the lake. It also has to my surprise Comizo barbel. These fish have been put in by a man I met last weekend while fishing the water. The chap told me in the morning he had put these fish between 6lb and 9lb in the lake. About 2 hr. after he told me I went for a walk around the lake and spotted two of these barbel in the crystal clear water, they looked happy enough, and interestingly enough they were not part of or staying with the carp which were also near by. It's therefore possible that Carp and Comizo dont mix perhaps as much as say Tench and Carp, but don't hold me on that one, like everything these things need a little more time to study.

During the session I managed to winkle a fish out, it fell to a Mainline Tutti Frutti 15mm Pop-up cast on it's head at short range early morning. It was nice to see the rod rip off with no alarm (I had switched it off), when I was playing the fish I thought it was an old friend of mine Quasi. Quasi the upper 20lb Carp I have now had a couple of times. He's an obvious fish because of his form. As it turns out and as we suspected this fish was actually another one. You could call him Papa Quasi as he's a little bigger than the other. At a pinch over 14.5kg (31lb 09oz), I was happy to have him in. He was my first fish of the year from the lake and a welcome one. You can see from his shape in this photo that he's a little malformed. Seems that perhaps he has had an incident with a pike way back. One of the locals Diego did the photos for me. Actually while talking with Diego it turned out that he has a beautiful house for sale on the banks of the lake. I was invited into the house to see it and I have to say it's something else. I am waiting for more info. and photos from him. When I have them I will post up here on the blog the photos and full specifications of the house. It's an ideal place for an Angler to retire in Spain. It would also be the perfect house for a guide to set-up and fish the water. As I know it comes with 6 bedrooms and plenty more. For someone looking to get into Madrid on the back of a fantastic lake with fish to 50lb. This could be a ideal.

Well, I must run now, I have the next magazine to close and lot's to do.

May the fish be with you.

Carp Journeys - Available May 2009

I Just had the news confirmed that my 3,000 plus word chapter about carp fishing in Spain will go into the next edition of Jason Riders books on Carp.
The story I provided entitled 'The magic moment', was about the capture of a 40lb plus Spanish mirror carp (not the fish in the photo). The 40lb fish came from a magical park lake at the foot of the Sierra in Madrid. The lake is a place where I have spent time with new friends and lovers. It's a magical place very dear to me. The story is a sentimental one, and one I wont forget. In these times a 40lb plus fish may not seem big, but it's one thing catching a 40lb plus fish, it's another finding one in the capital of Madrid. As time passes these fish will again become more and more common, as possibly they were in the past, but with the not so long ago attitude of catch and kill being exercised through Spain, few fish manage to get to this size in and around the captial. Being the Editor of the only carp fishing magazine in Spain, I get to know what does get caught around here. I can tell you, I am one of a few who has caught a fish of this size from a Madrid water in some years. The full account of what happened and some of the other spectacular Spanish carp I caught along the way can be read in the book which should be available to buy not long after May 21st. 2009 from this website: booksoncarp

Contents word count
1. Laroussi-Roy Van Goor 2,905
2. La Horre Hauling-John Whittick 11,590
3. Ton up Mega Haul at Boux-Jason Rider 3,992
4. Abbey Lakes-Mario Tall 3,464
5. Agony and Ecstasy-Shaun Harrison 5,000
6. Beachcomber’s Diaries-Part 2 13,945
7. The Path less Trodden-Jason Rider 3,607
8. Red hot week at Vivier-Nick Gent 3,051
9. October Barrage Session-Jim Lightfoot 3,459
10. Lake Chira,Gran Canaria-Keith Gladden 1,571
11. Lake Shumbar (Croatia)-Darko Lasnik 3,479
12. Rainbow Lake-Richard Kaye 2,447
13. Paradis De La Peche-Paul Smith 5,493
14. Lac Du Der- Ron Woodward 3,812
15. Ken Townley-Chateau Lake 4,402
16. Chris Woodrow-Moon Phases 1,339
17. Roman Buczynski-Rhone Valley 10,151
18. Carp in Slovenia-Darko Lasnik 3,595
19. How Far Will You Go-Jason Rider 4,100
20. The Magic Moment-Andy Macgregor 3,142
21. Lake Integra- Giovanni Vanhooren 3,200
22. Wild St. Cassien Matt Dent 7,800
Bonus Feature- A Bit Of A Fishery Business-Keith Moors 22,487
Published by MPress-Calm Productions: Publishers of Terry Hearn,Micky Gray, Martin Bowler and Jim Shelley