(2006) Catfishing in the Ebro River in Spain has once again become a hot topic among Danish anglers - especially after Brian Westergaard caught a 92 kg, 2.41 metres long monster. As chance would have it, it was the same guide who invited me down there April 2006.
Catfish in the Ebro system are not naturally occurring, but were introduced in the early 1970s by German anglers. The catfish quickly settled into this environment, and then steadily eradicated several of the native fish species. Today, the catfish thrive magnificently, along with large numbers of carp and zander.
Although the release of the catfish was decidedly fauna pollution, the catfish fishing in Ebro is absolutely phenomenal and unparalleled in Europe.
Mequinenza has become the Spanish catfish fishing Mecca, and every single day, fishermen sit side by side through the small town. In addition, there are the large "foreign" fishing camps, where the fishermen also sit side by side.
I must say that this way of fishing does not really appeal to me, and I was lucky that my guide, Stephen Buss, a seriously professional fisherman and adventurer, so we got to see and try something other than the queue fishing at Mequinenza .
In addition to a scenic private camping place outside of Mequinenza, we also fished at Lake Caspe, where two days of fishing gave us 19 catfish, with the smallest weighing 35 kg, and the largest 58 kg.
